Royal: What ship, Kursa?
Menachem: Did you hear? He’s hit her a lot. There’s a lot of black smoke. There’s an oil leak into the water. [This was more likely a gasoline leak from the fuel cell that was near the motor whale boat located on the deck of the Liberty.] He’s continuing.
Kislev: Was there any Nun Mem on him?
Menachem: She’s burning. The warship is burning.
1400
Royal: [Apparently we miss a transmission from Kursa to Royal where Kursa asks Royal the traditional “How do you hear me?” Royal responds with “five by five,” or “5X5,” the traditional aviator’s idiomatic response “I hear you perfectly.”] 5X5, eye contact with the target. [Royal sees the Liberty.] Eye contact with Kursa. [Royal sees Kursa Flight attacking the target.] Royal requests 15,000 feet. [At 1357 Royal was at El Arish at 20,000 feet and wants to come down to set up for attack.]
Kursa: Okay, Kursa is coming in . . . you a bit further in. I’ll go in the direction . . . Okay? [Kursa seems to be telling Royal he is going in on another run and also talking to his wing-man.] Kursa Wing: . . . I think she is putting out smoke on purpose, it’s coming out of the chimney, Okay, I’m finished too. . . . [Kursa exhausts its ammunition on the third pass and pulls off at about 1401.]
Menachem: Shmulik [a diminutive for Shmuel, Kislev’s first name], she’s burning. [Menachem is obviously excited.] The minute Kursa is finished, we’re sending in Royal.
Kislev: Right. Sink her.
Menachem: Sink her. Okay.
1401
Kursa: The ship is really burning. There is a large fire and a lot of black smoke.
Kursa: Royal, your altitude? We’re at 5,000 feet.
Royal: You’re east, right?
Kursa: We’re south of the ship.
Royal: . . . [Apparently Royal’s transmission was blocked by someone’s transmission. It was probably an inquiry of whether Kursa was clear of the target, as the answer from Kursa is “Affirmative.”]
Kislev: Menachem.
Menachem: We’re sending in Royal.
Kislev: Okay.
1401:52
Robert: . . . This ship?
Kislev: Menachem, if Royal has napalm, it will make things easier.
1402
Kursa: Affirmative.
Royal: Not ours?
Royal: Homeland, can you hear? Call Homeland on 19. Ask if it’s allowed to go in.
Royal: Homeland from Royal. Is it permitted to go in?
Royal: I understand, do not go in. Fine, we’re circling above the ship at 15,000 feet. Tell him the navy will be arriving before us, I can see.
Kursa: 5 and 3. I’ve got him. [Kursa is apparently relaying to control for Royal.]
Royal: Does Royal have permission?
Kursa: Affirmative, you have permission Royal.
Shimon: Menachem, Royal is calling you.
Menachem: He got off the line.
1402:11
Shimon: Kislev, there is doubt about the identification. [Note, about nineteen seconds have elapsed since Robert came on the loop at 1401:52. At this point, the lack of return antiaircraft fire and some questions from naval headquarters at Haifa, possibly received by the naval liaison officer with Robert, as a result of communication with Haifa, raised some doubts.]
Kislev: If there is a doubt, then don’t attack. [Again Kislev, the skilled professional, does not take over the tactical situation at the scene but puts a restriction on the attacking aircraft.]
Shimon: Don’t attack, Menachem. Robert, pay attention. There is doubt as to the identification.
Kislev: What does that mean? [Kislev, ever vigilant, wants an explanation. He is asking Robert, who has a naval liaison officer, Yehoshua Barnai, at his side.]
Robert: Okay, you may attack. [Apparently he has resolved the identification issue either with the naval liaison officer or through him with naval headquarters at Stella Maris, Haifa.]
Kislev: You may attack.
1402:32
Royal: Sausages, [napalm canisters] in the middle and up . . . in one pass. Two together. [Royal Flight leader tells his wingman to drop both of the napalm canisters on the first run.] We’ll come in from the rear. Watch out for the masts. Don’t hit the masts, careful of the masts. I’ll come in from her left, you come behind me.
Shimon: Next formation—get a briefing on what took place.
