USS Pueblo

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Paul D.

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May 18, 2022, 7:27:52 PM5/18/22
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Subject: Re: [Radio Officers, &c] USS Pueblo (was: Military Vietnam XTAL)

This is interesting.

I was R/O on a small "r/v" in the Fall of 1971 operating in the Sea of Japan very close to the coast of North Korea but beyond it's territorial limits. Nevertheless, one misty morning there appeared U.S.S. "Bainbridge" (nuclear destroyer) between us and the coast. They shooed us away from the coast with strict instructions to report our position twice daily to Commsta "Yokosuka"/NDT from that day on regardless of where we may be operating! Not only that but I had to report the QTH of another U.S.-flag r/v operating in the North West Pacific whose radio-operator (couldn't bear the title Radio Officer as she didn't even have a minimum 2nd Class ticket!) couldn't send CW to communicate directly with NDT. So that boat would call us on the ham bands twice daily for me to QSP their posn to NDT, her earning at least twice the salary I did because she was sailing on an American ship and I on a lowly Panamanian bottom!

The strange thing was that even though our flag was Panamanian with a mixed nationality of technicians in the so-called "lab" (into which I or any of the crew were never allowed to enter...) and a Canadian crew (with American relief skipper) supposedly had U.S. Navy equipment in the lab! Apparently, the purpose of the ship was to collect "core samples" for Lamont Observatory (Palisades, NJ) of Columbia U. This seemed so strange to me....and to most people onboard but we didn't ask questions.

I didn't like the fact that if we were only collecting bottom core samples why the secrecy around such an "innocent" operation?! I got off that boat a month later in Hongkong not just for that but also because there was a near mutiny onboard with one man falling down the hatch and breaking several bones; the skipper refused for me to send a MEDICO call on 500kHz to have this seriously injured man taken off by any ship with medical staff onboard as we were too far from the coast (we being in the East China Sea East of Communist China at the time). He said that "the work must take priority over everything else....." (sic). 

To this day I wonder if that U.S. destroyer had not been there that morning we might not have endured the same fate as USS Pueblo!

Paul Du Mesnil

Jeremy Allen

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May 18, 2022, 7:46:25 PM5/18/22
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Interesting story Paul!

 

I have to ask why were the ham bands used?  Why not use one of the Part 80 Sideband channels? 

 

The SOP about that crew member should have been to contact a nearby USN asset to render assistance while maintaining the ship on station if it was that important.

 

It was probably best that you got off the ship when you did, sounds like a real nightmare.

 

73

Jeremy

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

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Paul D.

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May 19, 2022, 9:27:22 AM5/19/22
to 'Jeremy Allen' via Radio Officers

Why the ham bands? I don't know. The ham equip was in the chartroom and the skipper spoke to that American ship himself as I refused to handle ham comms: I was there as a Radio Officer, not a ham operator! Once the skipper got the position of the American ship he passed it along to me to send to NDT on HF CW. (NDT manned all the frequencies we agreed to on the initial QSO and they did it 24/7 so I always was sure of getting hold of them at ANY time day or night in any of the commercial HF cw bands....they must have had one or two US Navy oprs just listening to those freqs for a call from me and they are the ones who told me to call at any time outside the two daily skeds we had!).

As for me calling anyone for assistance for our injured crewmember, it was out of the question even to tell NDT or any USN asset about the casualty: the skipper gave me strict orders to ask him permission before any transmission on my part. He even checked my radio log regularly. (Didn't mean I had to enter everything in the log, did it?!)

Yes it was a nightmare and the worst of the 25 ships I sailed on. I did have some dignity left and that's why I left in Hongkong (without being paid) 8 months short of the 1 year contract. I simply told them to kiss my a... when they threatened to take action against me. I quickly found a shipping company in H.K. (with the help of the Chief Radio inspector in H.K. and the Merchant Navy Officers' Guild of H.K. to which my own Canadian union, i.e. Canadian Merchant Service Guild was associated) on a beautiful cargo-passenger ship where I stayed for 8 months. What a relief that was. I sailed in the Far East and Middle East for 3 years without coming home. Jobs were plentiful in Hongkong and since I had a First Class with Radar Endorsement and experience, I was always paid top scales. On the (full) passenger-ship of the same company which was on a regular run between H.K.-Singapore-Penang, as Second R/O I earned even more than the Chinese Chief R/O but the company told me never to tell the latter how much I earned! Ha. Ha.

Cheers,

Paul D.

Eric

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May 19, 2022, 9:36:21 AM5/19/22
to 'Jeremy Allen' via Radio Officers
Strange concern, I’ve run the ships station in the “Ham” bands several times when there was distress traffic,,, and used the ship call sign, it’s allowed for distress traffic… the last time there was also an American Airlines captain on with the aircraft call sign.   We were notified of the incident by the USCG who thought we were the closest ship.   AIS let us know there were better options that were even heading in the proper direction, so the USCG had them pick up the disabled sailboat crew.   Strange that the sailboat in question did not have a precise position… the AA international flight diverted enough to get an exact position.

Rgds:
Eric Weber

Paul D.

