The story I want to tell is still shrouded in mystery. There are many versions, guesses and assumptions, but the true reasons that gave rise to this conflict are reliably hidden in the depths of the NSA, CIA and Mossad. In my opinion, this story is on a par with such as the incident with the South Korean Boeing KE007, the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and the crash of the Malaysian Boeing MH17.
Liberty
Gulf of Guinea, May 1967, the rainy season just ended, the African sun was quickly coming into its own. On the roadstead of Abidjan (Cote d'Ivoire), the American Liberty AGTR-5 was stationed for half a year already, the Americans collected and processed electronic intelligence data in the interests of the US National Security Agency (in neighboring Ghana a year ago with the assistance of the US and UK special services ousted President Kwame Nkrumah, the spiritual leader of "pan-Africanism", "African socialism" and just a good friend of the USSR).
Quiet life for the crew of "Liberty" ended on May 23, instructions came from the US Deputy Secretary of Defense Cyres Vance, the ship weighed anchor and headed for the eastern Mediterranean, with a call at the US Navy base Rota (Spain). In Rota "Liberty" took on board linguists who are fluent in Arabic and Russian. Entering the Mediterranean Sea, the AGTR-5 commander fell under the command of the commander of the US naval forces in Europe, John McCain Sr., the father of Russia's "greatest friend". Arriving in the Gaza Strip, the commander of the McGonagle ship received a secret order to stand 12 miles offshore for radio monitoring and patrolling, and there was not a single US Navy ship nearby.
On June 5, in connection with the beginning of the Israeli aggression against Egypt, Syria and Jordan, William McGonagla received an order to approach the combat area, the commander was clearly nervous and therefore requested support from the commander of the US 6th Fleet, Vice Admiral, in the form of a destroyer, but was refused and assurances that "if something happens" carrier-based aircraft will always help. June 8, 1967 turned out to be sunny and clear, "Liberty" with a 5-knot course cut through the azure waters of the Mediterranean Sea, free from the watch and the basement sunbathing, sitting on the deck, nothing foreshadowed trouble. The reconnaissance aircraft of the Israeli Air Force, circling around the Liberty in the morning, were perceived as entertainment, the sailors waved friendly to the pilots, and how else, because these are aircraft of the brotherly people, a large striped flag fluttered on the mast, and a large the tail number, typical for ships and ships of the US Navy, besides, radio operators have clearly heard the reports of Israeli pilots "an American ship has been found."
"Mirages" against "Freedom"
The idyll ended at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when the watchkeeper reported the appearance on the radar screen of three high-speed small-sized surface targets traveling on an intersecting course. Five minutes later, one of the Mirages circling over the ship suddenly dived and fired at the Liberty with NURS, the first Mirage was followed by the second, most of the sunbathers on the deck were instantly killed, partly crippled. On the second approach, the aircraft opened fire on the ship from 30-mm cannons, the Super-Mister attack aircraft came to the aid of the Mirages and dropped napalm bombs, the ship burst into flames in several places at once. Despite the fact that almost all radio antennas were destroyed as a result of a 20-minute air raid, the radio operators, at the cost of incredible efforts and new losses, managed to install an emergency antenna and send an SOS signal, the signal was received, but no matter how the Americans looked at the sky, they and did not see the aircraft promised by Admiral Martin (to the admiral's credit, he nevertheless lifted 16 fighters from the aircraft carrier Saratoga into the air, but US President Lyndon Johnson personally recalled them, saying that he would rather sacrifice a ship with a crew than bother his friends). But three Israeli torpedo boats appeared on the scene, all attempts of the crew to stop the attack and indication of nationality, the Israelis ignored and went on the attack on the "Liberty", firing 5 torpedoes, the Americans were damn lucky that the professionalism of the Israelis was not up to par, from 5 torpedoes fired from 200 meters, only one hit the ship, breaking through the side below the waterline in the midship frame. The explosion of the torpedo, having formed a hole of 12 square meters, took the lives of 25 people at once.
When it became clear to Commander McGonagle that the ship was about to sink, he ordered the crew to abandon the ship, but that was not the case, Israeli boats shot liferafts in cold blood, taking one as a trophy. With this execution, they essentially forced the Americans to begin the fight for the survivability of their ship. Suddenly, the boats stopped firing and sped off in a northerly direction. Soon after the attack of the boats over the Liberty, a helicopter with commandos armed to the teeth hovered (later the crew members claimed that they saw boxes with explosives inside the helicopter), threatening to use service weapons, the Americans forced the helicopter to go home, after which a torpedo boat approached the side of the half-submerged ship and the Israeli commander hypocritically asked the Americans if they needed help. They sent him to hell. As a result of an hour and a half beating, 34 American sailors were killed, 171 people were injured, the remaining 85 crew members, waging a desperate struggle for survivability, managed to keep the Liberty afloat, the ship that was miraculously kept afloat managed to set sail and began to move towards the sea, waiting for the sent from the ships of the 6th fleet, ambulance helicopters for the evacuation of the wounded.
