Us Liberty Research Paper

Introduction The U.S.S. Liberty, a Navy research ship, was attacked on June 8, 1967, during the “Six Day War”. Although unknown at the time, the U.S. would later find out that Israeli fighter jets and torpedo boats had attacked the ship. The ship was located in international waters 13 miles from the coast of Al Arish, Egypt. In all, 34 crewmembers aboard the Liberty were killed, along with 171 members being wounded. This attack was the highest peacetime toll suffered by a noncombatant navy vessel. (2003, Friendless Fire, David C. Walsh) Later, Israel apologized for the attack, claiming that the attack had been an error, thinking that the USS Liberty was an Egyptian vessel. Both governments, the U.S. and Israeli, conducted investigations into

Navy’s U.S.S. Liberty on the morning of the 8th and bared the markings of “R.T.R.-5, which was moving at 18 knots. The Israeli military received reports the El Arish (under military occupation by Israel) was under attack from the sea. A demand was made that this bombardment be verified and the command was given to identify the ship responsible for the shelling. Later, the Naval Forces Command Post (Israeli) was informed that El-Arish was indeed taking fire from the sea and that two ships can be seen in the distance. At 13:41, the torpedo boats picked up a target on radar approximately 20 miles north of El-Arish. A picture was created showing the three torpedo boats and a red symbol, which marked the unidentified target. The torpedo boats then reported that the unidentified target had a speed of 30 knots, which is considered the speed of a warship. Due to this speed, the torpedo boats were unable to catch up and requested air support to help identify the ships. The command was given to the Israeli Air Force to attack the ship should it be identified as an enemy ship. It was unclear to the Israeli Air Force as to whether they needed to identify the ship or if the identification by the Israeli Navy would