What the USS Pueblo Incident Can Teach Marines about the LSM
By Keith T. Holcomb & Carl O. Schuster
June 11, 2024
What the USS Pueblo Incident Can Teach Marines about the LSM (formerly LAW)
Much ink has been spilled over the survivability of the proposed Landing Ship Medium (LSM) in the event of armed conflict with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the Pacific. Much less consideration has been given to the potential vulnerability of the LSM during “gray zone” activities—when the LSM is envisioned to be actively involved in shuttling Marine stand-in forces around the theater to complicate PRC intelligence collection and targeting efforts. Here the 1968 case of the USS Pueblo may be instructive, especially in light of the increasing sea-space volatility probable during the LSM’s 20-year service life.
Marine Corps officers advocating that the LSM be a commercial-style ship designed to blend in with commercial ships and to run and hide once the shooting starts would do well to study this long-forgotten incident. Should they choose to do so, they might discover that this cautionary tale has much to teach them. What they might term a relic of the Cold War could help ground their operational concepts and ship design to the harsh realities arising from peer competitor “gray zone” competition.
First, a quick overview for those not familiar with the USS Pueblo incident.
The USS Pueblo, formerly a light cargo ship (FS-344) converted to signals intelligence gathering, was seized off the coast of North Korea on 23 January 1968. The lightly armed ship was located and seized by the combined action of two North Korean fishing trawlers, two SO-1 Soviet-style submarine chasers, four torpedo boats, and two MIG-21 fighters. In the ensuing engagement, Fireman Duane Hodges was killed while destroying classified material, and the remaining 82 sailors, Marines, and civilians were taken captive along with significant amounts of highly classified material. The crew’s imprisonment and brutal treatment became a major international incident increasing Cold War tensions between the United States and Soviet Union. The 11-month ordeal ended after two signed confessions by the Pueblo’s skipper, Lieutenant Commander Lloyd M. Bucher, and a written apology by the US government. The USS Pueblo remains held by North Korea and is located in a canal adjacent to Fatherland Liberation War Museum.
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