If you’ve known me for a while then you’re well aware of my interest in touring US warships. Ever since I can remember, my parents would take me down to San Diego so we could visit whichever ship was open to the public. I’ve been on everything from aircraft carriers to dock landing ships to guided missile cruisers. It’s a good way to see your tax dollars at work and convince impressionable youngsters that the navy life is for them (I will admit that to this day I still think of escaping the cubicle and enrolling in Navy OCS. At least I would live near the ocean, where there might be waves…).
Still, North Korea is probably the last place I would have expected to walk the decks of a U.S. navy ship. Yet, anchored on the bank of the Taedong River in Pyongyang is the USS Pueblo, a still commissioned U.S. naval ship captured by the North Koreans on January 23, 1968. It is the only U.S. naval ship currently held captive by a foreign entity, and the North Koreans are very, very proud of this trophy. They have made the “US ARMED SPY SHIP PUEBLO!” (as they refer to it) into a tourist attraction and gladly show it off to visitors, including U.S. Imperialists such as ourselves. For background information on the USS Pueblo, I highly recommend this website run by the USS Pueblo Veteran’s Association.
This monument marks the location where the General Sherman, a U.S. merchant marine schooner, was destroyed by the Koreans in 1866. The North Koreans claim that one of Kim Il-Sung’s ancestors led the attack on the Sherman. There is, of course, no actual evidence to support this assertion.
The Pueblo
Our tour guides
The North Koreans claimed that the Pueblo was in North Korean waters. The United States denied this, saying the Pueblo was in international waters. Regardless, the North Koreans opened fire on the Pueblo with 57mm guns. You can see some of the resulting damage to the ship in this photo.
The Pueblo was lightly armed, with only two .50 caliber deck guns and small arms. Commander Lloyd Bucher did not give the order to return fire. Instead, the crew began frantically destroying classified material so that it would not fall into North Korean hands. One sailor, Fireman Apprentice Duane Hodges, was killed during the attack on the USS Pueblo. The remaining 82 sailors were captured when the North Koreans boarded the Pueblo. They remained prisoners of the North Koreans for 11 months and endured brutal treatment, including torture and starvation.
You may not know what happened to the men of the Pueblo. The crew cooperated with their captors, appearing in press conferences and public appearances criticizing the US government. On March 4, North Korea gave the US representative of the armistice commission a letter, signed by the entire Pueblo crew, admitting the ship had violated the communist country’s waters and committed “hostile acts.” According to the letter, the crew expressed no anger at their captors, but rather guilt for their own actions.
To understand these confessions, we need to look at North Korean brutality. The North Koreans beat Charles Law for six hours with a hammer handle while a communications technician was struck 250 times with a two-by-four block of wood and left, semi-conscious, in a pool of his blood. The technician confessed to everything, including escape plans from a James Bond movie.
It also must be said that the men did resist with subtle language and hints, indicating that their confessions were not of their free will. Commander Bucher, after being beaten and tortured, signed the confession with a false serial number and date of birth. One letter had at the bottom in tiny Morse code “this is a lie.”
Interior of the Pueblo.
Trying to contact the Pentagon to request air support. No luck.
The “admission of guilt” that the crew was forced to sign.
The Pueblo crew was released on December 23, 1968, eleven months after their capture. This is how the Pueblo’s commanding officers were welcomed home by the U.S. Navy:
Based upon its findings of fact and the formal opinions which it derived from those findings, the Court of Inquiry recommended that Commander Lloyd M. Bucher, U. S. Navy, the Commanding Officer of USS PUEBLO., be brought to trial by General Court-Martial for the following five alleged offenses: permitting his ship to be searched while he had the power to resist; failing to take immediate and aggressive protective measures when his ship was attacked by North Korean forces; complying with the orders of the North Korean forces to follow them into port; negligently failing to complete destruction of classified material aboard USS PUEBLO and permitting such material to fall into the hands of the North Koreans; and negligently failing to ensure, before departure for sea, that his officers and crew were properly organized, stationed, and trained in preparation for emergency destruction of classified material.
Thankfully, Navy Secretary John Chafee ordered that all charges be dismissed.
On the deck
None of us knew how to drive a ship, thus foiling our plans to reclaim the Pueblo.
Near the end of our tour, we were all led down to the ship’s mess hall, where we were shown a video explaining the North Korean version of the Pueblo’s capture. We were actually shown the first 10 minutes of the video several times, as the DVD kept freezing up, forcing one of the embarrassed sailors to scramble for another copy. The video’s distortion of history was quite hilarious, and ended with the line “Death to the U.S. imperialist aggressors, the sworn enemies of the Korean people.” Well then. Following the video, our guide then yelled out, “OK U.S. group, let’s go!” Yeah, thanks. Go ahead and let everyone else on the boat know that we’re a bunch of Yankee imperialist dogs.
North Korea claims that this is an unmanned U.S. submersible they captured in August 2006. The U.S. denies that this is a U.S. sub. Who knows.
From Larry Miller:
Nice photos. Your efforts to try to contact the Pentagon for air support may have been more successful if you were using a radio instead of an oscilloscope!
I was stationed in Japan during the time the Pueblo was captured. Things got a little dicey all around that area of the world.
Enjoy your future travels. Wish it could be me!
Larry
From Lindsay:
An oscilloscope! No wonder nobody answered!
Thanks for stopping by, Larry.
From Dave:
The best idea in the world is to sink the thing right where it sits. Request the return of the ship one more time and if refused then 1 sortie to obliterate it. The mere fact that an enemy still to this day has a USN ship is ridiculous. Blow it up and let the NKs be put in their place. Then they can take tourists to where the hulk of the ship lies and explain they were unable to prevent its destruction. I would hope that in todays world if something like this were to attempted that we would turn the country responsible into a dustbowl.
From Stu Russell:
As a crew member of the USS Pueblo, it was nice to see the old girl. Did you get any photos below decks? We were 17 miles out when attacked. This was confirmed by the Koreans messages sending their boats out to attack us. Thanks for trying to steal their toy. Not to be critical, but you sail, not drive a ship. I know there are no sails but the navy is very tradition minded.
Stu Russell
From Lindsay:
Stu, unfortunately we were not allowed below decks, otherwise I would have taken plenty of photos. Many thanks for your service…it is quite an honor to hear from an actual Pueblo crew member.
From Earl Phares USN (RET):
Wish they would stop playing with my .50cal–I doesn’t work.
Stu’s best friend aboard the Pueblo
From Earl Phares USN (RET):
Correction: I can work it, but “it” doesn’t work.
From Maike:
Nice picture of the ‘Sinking of the General Sherman Monument’. Did you get a printed English translation of the inscription on the monument? Curiosity about what it actually says is bugging me.
From Lindsay:
Nope, unfortunately they didn’t tell us what it said, but maybe I can get a Korean speaking friend to translate it for me.
From Tony Ratagick:
Thanks for posting these photos and your comments. With all of the media attention around NK and the “Great Leader” kicking the bucket (Ha!), I decided to re-read Commander Bucher’s book, Bucher:My Story. Your pictures added some detail I had not previously seen.
To Seamen Russell and Phares, assuming you see these pages update – Jeez guys, what can I say? You and the rest of your crew are deserving of the highest honor any of us can pay, and proof that the “Cold War” wasnt really all that cold now was it? You guys are the best!
Tony R
US Army 79-85
ROK 80-81