Robert: Authorized to sink. [This comes from the naval liaison officer who is with Robert.]
Kislev: You can sink it.
Shimon: Royal started chatting.
Robert: One eight [most likely referring to sector coordinates], that is not the ship. Wait a minute.
Kislev: Menachem, is he hitting (dofek) her?
Menachem: He’s going low with napalm.
Unknown: No, Robert, it is not worthwhile.
Kislev: You don’t need any more for the ship. Enough.
Menachem: There’s no need. Our forces are there. So is the navy.
Shimon: It’s worth it just for insurance.
Kislev: But napalm went there. [Kislev, an air force officer, apparently does not understand the effect of napalm against a ship. It may have some value in the suppression of antiaircraft fire. Here there was no antiaircraft fire.]
Unknown: What can napalm do [to a ship]?
1404
Royal: . . . on the right side of the stern . . .
Royal Wing: You’ve missed by an undershot. [Referring to the napalm.]
Royal: . . . a deep gash . . .
1405
Kislev: What is Kursa reporting? Was there any Nun Mem?
Menachem: I passed him to 33 and asked for a report.
Kislev: Robert, ask Kursa if there was any Nun Mem. [Kislev is still concerned about the lack of antiaircraft fire.]
Robert: Kislev, the navy asks not to sink her completely; they want to get close and have a look.
Shimon: Have them rescue the people with the torpedo boats to help.
Robert: Okay, finish with this formation. The torpedoes are coming up to them.
1406
Kislev: Robert, what does Kursa say?
Robert: I’m telling you already. “This is easier than MiGs.” [The comment suggests that shooting at a surface target on the water is easier than dogfighting with a MiG.]
Kislev: What’s the situation now?
1407
Royal: Fine, pull up.
Royal: . . . I’m behind you. Careful of her antennas.
Unknown: I don’t know. Number Two [Royal Wing] hit [with a napalm bomb] . . . and now he’s strafing.
1408
Royal: Homeland from Royal, how do you hear me? She has some kind of marking, P30 and something.
Kislev: Robert, take 116 Flight out there, too. [Nixon Flight. An attack by this flight with iron bombs would very likely have sunk the Liberty in the next seven or eight minutes.]
Robert: Okay.
Menachem: Her marking . . . [cut off by Kislev]
Kislev: Yes, I heard. We’re checking.
Shimon: Robert, take 116 Flight to . . .
1409
Royal: Homeland, if you had a two-ship formation with bombs, in ten minutes before the navy arrives, it will be a mitzvah. Otherwise the navy is on its way here. [Mitzvah, a good or worthwhile deed based on a commandment. The old competition between navy and air force clearly rears its head.]
Shimon: Before the navy arrives, it will be a mitzvah. [Shimon wants the target for the air force, with the navy left out.]
Kislev: Take 116 Flight in the meanwhile. Who is checking this? [Kislev is still concentrating on identification, while Shimon is enraptured at the prospect of beating the navy to the target.]
Shimon: Royal reported that it will be a mitzvah, before the navy comes.
Kislev: Look for a flag if they can see one. Have Royal look. See if they can identify with a flag. [The Liberty’s flag was shot from the halyard on the first pass by Kursa. It is about ten minutes later, and the second flag h
as not yet been hoisted.]
1410
Royal: (unintelligible)
Royal: Twelve o’clock . . . look higher. Now left, slowly, slowly . . . a bit faster so it will stay external, okay?
Robert: Kislev, They’re [the navy] asking us here [at the Radar Air Control Central, where Robert sits with the naval liaison Yehoshua Barnai] not to do anything else about her. They want to take her. I want to receive an answer.
Kislev: No, no. They’re [the navy] . . .
1411
Robert: Menachem, is Royal leaving?
Menachem: Wait a minute, he’s reporting something.
Kislev: Okay, attack, Menachem. [Apparently Kislev is about to send in Nixon Flight.]
Royal: Homeland from Royal, do you read me? Pay attention, this ship’s markings are Charlie Tango Romeo 5. Pay attention, Homeland, Charlie . . .
