Who fired first: USS Liberty or Israel’s Torpedo Boats?

K. J. Halliwell (September 3, 2007)

During the many years since the USS Liberty attack, there has been much debate regarding USS Liberty's purported firing at the Israel Defense Force (IDF) Navy Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) with a 0.50 caliber machine gun. For the most part, the focus has been on whether or not firing from USS Liberty actually occurred; and if it occurred, was it before or after the MTBs attacked? This essay will explore the matter and attempt to determine who fired first.

Generally, it's believed that both USS Liberty’s starboard forecastle machine gun (number 51) and the starboard 03 level machine gun (number 53) fired, at perhaps at different times, when the MTBs were within sight. Additionally, it's believed that the forecastle machine gun was manned and fired only a few shots; and that the 03 level machine gun was unmanned and somehow fired by itself due to rounds ignited by the heat of a nearby fire. Since there is mutually supportive Navy Court of Inquiry (NCOI) testimony that affirms the belief that both firing incidents occurred, when the MTBs were within sight, both will be considered true -- at least for the sake of this analysis.

In NCOI testimony by Captain McGonagle, he claimed that "extremely effective" fire came from the 03 level machine gun (gun 53): "[As the MTBs approached,] I observed that the fire from machine gun 53 was extremely effective and blanketed the area and the center torpedo boat. ... I sent Mr. LUCAS around the port side of the bridge, around to the skylights, to see if he could tell QUINTERO, whom I believed to be the gunner on Machine gun 53, to hold fire until we were able to clarify the situation. He reported back in a few minutes in effect that he saw no one at [gun] mount 53."

The Captain's testimony about unmanned machine gun fire being "extremely effective" is doubtful.* If by some magic the machine gun was firing with nobody at the trigger, its recoil would have caused the gun's barrel to point upward -- not toward the MTBs. Additionally, there is clear NCOI testimony by Ensign Lucas about the 03 level machine gun firing after the torpedo hit: "There was some firing from the patrol boats [after the torpedo hit]. They had periodically fired at us. There was now a lull in the firing. And yet, it sounded as if the men at [gun] mount 53, this would be the 03 level starboard side aft of the pilothouse, it sounded as if they were firing at the patrol craft... [I h]ad a clear view of [gun] mount 53 from, say the waist level up, and there was no one on [gun] mount 53."

Putting all testimony aside, if the machine gun at gun mount 53 fired before the MTBs attacked, the fact that it was unmanned does not well-support the idea that its fire was "extremely effective". In other words, the descriptive adjective "unmanned" does not connote "extremely effective". Given the extremely dubious nature of McGonagle testimony and abundant evidence (explored in several other essays) that many aspects of McGonagle's testimony were erroneous, it’s reasonable to dismiss gun 53's unmanned firing (that has never been substantiated and was not witnessed by anybody) as being a true factor in the decision, by the MTB Division commander, to declare USS Liberty hostile and perform a torpedo attack.

This leaves us with the machine gun at gun mount 51, the starboard forecastle gun.

According to Captain McGonagle's NCOI testimony: "I told a man from the bridge, whose identity I do not recall, to proceed to [gun] mount 51 and take the [approaching] boats under fire. ... I yelled to machine gun 51 to tell him to hold fire. I realized that there was a possibility of the aircraft having been Israeli and the attack had been conducted in error. I wanted to hold fire to see if we could read the signal from the torpedo boat and perhaps avoid additional damage and personnel injuries. The man on machine gun 51 fired a short burst at the boats before he was able to understand what I was attempting to have him do."

The Captain’s testimony is generally the same as the NCOI testimony of Ensign Lucas: "When I first did look forward at the [forward gun] mounts, there was one man cut in half on [gun] mount 51... After that time, I believe there was just one more shot fired. A seaman, LARKINS, was told to man [gun] mount 51, either told or he volunteered to, and he got off one shot, the Commanding Officer hollered for him to cease fire, which he did."

The significant difference between the two testimonies is that Lucas recalled the name of the person who fired gun 51, but he was unclear about the timing of the event.

So, if Seaman Larkins was the person at gun mount 51, his recall of the event should help clarify the event's timing. Unfortunately, seaman Larkin’s testimony was not heard during the NCOI proceedings; i.e., it’s not in the NCOI testimony record. Nonetheless, after all of these years, Mr. Larkins remains competent and recalls his actions on June 8, 1967. In an email message sent to this author by one of the attack’s survivors, Glenn Oliphant, a recent conversation with Mr. Larkins was described. Here’s Mr. Larkins' recall, as related by Glenn Oliphant: "After the air attack was over and they [the fire fighters] had almost put out the starboard fire he [Larkins] went back to the port side to help with that fire. Then the Captain told him [Larkins] to go to [gun] mount 51 and wait for instructions. When he [Larkins] got to [gun] mount 51 he discovered that the gun shell belt had been broken and there didn’t seem to be any other ammo there so he told a fellow

that was there with him to go get some more ammo. He [Larkins] then saw the torpedo boats making runs at the ship. A couple dropped torpedoes but they missed the ship, the boats were also firing at the ship. He [Larkins] fired one shot and the gun breach came apart and wouldn’t fire again. He [Larkins] crawled across the forecastle and then went down the ladder on the port side and then went into the forecastle. They were in there for a few minutes and then the torpedo hit. He [Larkins] estimates the time from his shot until the torpedo hit to be about 7 to 10 minutes."

Clearly, Mr. Larkins' recall supports the testimony of Ensign Lucas and indicates that he (Larkins) fired after the MTBs began their attack.

Some may argue that perhaps Larkins' memory is faulty about the timing, or that the interviewer, Glenn Oliphant, misreported Larkins' recall. So, let's assume it’s wrong, and that Larkins fired shortly before the MTBs began their attack. This leaves us with Larkins firing only one bullet and then leaving the gun mount -- something he would likely not forget or that would be misconstrued. To believe a single shot was noticed by the distant and rapidly approaching MTB crews, or construed as absolute proof the badly damaged ship, clearly marked and rapidly heading north toward the open sea, was the enemy Egyptian cargo ship El Qusier is extremely dubious, if not outright ridiculous.

Thus, while it's not possible to unambiguously prove that USS Liberty did not fire the first shot, it's clear from all testimony that one shot from gun mount 51 was fired as the MTBs approached; and that it would have likely gone unnoticed by the MTB Captains, located between about one-half to one nautical mile away, as they maneuvered to perform the torpedo attack.

*After the MTB attack began, the men at gun 53 apparently did fire at the MTBs. Here's testimony by Ensign Lucas: "At one time, while the torpedo boats were firing at us, my man in charge of mount 53, seaman QUINTERO, hollered to me, 'should I fire back?', and I gave him an affirmative on that. This was before he and the other men in mount 53 had been chased away by the fire and flames from the motor whaleboat." Perhaps this was the "extremely effective" fire that McGonagle recalled, but he confused it with the unmanned firing incident.