USS Liberty AGTR-5 (Auxiliary General Technical Research #5):

USS Liberty was operated and manned by the US Navy under operational
control of the local commander and the technical control of the National
Security Agency.  The ship's specific missions were assigned by the
Joint Chiefs of Staff.  The ship was part of the US Atlantic Fleet and,
contrary to much misguided public speculation, was always directly under
military control.  At the time of the attack, USS Liberty was under the
immediate operational control of the US Sixth Fleet operating in the
Mediterranean Sea.  Next senior in the line of command were Commander in
Chief US Naval Forces Europe (CINCUSNAVEUR, aka "Sink us Never") 
and the US Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon.

In 1967 the US operated about a dozen such ships around the world,
including five roughly similar to USS Liberty, several much smaller
ships similar to USS Pueblo which was captured by Korea in 1968, and a
number of ships with civilian crews and only small US Navy intelligence
collection contingents.

Hours before the attack the Sixth Fleet Commander promised to provide
jet aircraft support within ten minutes in the "unlikely" event of an
"accidental" attack.  When the ship did come under attack and aircraft
were dispatched to our aid, USS America was involved in an aircraft
drill and was unprepared to respond.  USS Saratoga did respond, but
those aircraft were recalled by orders from the White House while we
were still under attack, an act which compounded American loss of life.

The Uniform Code of Military Justice specifies that failure to provide
assistance to US troops under attack is a crime punishable by courts
martial and, upon conviction, by death or other penalties.  Despite that
provision, no one in or out of the military has ever been asked to
explain why the USS Liberty was not protected while under fire.

The 1966-67 issue of "Janes Fighting Ships" describes the ship as
follows:

A Technical Reseach Ship

Converted from SS Simmons Victory AG-168 (A WWII freighter)

Displacement:  7,190 tons light
              10,680 tons fully loaded

Dimensions:   455 x 62 x 24 feet
Machinery:    (steam) turbine.  S.H.P. 8,500
              maximum speed 18 knots (about 20 MPH)
Complement:   280 men

General:  Modified "Victory" ship.  Conversion completed by Williamette
Iron & Steel, Portland, Oregon, in December, commissioned 30 December
1964.  Mobile base for research in communications and electromagnetic
radiation.

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The 1969-70 issue "Janes" reports frankly that these are considered to
be "electronic intelligence" ships, and reports that USS Liberty was
decommissioned 28 June 1968.  The ship was later dismantled and sold for
scrap for approximately $101,000.  At the time of the attack she was
valued at more than $40-million.  In 1982, Israel paid $6-million in
compensation for this damage.  Secretary of State Dean Rusk and others
have said that this payment was meaningless, because the US Congress
simply gave Israel extra money with which to make the payment.

It was widely understood that "research in communications and
electromagnetic radiation" was a euphemism for electronic and
communications intercept and analysis, i.e., intelligence collection.

Various official statements from the US Government since the attack have
conceded that the ship's mission was to collect intelligence.  Recent
reports indicate that the actual primary mission of the ship was not to
observe the Arab-Israeli War, but--using the war as an excuse for being
in the area--to collect intelligence concerning the control and
operation of Soviet TU-95 Bear intercontinental bombers then stationed
in Alexandria by the Soviet Union.

At the time of the attack, the ship carried 294 men.  All were American
sailors except for three civilians from the National Security Agency who
were sent as technical advisors and linguists, and three U.S. Marine
Corps members who were also specialists in Russian and Arabic languages.