SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS
A Navy Court of Inquiry has determined that USS LIBERTY was in
international waters, properly marked as to her identity and nationality,
and in calm, clear weather when she suffered an unprovoked attack by
Israeli aircraft and motor torpedo boats June 8 in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Court produced evidence that the Israeli armed forces had
ample opportunity to identify LIBERTY correctly. The Court had
insufficient information before it to make a judgment on the reasons for
the decision by Israeli aircraft and motor torpedo boats to attack.
LIBERTY fired her .50 cal. machine guns at the aircraft and torpedo
boats, but only after she had been attacked and hit.
The Court, convened by Admiral John S. McCain, Jr., USN,
Commander in Chief of U. S. Naval Forces in Europe, conducted classified
hearings in London and aboard LIBERTY in Malta June 11-17. Rear
Admiral I. C. Kidd, USN, was president of the Court, which consisted of
himself and Captains Bernard J. Lauff and Bert M. Atkinson, both attached
to Admiral McCain's headquarters.
A Court of Inquiry is a formal fact-finding body which takes testimony
under oath. It is not a disciplinary court. Convening of such an inquiry is
a normal procedure, commonly employed after any serious accident or
incident resulting in substantial loss of life or damage to a ship. The fact
of its convening does not, of itself, indicate an assumption by the Navy that
anyone within the Navy is at fault.
The Court's findings were presented to Admiral McCain and approved
by him on June 18, and forwarded to the Navy Department for further review.
It was not the responsibility of the Court to rule on the culpability
of the attackers, and no evidence was heard from the attacking nation.
Witnesses suggested that the flag may have been difficult for the attackers
to see, both because of the slow speed of the ship and because, after five
or six separate air attacks by at least two planes each, smoke and flames
may have helped obscure the view from the motor torpedo boats. The
Court heard witnesses testify, however, to significant surveillance of the
LIBERTY on three separate occasions from the air at various times prior
to the attack -- 5 hours and 13 minutes before the attack, 3 hours and
7 minutes before the attack, and 2 hours and 37 minutes before the attack.
Inasmuch as this was not an international investigation, no evidence
was presented on whether any of these aircraft had identified LIBERTY or
whether they had passed any information on LIBERTY to their own higher
headquarters.