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May 19, 2022, 10:20:09 AM5/19/22
to 'Eric' via Radio Officers

I'm strictly a commercial R/O. I'm not saying that had there been a distress which comms were being conducted using Ham radio that I would not have partaked! ANY means of communicating is allowed in the case of a distress. I have a better understanding of S.O.L.A.S. than that. All I'm saying is that I monitored the SOLAS distress freqs. as per Int'l Radio Regs, i.e. 500kHz, 2182kHz (then) and even had (if available) a receiver tuned to 8364kHz (CW). On Naval Auxiliary ships I also monitored 121.5mHz and 243.0mHz, distress and calling for commercial/private or military aircraft. Marine chnl 16 (156.8mHz) VHF was normally guarded from the bridge. I never got into Ham radio because I am simply not interested in that hobby. As for sailboat distresses, the last few captains I sailed with on merchant ships had the same view on that: let the nearest Coast Guard rescue them! In today's precision scheduling of container-ships for arrival at the next port-of-call on a specific date, no Master is going to divert his ship to go to the rescue of a lone sailboat who got in trouble often because it is single-manned, out on the high seas where often it should not be in the first place having left at the wrong time of year thus facing very dangerous weather once on the ocean. And that's the opinion of so many in the commercial world with whom I've discussed the subject. Pleasure in their mind does not trump business.

Cheers,

Paul D.

Dr Jim Kennedy

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May 19, 2022, 10:51:48 AM5/19/22
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Anyone in distress at sea deserves the same level of response regardless of business or not. The “mariners code” demands help by closest ship source of aid. True SOS (life at risk) not my boat lost wind and motor wont start.

On May 19, 2022, at 10:20 AM, Paul D. <al...@glinx.com> wrote:



Paul D.

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May 19, 2022, 11:27:26 AM5/19/22
to 'Dr Jim Kennedy' via Radio Officers

I know but go tell that to a 20,000-unit container-ship's captain on a fixed schedule... Those ship masters do not view pleasure sailboaters as fellow "mariners". Sorry, but that's their opinion, not mine.

Cheers,

P.D.

Eric

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May 19, 2022, 11:56:50 AM5/19/22
to 'Dr Jim Kennedy' via Radio Officers
Yes that’s their opinion…. one of the few advantages of GMDSS over the telegraph system… The USCG and it’s international versions know where all the ships are…. saying no is not an option.   On the good side they also know the tracks and can choose a ship that is proceeding in the direction on their route

Rgds:
Eric

Jeremy Allen

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May 19, 2022, 5:54:19 PM5/19/22
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Interesting perspectives to say the least.  First, the injured crew.  It’s luck it wasn’t a US crew in today’s age.  The lawsuit that would have resulted would set that guy up for life.  Deliberately and unilaterally withholding a medevac without consulting higher navy or rescue authorities wouldn’t be tolerated these days.

 

Another oddity in today’s thinking is sending a “secret” ship’s QTH over open channels.  You didn’t mention using any sort of cypher.  Along the same lines, not sure why anyone was using an amateur radio on a secret mission ship as well.  Maybe phone patches or something similar.  I am gathering the Master was a ham since he took the lead on it.  Still doesn’t explain why the radio operator on the US ship couldn’t use the ship’s commercial sideband radio, and  I guess we’ll never know.

 

Eric is right about the RCC’s.  With vessel traffic tracked using LRIT and Sat-C polling, everyone knows where these freighters are and individual ships can be directed to vessels in distress.  If an RCC calls on the phone to divert me, I’m going, even if all I can do is drop off some fuel, water, and provisions.  I place life well above any schedule; and I don’t care if it’s a ship, fishing boat, or yacht.  My only hesitation would be a VHF distress in a known hostile or pirate area.  In that case, I suspect a ruse and will think twice about diverting.

 

I guess things were very much different in the 70’s, but it was 50 years ago now, so to be expected.

Eric

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May 19, 2022, 6:10:27 PM5/19/22
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I’ve had issues with the USCG and injured crew… they treated US like a pleasure craft and refused to send a medivac…. It was in the telex days…. Don’t remember which office we started with that refused help… but the advantage of hard copy is you can forward it….  after about an hour I copied in the DC office of the USCG and mystically they sent a helicopter.   A crew member with a big gash in his head from a winch handle.  I assisted the C/E with treatment, the Captain/CM were too queesy to deal with the situation…. even though they had the training.  The C/E’s step father was an undertaker, so he had experience sewing up wounds,,,, just not on live subjects :-).   Off the east coast USA around 1996….

Rgds:
Eric
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D.J.J. Ring, Jr.

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Jul 19, 2022, 1:31:17 AM7/19/22
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The book by the Captain of USS PUEBLO is unobtainable, however I found a copy on the Internet Archive:


Bucher: My Story. Commander Lloyd M. Bucher USN Captain USS PUEBLO with Mark Rascovich
Publication date 1970,  English, 1970 Doubleday & Co.

73

DR 



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TRAVIS PEDERSON

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Jul 19, 2022, 9:45:27 AM7/19/22
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Thank you David!  Very interesting!

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 19, 2022, at 12:31 AM, D.J.J. Ring, Jr. <n1...@arrl.net> wrote:



Radio KH6O

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Jul 19, 2022, 10:48:30 AM7/19/22
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Many copies available from Abe Books -- my favorite book-buying site:

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?isbn=9780385072441&n=100121503&cm_sp=mbc-_-ISBN-_-used

73,
Jeff KH6O
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