Nearly six decades after the deadliest attack on a U.S. Navy vessel during peacetime, survivors of the USS Liberty are still fighting to be heard. They carry with them the memory of a day many in Washington would rather forget—and the weight of a truth too dangerous for the official record.
On June 8, 1967, as war raged between Israel and its Arab neighbors, Israeli fighter jets and torpedo boats launched a coordinated assault on the USS Liberty, a U.S. signals intelligence ship stationed in international waters off the coast of Egypt. Thirty-four Americans were killed, 174 wounded, and the ship was left in ruins. Israel claimed it was a tragic case of mistaken identity. The U.S. government accepted the explanation. But the men who survived say otherwise.
“We were set up to be murdered—with the full knowledge of our own government,” said Phil Tourney, a petty officer on board that day.
The Liberty was not an ordinary vessel. It was the most sophisticated spy ship of its time, operated by a mixed crew of Navy sailors and NSA technicians. Bristling with antennas and satellite gear, its mission was to intercept communications during the rapidly escalating Six-Day War. “Virtually everything we did was sacred or top secret,” recalled David Lewis, the ship’s research officer. “We were reading other people’s mail, basically.”
Despite the nature of its work, the Liberty was sent into a war zone unescorted—a decision that remains one of the enduring mysteries of the incident.
On the morning of June 8, Israeli reconnaissance planes flew low and slow over the ship for hours. “You could see the pilot’s face and cameras sticking out the doors,” one sailor remembered. The Star of David was clearly marked on the wings. The crew felt reassured. They hoisted a new American flag on the mast. The ship’s name and hull number were painted in bold white lettering. They believed their identity was unmistakable.
But by early afternoon, unmarked jets swept in without warning. “Captain McGonagle came on and said, ‘We are under attack by unidentified jet aircraft,’” one crewman recalled. “They hit us with rockets, 30mm cannon fire, and napalm. You could smell human flesh burning.”
In the opening moments, five of six HF antennas were destroyed—effectively silencing the ship. Only a single emergency backup line remained. “That was no accident,” another survivor said. “They hit all our antennas first to cut our communications.”
When the jets withdrew, three Israeli torpedo boats arrived. This time, the markings were clear. At first, the crew believed they were there to assist. Then they heard the chilling announcement: “Stand by for torpedo attack.”
One of the five torpedoes struck the communications center, killing 25 men instantly. “It took every communicator out,” said Lewis. “I was the only one in that room to survive.”
Blood and debris coated the decks. Fires raged below. Makeshift surgeries were performed in the mess hall. “One medic tied a life vest around a dying man’s stomach to keep his insides from spilling out,” recalled Tourney. The ship began to list heavily.
Help never came.
“We couldn’t understand why hour after hour went by and no one came,” said one sailor. “We were abandoned by our country. They left us to die.”
In fact, help had been dispatched—but then called back. Aircraft were launched from the USS Saratoga, only to be ordered to return to base. “We had 12 planes in the air,” a Navy pilot said. “Then they told us to turn back. We were never told why.”
Tourney says that decision came from the top. “LBJ told them, ‘Do not help Liberty. I will not embarrass my ally Israel.’” The implications were clear: the betrayal wasn’t just foreign—it was American.
The attack didn’t end with the torpedoes. Survivors say the Israeli boats circled the Liberty for over an hour, machine-gunning anything that moved, including firefighters and stretcher bearers. Life rafts were shot at in the water—one was retrieved and taken aboard the Israeli vessel.
“They weren’t trying to disable us,” said one crew member. “They were trying to kill us all. This was not friendly fire. This was a hit.”
Even some Israeli pilots reportedly questioned the orders mid-strike, asking superiors if they were sure the target wasn’t American. “Are you sure you can’t see a flag? It looks like an American ship,” one radio transmission allegedly said. The mission continued anyway.
Many survivors and analysts now believe the attack was meant to be a false flag—a covert attempt to frame Egypt and draw the United States into the war on Israel’s side. “The objective was to sink the ship, kill all survivors, blame it on the Egyptians, and bring America in,” said a former officer.
But the Liberty didn’t sink. A single emergency transmission made it out, and the ship managed to stay afloat. That failure may be the only reason the world ever learned of the incident at all.
The aftermath was a campaign of silence. Survivors were warned never to speak of what happened—threatened with court-martial, fines, or worse. Official inquiries were brief, heavily redacted, and never followed up.
Even today, survivors say they are smeared as conspiracy theorists or worse. “They called us Nazis, anti-Semites, liars,” Tourney said. “But we were there. We know what happened.”
So why has Congress never launched a full investigation? Many believe the answer lies in political pressure and media suppression. “Mainstream outlets won’t touch it,” said Tourney. “They’re afraid to.”
There are growing concerns about how public opinion is shaped—especially on this topic. Several independent creators have revealed how influencers are courted with free trips to Israel and lucrative sponsorship deals, often with the unspoken understanding that they produce favorable content. “You take the trip, and when you come back, it’s suddenly ‘Israel First’—all the talking points, all the shifts. It happens like clockwork,” one commentator said.
The survivors of the Liberty, meanwhile, continue to gather at reunions, run their modest website, and speak out wherever they can. They say their fight is not one of vengeance—but of truth.
“They said it was an accident,” said one sailor. “It wasn’t. It was planned. It was deliberate.”
Tourney, whose family has served in war zones across generations, remains committed to exposing what happened. “We love this country. That’s why we’re fighting for it. We want justice. We want the truth.”
A Congressional investigation remains elusive. Presidents have looked away. Lawmakers stay silent. But the voices of the Liberty’s crew grow louder with each passing year, demanding what they’ve been denied for nearly 60: accountability.
“This was cold-blooded murder,” Tourney said. “And the only reason I’m alive to talk about it is because someone got that SOS out. Otherwise, we’d be gone—and the lie would live forever.”
To support the USS Liberty survivors or learn more about their story, visit:
👉 www.USSLibertyVeterans.org
📕 What I Saw That Day by Phil Tourney
