Assault on the Liberty: The True Story of the Israeli Attack on an American Intelligence Ship

New York: Randon House, 1979. 299 pages. Illustrated. Signed and inscribed on the title page as "Jim Ennes". Signed again above the printed name of the author, "James M. Ennes, Jr." Light soiling and foxing along page edges, several tears along the edge of the dust jacket. From the dust jacket: "In June 1967, jet aircraft and motor torpedo boats of Israel brutally assaulted an American naval vessel, the USS Liberty, in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula i n the Mediterranean Sea. The attack was preceded by more than six hours of intense low-level surveillance by Israeli photo-reconnaissance aircraft, which buzzed the intelligence ship thirteen times, sometimes flying as low as 200 feet directly overhead. The carefully orchestrated assault that followed was initiated by high-performance jet aircraft, was followed up by slower and more maneuverable jets carrying napalm, and finally turned over to lethal torpedo boats, which blasted a forty-foot hold in the ship's side...The attack lasted more than two hours--killing 34 Americans and wounding 171 others--and inflicted 821 rocket and machine-gun holes in the ship. And when the Liberty stubbornly remained afloat despite her damage, Israeli forces machine-gunned her life rafts and sent troop-carrying helicopters in to finish the job. At this point, with Sixth Fleet rescue aircraft finally en route, the government of Israel apologized and the attacking forces suddenly withdrew. Only then did the identity of the assailants become known...Details of the attack were hushed up in both countries. Israel claimed that her forces mistook the Liberty for an Egyptian ship, and government quietly accepted that excuse despite evidence to the contrary. Then our government diwnplayed the intensity of the surveillance and the severity of the attack, and imposed a news blackout to keep the story under control...". Hard Cover. Good/Good. Israel.