1412
. . . Tango Romeo 5. There is no flag on her! She looks like a minesweeper with that marking. Roger, I’m leaving her. I’m staying around one more minute. [Royal misread GTR 5 as “CTR 5.” At this point, both he and control are alerted to the fact that she is not marked like an Arab ship.]
Robert: Menachem, has Royal come out? [Robert is making sure that it is clear for 116 Flight to go in.]
Menachem: Not yet.
Robert: What height? What height is Royal reaching [descending to]?
Menachem: Charlie Senator Romeo. [Menachem relays even more incorrect markings: CSR.]
Kislev: Leave her! [There is a dramatic change on the audio tapes in the tone of Kislev’s voice.
Kislev knows that Egyptian ships are marked in Arabic script. English or roman letters are not used and arabic numerals are not used. Approximately sixty seconds before, Kislev had authorized Nixon Flight to attack, and now he cancels the air operation with the terse “Leave her.”]
Robert: Leave her? What ship is this?
Kislev: Leave her! Menachem, report the approximate damage. Nixon Flight to her [i.e., Nixon’s original] mission.
1413
Royal: Homeland, 5X5 [advising control that he hears perfectly], there’s external fire on her, a lot of hits on her upper parts. People are jumping into the water. [This was not correct. No one jumped into the water; life rafts were thrown into the water, and this may be what Royal saw.] She’s not shooting at all. She has hardly any armaments on her. She’s going full steam toward the north.
Kislev: Shimon, Robert, we’re sending two helicopters to them. [Kislev moves to a rescue mode.]
Robert: Okay, clear. I’m sending helicopters.
Menachem: Kislev, what country? [Menachem has become concerned.]
Kislev: Possibly American.
1415
Shimon: Kislev, maybe you know which countries are around here. If it’s possible to take them, they are taking care of it. [Shimon still believes that the ship is Egyptian. He is concerned about rescue operations if the seamen are Egyptian.]
1417
Robert: There is no contact yet with Menorah. He’s around the canal at low altitude. I don’t have any contact with him yet. [The war goes on. Menorah Flight must be monitored and controlled.]
1419
Royal: I’m in the direction . . .
Kislev: Robert, do you have contact with Ofot 1 and 2? [Two Super Frelon helicopters, numbers 810 and 815]
Robert: Okay, I’m trying. None yet.
Shimon: Kislev, I have Ofot 2 in Teiman Field. [Teiman is an air base in the south near Beer Sheba.]
Robert: Okay, I’m trying. None yet.
Shimon: Kislev, I have [Ofot] 2 in Teiman Field.
Kislev: Not him.
1425
Kislev: Robert, Two [Ofot, a Super Frelon 807] is in Teiman Field?
Shimon: Yes, with the Minister of Defense. [Defense Minister Dayan had driven to the Cave of Machpelah at Hebron in the late morning and returned to the Kirya by helicopter from Beersheva in the early evening. See chapter 11, Did Dayan Order It?]
Shimon: Frelon from Air Force Base 8 [Tel Nof, located south of Tel Aviv] is ready to leave for the ship. Shall I send him out? Operations notified Base [censored].
Kislev: Okay.
1429
Kislev: Robert, is there any contact with the Super Frelons?
Shimon: Yes.
1434
Robert: Kislev, it’s an Egyptian supply boat. My “admiral” is next to me. I’m touching him. [Robert is referring to the naval liaison officer Yehoshua Barnai. Robert is elated. The navy MTBs on the scene had identified the ship as Egyptian.]
Kislev: Is that true or not? [Kislev is extremely excited, but still the same precise professional.] Where did he get it positive identification from?
Robert: The helicopter went away from there. That is what he [Yehoshua Barnai] says.
Kislev: If so, then have the helicopter get out of there. [Kislev has become concerned about the safety of the helicopter that was sent to rescue Americans and is near the ship now identified as Egyptian.]
Robert: The torpedo boat is taking care of it. It’s an Egyptian supply ship. They’re torpedoing it now.
1435
Robert: Where are the helicopters you sent?
Kislev: The helicopters are back.
Robert: Tell them to go away.
Kislev: Just a minute. Robert, get the guys out of there. [The air force tries to conduct rescue operations in the midst of the naval attack.]
