Originally a World War 2 light freighter, USS Pueblo was eventually recommissioned by
the US Navy to serve as an environmental research ship, complete with two civilian oceanographers
on board.
However, the vessel's scientific nature was only a cover for the truth: Pueblo was a spy
ship, often charged with monitoring foreign intelligence and transmitting her findings
with a parabolic antenna.
On January 23, 1968, USS Pueblo was performing routine surveillance near the North Korean
coast when she was intercepted by enemy patrol boats that immediately turned their guns on
her, demanding the crew’s surrender.
When their capture became inevitable, the Americans stalled for time, destroying all
classified information while they were being fired upon.
The US Navy insisted that Pueblo always stayed within the limits of international waters,
almost 16 miles from shore, but North Korea claimed otherwise.
As such, the Pueblo incident suddenly threatened to pit two countries against each other in
a full-blown nuclear war…
Spying On North Korea
In January of 1968, USS Pueblo left a naval base in Japan and headed north, with specific
orders to gather intelligence on North Korean coastal radars and radio stations.
Capable of reaching merely 15 miles per hour, Pueblo was supposed to sail only within international
waters, no closer than 12 miles from shore, and was thus lightly armed.
Her mission transpired uneventfully until the vessel encountered a small North Korean
sub-chaser on January 20 and two fishing trawlers two days later.
The ship's captain, Lieutenant Commander Lloyd Bucher, informed the US Navy and then proceeded
to the mission's final phase.
However, Pueblo encountered another North Korean sub-chaser on January 23.
The ship then closed in on the American vessel at high speeds and challenged her nationality.
Bucher knew they were sailing on international waters and calmly ordered his crew to raise
the American flag.
The North Korean boat then responded: [QUOTE] "HEAVE TO OR I WILL FIRE."
Encircled
Despite assuring the North Koreans that they were not infringing any laws, the captain
was not satisfied, and the sub-chaser continued to close on the spy ship.
Soon, a couple of North Korean Mig-21 fighters and three P-4 torpedo boats surrounded the
American vessel.
Bucher ordered the crew to turn Pueblo around, and the ship made full speed eastward, trying
to avoid the large party armed with AK-47s attempting to board.
Not willing to give up, the North Korean boats began to rake fire with machine guns and cannons,
wounding the American commander.
Pueblo's only weapons were two unloaded .50-caliber machine guns concealed with tarps, and Bucher
knew they would not be of much use against their adversary.
Despite constant radio contact with US Navy officials, the closest aircraft was more than
600 miles away and not armed with anti-ship weapons.
Suddenly, a second sub-chaser and a fourth torpedo boat joined the assault, and Bucher
ordered the crew to destroy the ship's classified information and encryption gear.
Pueblo then turned back towards North Korean waters to comply with the enemy’s petition,
moving at roughly one mile per hour.
Meanwhile, the crew only had two paper shredders and one incinerator, but they tried their
best to destroy everything they could.
As the American vessel stopped just before entering North Korean waters, the enemy promptly
opened fire again, taking the life of one sailor.
Two hours after the engagement had started, the North Korean sailors finally boarded the
American ship.
Prisoners
Bound and blindfolded, the 82-person crew was transported to the North Korean political
center and capital, Pyongyang, where the men were charged with spying within North Korea's
strict 12-mile territorial limit and subsequently imprisoned.
The Pueblo incident became the biggest crisis in more than two years of increased tension
between North Korea and the United States.
The Americans always maintained that the vessel was sailing in safe international waters,
and top officials demanded the release of the innocent sailors.
Meanwhile, tensions between the two Koreas had also dramatically escalated.
On January 31, more than two dozen infiltrators came within 109 yards of the South Korean
presidential residence in an assassination attempt before being met with gunfire.
After the incident, Seoul officials feared more attacks across the demilitarized zone
and even threatened to withdraw South Korean troops from Vietnam.
Moreover, the war there was heating up as North Vietnamese forces embarked on a series
of preliminary attacks culminating in the epic Tet Offensive.
