[Herman]

The 13th NEW Harpoon scenario of the year!

The Pueblo Incident

"A sterner test of Phase One morale occurred during the first half of March 1968. Following the seizure of the USS Pueblo, two carriers with their screens were sent far north to the Sea of Japan. A contingency plan was invoked that committed the Enterprise and Ticonderoga to launch air strikes against North Korean airfields.

Air Force planes in South Korea were to have coordinated with the two navy air wings, but it was still a vastly lopsided proposition. The carriers were assigned seven airfields at which were based more than two hundred MiGs. Intelligence briefings detailed the enemy order of battle: ninety-one MiG-21s, seventy-six MiG-17s, and thirty-five MiG-19s. It was estimated that at least half the North Korean fighter force would be airborne by the time the strikes arrived. Against this, we had twenty operational Phantoms and eighteen Crusaders to escort the strike birds.

The fighters were spread mighty thin. One target was to be struck by ten A-4s escorted by a pair of F-8s.

Nobody slept much that night. A good many farewell letters were written in expectation of the worst, though "the worst" varied from one man to another, according to his outlook. If forced down alive, the pilots knew they faced brutal captivity in a land ruled by barbarians. A safe bailout into the sea was only marginally more attractive -- the water was studded with ice, and even in "poopy suits" survival would be measured in minutes.

Yet nobody backed out. Launch was scheduled for 0600, and at 0430 aircrews were suiting up or eating breakfast. The briefings were grim. There was absolutely no joking. But sometime before 0500 word came through that the mission was scrubbed. It was never known if political considerations swayed the decision makers in Washington, or if military reality forced itself upon them. In either case, two air wings heaved a collective sigh of relief.

But the point worth making is that morale held. Knowing the odds against returning were extremely slim, every pilot assigned to the strike would have manned his airplane and launched. They would rather died than looked bad."

Excerpt from "On Yankee Station -- The Naval Air War over Vietnam", pp. 36-7, Barrett Tillman, John B. Nichols, Naval Institute Press, 1987

Author: Herman Hum

The Pueblo Incident Pacific Rim\Pueblo.SCN

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