Page:DoD USS Liberty Inquiry Press Release 28 Jun 1967.djvu/6

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bearing 135°), heading for the ship in a triangular formation at a speed of
27 to 30 knots. Since the boats appeared to be making a torpedo run,
Commander McGonagle ordered a man from the bridge to man the forward
starboard gun mount and take the boats under fire.

It was at this time that Commander McGonagle discovered that
LIBERTY'S American flag had been shot down. He immediately ordered a
signalman to hoist the "holiday ensign" -- the largest flag aboard (approxi-
mately 7 by 13 feet) from the yardarm, the normal flag halyard having been
destroyed. There was smoke from the burning whale boat and other topside
fires in the vicinity of the bridge.

Commander McGonagle passed the word, "Stand by for torpedo attack."
He held his course, since turning away from the boats would bring the ship
closer to land, and turning toward them would swing the ship broadside
toward the attackers, giving them a larger target.

When the boats were approximately a mile away, the center boat was
seen to be flashing a signal light. Because of smoke and flames just aft of
his starboard bridge wing -- in the direction from which the boats were
approaching -- Commander McGonagle could not read the signals, but he
was able to see what he believed at the time to be an Israeli flag. As the air
attack had knocked out LIBERTY's starboard signal light, he attempted to
signal with a hand-help Aldis lamp. This may not have been powerful enough
to penetrate the smoke pouring from the fires started by the attackers.
Believing that the air attack might have been an error, he immediately
shouted to the starboard forward gun to withhold fire. The gunner fired a
short burst at the PT boats before he understood the Commanding Officer's
order. At the same time, the after gun on the starboard side opened fire.

Because of the whaleboat fire on the starboard side, between the bridge
and the gun mount, it was necessary to send an officer aft on the port side to
pass the word to the starboard gunner to cease firing. ENS. David G. Lucas,
USNR, of Virginia Beach, Va. (who was wounded earlier and, unknown to
himself, had a piece of shrapnel lodged in his forehead) ran aft on the 03
(bridge) level portside. "The first thing I noticed," he testified to the Court,
"was that the mount 54 (on the port side) was vacant. The flames ... (from
the burning gasoline cans) ... had reached mount 54 and chased everyone
out of there. I ran back to mount 54, looked over the skylight from the,
engineering spaces." (This skylight is on the centerline of the ship just aft
of the stack. It stands about three feet high and is perhaps ten feet wide,
dividing the 03 level at this point into port and starboard areas which meet
several yards aft of the gun mounts, aft of the skylight structure. It is
possible to look over the skylight, but not to cross it. There is no deck
above the 03 level aft of the bridge.)

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