We were in Africa at the time, in Abidjan, Africa. We got emergency orders to go to the eastern Mediterranean. We didn't know what was going on until we got underway and got to the Rockets and Brawls. found out the war had already been started a little early.
41:18
We got there on, I believe, the third or fourth day of the war. And the Israeli Defense Forces had taken out all of the Jordanian, Egyptian airplanes, and they'd captured land. I mean, the war was essentially over when we got there on June the 8th.
41:36
Actually, we got there on the 7th, but on the 8th is when we got attacked. And the Israelis expanded their territory. As a result, they took control of the West Bank and Gaza and East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in Syria. And as you say, they had essentially won the war.
41:58
And the USS Liberty was a communications ship. It was not geared for the naval battles. And it went into that area off the coast. How many miles were you off the coast, and was your skipper in touch with the Israelis at the time before the attack? We were approximately 12.5 miles off the Sinai Peninsula in international waters,
42:25
our flag flying, beautiful, beautiful day, holiday colors. I mean, everything was beautiful, everything going on the shore. I mean, we were 12 miles off, so you could see the bombs dropping and everything. But as far as I know, no, the captain had no communication with the Israelis or the Egyptians at all.
42:43
And suddenly you started getting bombed by relays of Israeli fighter planes. These were U.S.-provided fighter planes. And describe the onset of the attack and what the reaction was by people on the ship. Oh, absolutely. First, if I might say, the Israelis reconned our ship over and over and over for hours.
43:08
They identified our ship as American and friendly even before they did the attack. In fact, the airplanes got so close to us, reconned airplanes, we would wave at the pilots and they'd wave back at us. They'd dip their wings like everything was fine. And we felt perfect about that because our Israeli friends were there.
43:26
I mean, they were our allies. We had stars of David all over the ship. Of course, I'm not Jewish, but there were star Davids. We wanted them to win. You know, they're our allies, we thought. But the attack started around 2 o'clock in the afternoon on June the 8th.
43:43
We were attacked by steer and mirage jets, unmarked jets. We didn't know who was attacking. This went on for about 20, 25 minutes, the air attack. And again, our flag was always flying. They knew who we were. They identified us as American attackers anyway.
44:00
But I do want to add, we were sent there by LBJ to be sunk by the IDF and blame it on the Arabs. That was the whole plan for us to go to the bottom. But we didn't go to the bottom, messed up everything for them. By the grace of God, we stayed alive. Well,
44:15
the result was that the Israeli military killed 34 soldiers, injured over 170, and pretty much wrecked the ship. And the ship had no anti-aircraft capability. Is that correct? No, Ralph, they did not. We had 450 caliber machine guns. We had two forward, that's on the folks, the forward part of the ship, one port, one starboard, then midships.
44:41
one port one starboard 50 caliber machine gun mounts they were all taken out on the first pass within three seconds we lost all of our communications they took out the four gun mounts we've dispensed of course a 50 caliber machine gun against a jet aircraft is absolutely I mean, it doesn't mean anything anyway.
45:01
The only thing those guns were for were for repairable orders in case somebody tried to board a ship, and that was it, not to fight a war. We were a noncombatant ship, the most efficient case of spy ship in the world. And how long was this attack, and what was going on during the attack?
45:16
I mean, you must have been totally— vulnerable and wondering what was happening and asking for help from the U.S. Navy and Air Force. Tell us, how long was the attack? I understand it involved torpedo boats, is that right? Yes, it is. The attack lasted approximately two hours, as long as the attack on Pearl Harbor.