All night long those who remained in the ranks did not close their eyes, fearing new attacks, but the night passed calmly. In the morning, help finally came to Liberty in the form of the destroyer Davis, and the first thing that the members of the reconnaissance ship's crew heard from the destroyer commander was to forget everything that happened to them, on pain of a military tribunal. The Liberty was towed to Malta, slightly patched up and sent to the States, where she was soon cut on pins and needles.
Versions
And here, gentlemen-comrades, the most interesting part of this story begins. I'll start with the official version of the US State Department. Why from this version? Because I believe that the US special services played the first violin in this incident, although everyone is free to draw conclusions for himself.
Version # 1 (US President). US President Lyndon Johnson in his speech on national television said: during the accidental and mistaken Israeli Air Force attack on an American ship, which lasted 6 minutes, 10 American sailors were killed and the ship was not injured. A report released 3 weeks later repeated this version of events. Many high-ranking US politicians agreed with the president; Congress refused to investigate the incident. Commander W. McGonagle was awarded the Medal of Honor for “saving the wounded,” and for some reason the award was not in the White House, but in Congress behind closed doors. Until now, the US authorities do not want to hear about the resumption of the investigation on this issue, moreover, Liberty veterans are constantly accused of anti-Semitism and harassed in the US media controlled by the Israeli lobby.
Version # 2 (Israel). As a matter of fact, there were several official versions. According to one version, on June 8, near the Sinai Peninsula, Israeli Air Force planes discovered an unmarked vessel heading towards the coast at a speed of 30 knots (the maximum speed of the Liberty is 17.5 knots). Mistaking a vessel traveling at such a high speed for a warship, the Israelis asked the command of the US 6th Fleet to locate American ships and ships in the area. Having received a negative answer, the Israeli headquarters gave the order for destruction. According to another version, the Israeli pilots mistook the Liberty for the Egyptian ship El Quseir and attacked it.
Most of all I like the following, the so-called "Golan" version. According to this version, the United States, seeking to reduce the influence of the USSR on Egypt, Syria and Jordan, knowing about the upcoming war, sent an electronic intelligence ship to the shores of Israel. The task of this ship was to gather information about Israel's plans. The US administration, having collected and analyzed this data, was going to transfer it to Nasser in order to win him over to its side! Ultimately, Israel issued an official apology and paid $ 13 million in compensation.
Afterword
The reader, of course, has the right to ask, where is "Liberty", and where is the world war? I will cite a number of indirect and direct arguments that speak of the seriousness of the situation at that time. According to some reports, there were two American submarines in the area on patrol for "Liberty", the crew of one of them (USS Amberjack (SS-219)) photographed and filmed the entire incident. The Israelis successfully jammed the spy's radio frequencies. But how did they know these radio frequencies? Some time after the start of the incident, the American president ordered the US Air Force to launch a nuclear strike on Egypt, but upon learning that Liberty was alive, the order was canceled. At the same time, in the Gulf of Sidra, there was a Soviet nuclear submarine K-172, project 675, which had 8 missiles with a nuclear warhead on board, and the 5th OPESKA did not consist of boats. After a while, information about the Northwoods project, developed by the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Lemnitzer, was leaked to the press in 1962. According to the plan, in order to get a pretext for aggression against revolutionary Cuba, American forces, in an atmosphere of total secrecy, would shoot down an American passenger liner, dumping blame on the Castroites and launched a campaign of "Castro terror" in the United States. President Kennedy flatly refused to authorize the holding of the Northwoods. Part of this project and Project Frontlet 615 (the American-Israeli political agreement of 1966, according to which both countries pledged to jointly overthrow the Nasser regime in Egypt), was Operation Cyanide. According to the plan of this operation, the Israel Defense Forces was supposed to destroy "Liberty", blaming the USSR and Egypt for this. This would automatically lead to US intervention against Egypt and other states friendly to the USSR. British journalist and writer Peter Hounam, in his book Operation Cyanide: Why the Bombing of the USS Liberty Nearly Caused World WarIII (2003), points out that the order for this operation was given by US President Johnson and Israeli Prime Minister Levi Ekshol. The United States has already developed a historical tradition - to start a war by sinking its ships or blowing up skyscrapers.
