USS Liberty кемесінің тарихы және 1967 жылғы шабуыл

Belmont class electronic spying ship

USS Liberty (AGTR 5) was a Belmont class technical research ship (i. e. an electronic spying ship) that was attacked by Israel Defense Forces during the 1967 Six Day War. She was originally built and served in World War II as a VC2 S AP3 type Victory cargo ship named SS Simmons Victory. Her keel was laid down on 23 February 1945, under a Maritime Commission contract at Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation of Portland, Oregon. According to Harry Morgan, who served as an engineer on the ship, the Simmons Victory arrived in the Philippines about six weeks before V E Day on 8 May 1945. On 11 June 1958, Simmons Victory once again entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet, being berthed this time at Olympia, Washington, where she remained until 1963. In February 1963, the U. S. Navy acquired Simmons Victory and converted her to a "Miscellaneous Auxiliary" ship at Willamette Iron and Steel of Portland. On 8 June, the vessel was renamed USS Liberty and given the hull classification symbol AG 168. On 1 April 1964, she was reclassified a Technical Research Ship (AGTR 5). She was commissioned at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, in December 1964. In February 1965, Liberty steamed from the West Coast to Norfolk, Virginia, where she was further outfitted (cost: US$20 million) to suit her for a mission of supporting the National Security Agency by collecting and processing foreign communications and other electronic emissions of possible national defense interests. In June, Liberty began her first deployment, to waters off the west coast of Africa. She carried out several more operations during the next two years, and went to the Mediterranean Sea in 1967. During the Six Day War between Israel and several Arab nations, she was sent to collect electronic intelligence in the eastern Mediterranean.

On the afternoon of 8 June 1967, while in international waters off the northern coast of the Sinai Peninsula, Liberty was attacked and damaged by aircraft of the Israeli Air Force and motor torpedo boats of the Israeli Navy; 34 American crewmen were killed and 174 wounded. The incident has become a subject of controversy and debate, with many books written on the topic. After the attack, she was escorted to Valletta, Malta, by units of the Sixth Fleet and given temporary repairs. After the repairs were completed, Liberty returned to the United States on 27 July 1967. She was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 June 1968. She was laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet of Norfolk until December 1970, when she was transferred to the Maritime Administration for disposal. In 1973, she was sold for scrapping to the Boston Metals Company of Baltimore, Maryland.