With one of the most extensive military campaigns of the Vietnam War taking place only 2,000
miles south of North Korea, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a military buildup in the
area rather than direct retaliation.
Mixed Messages
The Pueblo crew initially resisted the demands of the North Korean officers to sign false
confessions.
The prisoners were then transported to another compound in the countryside, where they were
forced to learn propaganda materials and were horribly punished if they broke any of the
prison's strict rules.
On one occasion, while being photographed for propaganda purposes, the men famously
raised their middle fingers at the camera, assuring their captors it was a good luck
sign of Hawaiian origin.
Then, in the summer, the North Koreans staged a fake news conference in which the prisoners
were ordered to praise their humane treatment.
However, the Americans thwarted the North Koreans by inserting sarcasm and innuendo
in their statements in front of the camera.
Once they learned the truth, the Americans were fiercely punished with cold temperatures,
sleep deprivation, and more sinister methods.
For months, the captors tried to coerce a confession out of Pueblo's captain, commander
Lloyd Bucher, who stated: [QUOTE] "I will never again be a party to any disgraceful
act of aggression of this type."
After months of torture and mistreatment, Bucher accepted to sign, and the rest of the
crew did the same.
A Difficult Negotiation
Throughout the whole endeavor, United States diplomats were going through months and months
of negotiations between America and North Korea at the border village of Panmunjom.
The talks were often slowed down because the captive negotiator was forced to read his
talking points from flashcards and lacked permission to formulate his own replies.
According to him, North Korea would not return Pueblo.
The nation would only return the 82-person crew in exchange for a signed apology in which
the United States government formally admitted guilt and promised to never spy on them again.
After much thought, American negotiator General Gilbert Woodward found a way to make the North
Korean demands more palatable.
It was agreed that the United States would sign the document proposed by North Korea
with the understanding that they would retract the confession as soon as the prisoners returned
to American soil.
Leader Kim Il-sung's negotiator accepted, and on December 23, 1968, eleven months to
the day after the North Korean attack, the crew of USS Pueblo was bussed down to the
border cross at the Bridge of No Return.
The men walked back to safety one by one.
Per the agreement, Washington soon rescinded its apology.
And upon their return to American soil just in time for Christmas, the men were hailed
as heroes.
Don't Give Up The Ship!
Despite a jubilant welcome by the American public, Captain Bucher was forced to sit before
an official Navy Court of Inquiry.
According to service officials, Bucher had broken one unofficial naval cardinal rule:
never giving up a ship.
As such, some admirals recommended a court-martial, perhaps unwilling to accept that an earlier
classified report found Navy leadership was somewhat to blame for sending Pueblo and her
crew to that dangerous area while being utterly unprepared and unsupported.
Eventually, Navy Secretary John Chafee decided not to press charges, telling the press that
all the men had suffered enough.
At the time of her capture, Pueblo carried a dozen top-secret encryption machines and
coding cards with vital information.
It is believed that North Korea flew up to 800 pounds of equipment from Pueblo to Moscow,
where the Soviets reverse-engineered it and tapped into American naval communications
until the United States upgraded its systems.
While American officials and leaders assumed that the seizure of USS Pueblo was directly
ordered by Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, declassified archives later uncovered that
the top officers were actually caught by surprise and were even fearful of the possibility of
a full-blown war on the Korean peninsula.
Even so, Russia significantly benefited from the Pueblo incident.
Due Justice
After their release, many of Pueblo's crew suffered from PTSD and lifelong injuries.
Over time, the survivors set up their own website, bravely speaking out about their
horrific experiences.
After being denied the petition, the team successfully lobbied for status as prisoners
of war and even sued North Korea in a United States court for the treatment they received.
As for the ship, she remains in North Korean custody to this day and is currently moored
off the Potong River in Pyongyang.
There, the significant piece of history serves as an exhibition of the North Korean Victorious
Fatherland Liberation War Museum.
In the end, Pueblo is one of only a few American vessels captured by the enemy since the First
Barbary War in the 1800s.
And because it's never been technically decommissioned, she is the second oldest ship still commissioned
in the United States Navy, only behind USS Constitution.
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