11.
he has assumed the responsibilities of assisting the Commanding Officer in sailing the ship from point of rendezv0us to destination of Malta. A message
of condolence from the ship has been sent to BUPERS with the request that it be delivered to the next of kin at the funeral or memorial services conducted for the deceased and those missing in action. A personal letter from the Comi- manding Officer to the next of kin will be prepared and sent at the earliest possible time. Dr. Diepfer, and the two pharmacist mates will also be awarded letters of commendation from the Commanding Officer.
The court recessed at 1620 hours, 14 June 1967,
The court opened at 1645 hours, 14 June 1967. All persons connected with the inquiry who were present when the court recessed are again present in court. Commander William McGonagle, U. 5, Navy, resumed his position on the stand as a witness.
DIRECT EXAMINATION QuestiOns by counsel for the court:
Q: Captain, will you please continue with your description of the incident?
A; On further recollectiOn of the event involving machine gun 53 firing; the effectiveness of the firing leads me to believe that a person, whom I believe to be QUINTERO, Boatswain Mate Seaman, to have been On station at machine gim 53 and took the torpedo boats under fire. It is possible that he evacuated his statiOn as a result of the fire and flames from the motor whaleboat prior to Ensign Lucas’ arriving to determine who was on the mount. For clarification purposes, the 50 caliber machine guns that areon board USS LIBERTY are BrOWning machine guns, M2, heavy barrel, with a rate of fire of 450 to 500 rounds per minute. These machine guns are mounted on a pedestal and are aircooled weap0ns. Two men can effectively serve the gun. One as gunner, who uses an Open sight; the other individual, the leader, who keeps ammunition up to the chamber. These machine guns are manually controlled. There is no director means of controlling the fire. The limiting stops for are of fire of these weapons c0nsist of piping, bent in a shape to prevent the gun barrel from being pointed at a direction which would harm the ship or any portion of its structure, and the outer edge of the gun tubs themselves which offer very limited splinter protection. The machine guns themselves do not have any splinter shields attached. These machine guns are not considered mounts in the normal Navy terminology of a mount. They should be considered more as pedestal mounted
machine guns.