Kislev: Just a minute, Robert, for . . .
Shimon: I’m keeping them aside; I just want to see.
Kislev: On the side until he will identify.
Robert: Have him stay on the side, they’re putting torpedoes into it. You can get the guys out later.
Menachem: Kislev, air force commander is arriving in ten minutes. I’ve informed him and told him to bring the helicopters because we have torpedo boats in the area. He said okay.
Shimon: What’s the call sign of the torpedo boats?
Unknown: Pagoda.
1436
Robert: The air force has no identification problems. I won’t have anyone telling me again that the air force has any identification problem. [Robert became incensed at the suggestion that the air force might have any problem with identification.]
Menachem: Now, listen, I’ve also told the air force commander that this ship was finally identified as Egyptian. I told him we’re transferring the helicopters. We’re not sending them, because we have torpedo boats. We’ll keep them aside, to pull the survivors out of the sea. They’re putting another torpedo into her. Just in case. I hope this torpedo will hit. [Menachem’s understanding of the events at sea is inaccurate. A single torpedo attack was made with five torpedoes launched. One torpedo, the last launched from the last boat, T-203, hit the ship at about 1435.]
1437
Robert: The torpedo hit.
1438
Robert: You can send in the helicopter in order to get the people out of the water. Tell the helicopters they are not Americans, they’re Egyptians. [The navy has now convinced the air force that the ship is Egyptian.]
Shimon: Who’ll guard the guys in the helicopters?
Robert: I hope there are more people in the helicopters. [Robert is concerned about security and hopes there are more than just the pilot and copilot on the helicopters.]
Shimon: I think it is better the torpedo boats should take them. They should sit on the torpedo boats who’ll put them ashore.
Robert: I told the air force commander we’re not sending the helicopters because we have torpedo boats. He said, fine.
1439
Menachem: If there is a helicopter nearby, have him start getting them out of the water and take them to El Arish. Air force commander is not in the picture and doesn’t know what’s going on, but I don’t have time to run over and tell them the whole story.
Robert: Just tell me what to do with the helicopter.
Shimon: . . . said get the people out of the water.
Robert: You can pick them up
and hit them over the head. [Robert’s solution to the rescue of the Egyptians.]
Unknown: Robert, did you hear my theory? Just when the navy saw we’re getting them off, they began shouting.
1440
Robert: Kislev shouted “Americans.” [It was Kislev at 1414.)
Unknown: How many helicopters are on their way?
Shimon: Super Frelon. [Not responsive to the question that was how many, not what kind.]
Menachem: Giora, they went to El Arish to tell them that Egyptian sailors are arriving, from the sea. From a boat they sank.
Kislev: I said so. Have the helicopters take them out slowly, slowly. And inform El Arish.
Menachem: Robert, I don’t think they managed to sink her.
Robert: They took her apart (garbled).
1451
Robert: There is another ship. Can you see her? [Robert probably sees the image of the Liberty on his radar screen and identifies it as another ship, because he believes that the Liberty was sunk.]
1454
Robert: Shimon, does Yami have contact with the helicopter? The identification is not clear yet.
1456
Kislev: Robert, what do you say about the identification?
Robert: The navy says that even though they sent a torpedo, there is a part which is unclear. Soon I’ll ask what language these guys talk, then we’ll know for sure. [The air force controllers are still unsure of the identification of the ship nineteen minutes after the torpedo attack.]
Kislev: Have they taken them [the survivors] out yet?
Robert: I have no idea.
Kislev: What about the Super Frelon?
Robert: Immediately.
1457
Shimon: The Super Frelon has no contact with the torpedo boats. Can he go in alone and get them out?
Kislev: Can he see people in the water? [There are none to see. At this point, with the Super Frelon hovering nearby and the torpedo boats lying nearby, the Liberty survivors are bracing for another attack and have no idea that the operations are now devoted to rescue.]
Shimon: He’s getting closer.
1501
Kislev: Shimon, what about the Super Frelon?
Shimon: He is 12 miles from them now. He has eye contact with the ship. He’s asking for relays in the air. Between him and the torpedo boats, it’s being taken care of.
The Liberty Incident Revealed Page 34