N. Korea: Pledge Rally in Front of USS Pueblo (photo)

Daily NK ^ | 03/25/07

[TigerLikesRooster]

/begin my translation

High school graduates from Pyongchon District, Pyongyang, attending a pledge rally in front of USS Pueblo on display at Taedong River (From N. Korea's Central TV / Yonhap)

/end my translation

[TXnMA]

Aaargh! "-- to show that..."

[Stoigo]

just to clarify a few items:

1. Russian AGI's (MOMA class, Alpinst Class, etc.) never had 3" guns.
2. The USS Pueblo wasn't a Liberty class ship.

[JB in Whitefish]

"1. Russian AGI's (MOMA class, Alpinst Class, etc.) never had 3" guns. "

In any event, since the crappy 20mm mount that had been "jury rigged" to the top of the superstructure couldn't be LOWERED to effectively shoot anything less than perhaps a quarter mile away...we were SCREWED....had the Russkis actually caught up with us.


I couldn't SEE their markings on the radar on the particular day we were being "dogged"...I'm just going by what I was "told" by someone else that was there at the time.

I must have hallucinated the two F-4 Phantoms that were scrambled from Hickam as well...you know...too much time at sea and all that.

~~~~~~~~

Our 3-lunger STEAM powered rig was NO threat to the Russkis either when it came to top "speed"....which was theoretically all of 16 knots, downhill with a tailwind...IF you were willing to blow the safety valves. We hit 77 rpm one night when the prop popped out of the ocean due to a "rogue wave"...nearly shook me out of my rack...thought the whole rustbucket was gonnna shake apart.

[They ALSO had a nasty habit of snapping in two, just forward of the super structure.]

~~~~~~
"2. The USS Pueblo wasn't a Liberty class ship. "

I never SAID it was...!!!

The USS Granville S. Hall, YAG-40 and it's sister ship, the USS George Eastman, YAG-39 were, however....which, I believe is what I DID say...

They were the two last remaining Liberty Hulls in the Navy at the time they were used in Above-Ground Nuclear Tests...AND...at-sea testing of Bio-Chemical Weapons.

http://www1.va.gov/SHAD/

http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/issues/testing/test-operation-castle_1954-04-14.htm

www.cddc.vt.edu/host/atomic/atmosphr/ustests.html

www.dtra.mil/newsservices/fact_sheets/display.cfm?fs=ntpr_wigwam


Now, mind you, I only spent ONE year on the Granny, so no doubt you've got better sources.

While you're nit picking, I WOULD be revealing if you can tell me if EITHER of those vessels is still afoat...it would nice of you as long as you're pontificating....oops...I mean correcting me.

THANKS...!!!


There are conflicting reports about the Granny...and rumor has it that the Eastman was either sold for scrap or went on for use by some South American company.

[Stoigo]

JB,
Didn't mean to sound like I was pontificating or nitpicking. I spent a lot of time in the Navy tracking AGI's in my 25 year career.

Here's the story of the two ships you mention.

The USS Granville Hall was scrapped in 1972.
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-g/yag40.htm
The USS George Eastman was scrapped in 1977.
http://www.navsource.org/archives/14/2039.htm

[JB in Whitefish]

"# Decommissioned (date unknown)
# Struck From the Naval Register (date unknown)"

That's the reason I asked you...

I've SEEN the "standard info" on the web, but what most of it DOESN'T tell you is what REALLY happened between 1962 72, which is to say, Project SHAD.

The majority of the men who served on those vessels and others involved STILL can't get their Service Medical Records from those times due to "national security issues".

I DO know that a couple of the tugboats used in the program are still around as I stood next to one in Seattle a few years back....boy, was THAT guy pissed when two of us visited him and told him what had been done on/with THOSE vessels....!!!...seems the government left out a couple of details when they auctioned them off.....[imagine that]

~~~~~~~~

One of the sites you directed me to also said, "no armaments"...which is of course untrue. Not trying to be argumentative...it's just that true "details" from that time are tricky to come by.

I wouldn't know an 'AGI' from a 'WXYZ' as I spent most of my time in the radio shack and ET shack...and was told I "didn't NEED to know" more than once...inquisitive little feller, but to no avail.

~~~~~~~~~~~

What MIGHT interest you however is a happenstance that took place one day while "routing messages" in the radio shack:

You know those little "identification books" that give outlines and brief descriptions of various ships so you CAN make comparisons on visual sightings at sea...??

Well, one day we got a general message for all ships in the Pacific to strike a particular page. I thought my eyes were gonna fall out of my head when I turned to the "page" in question and realized it was OUR ship and the Eastman which were being "deleted".

I'm thinkin' to myself, "Great...they're ALREADY lying to us about the "harmless simulants" they're testing out at sea here, we've got the Russian Navy following us around, and NOW....our own frikkin' Navy won't know who we are"

A moment of TRUE REALIZATION came over me as I began to learn they really WEREN'T ever gonna "level" with the crew about what the HE** was going on.

~~~~~~~~

So Anchors Aweigh and all that.

If you know any sailors, have them check THIS out:

http://www1.va.gov/SHAD/

http://projectshad.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=1


http://freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14556

THANK YOU.