PHOTOGRAPHIC INSERT

An Israeli torpedo boat zooms past the Liberty during the attack. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

Firefighters extinguish the last of the blazes soon after the attack. (LLOYD PAINTER)

The forward machine gun tubs took direct fire during the air attack. (DENNIS EIKLEBERRY)

Blood from the dead gunners still stains the forecastle the morning after the attack. (DENNIS EIKLEBERRY)

The Liberty’s medical staff converted the mess deck into a makeshift hospital, covering tables with mattresses to serve as beds. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

Shell holes riddle the bridge and smokestack. (DENNIS EIKLEBERRY)

Commander William McGonagle displays an armor-piercing machine gun round fired at the Liberty during the attack. Note the shell hole on the wall behind him. (NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY)

Commander William McGonagle on the bridge at daybreak the morning after the attack. His right pant leg is gone, exposing his bloodstained leg. (FRANK MCINTURFF)

Dr. Peter Flynn, a surgeon from the aircraft carrier America, examines a patient on board the Liberty the morning after the attack. Dr. Richard Kiepfer, the Liberty’s only doctor, sits at the injured sailor’s feet. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

President Lyndon Johnson and his advisers gather in the Situation Room the day of the attack. From left to right: Clark Clifford, Robert McNamara, McGeorge Bundy, Dean Rusk, Johnson (back to camera), Nicholas Katzenbach, Llewellyn Thompson, and Walt Rostow. (YOICHI OKAMOTO/ LYNDON B. JOHNSON LIBRARY)

Sailors race the injured off a helicopter on board the aircraft carrier America the day after the attack. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

Injured Liberty crewmembers are escorted to a memorial service on the deck of the aircraft carrier America on June 10, 1967. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

President Johnson and his advisers gather in the Cabinet Room for a meeting of the Special Committee of the National Security Council the day after the attack. The Liberty is the focus of heated discussion. Clockwise from left: Robert McNamara, Clark Clifford, Harold Saunders, Walt Rostow, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Joseph Clark, Francis Bator, Nicholas Katzenbach, Dean Rusk, Lyndon Johnson (both with back to the camera). (YOICHI OKAMOTO/LYNDON B. JOHNSON LIBRARY)

The Liberty arrives in Malta on June 14, 1967. Only the top of the torpedo hole is visible above the waterline. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

Men haul caskets on board the Liberty in Malta. (U. S. NAVY)

The full scope of the torpedo’s damage is revealed as the ship sits on keel blocks in a Malta drydock. (DENNIS EIKLEBERRY)

Liberty Ensign Dave Lucas, center. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

Ensign John Scott inspects the shoring done by damage control crews to prevent the bulkhead from rupturing. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

Israeli Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin shakes hands with President Johnson at the door of the Oval Office. Rabin, who served as chief of staff during the Six-Day War, helped negotiate some of Israel’s reparations for the attack on the Liberty. (YOICHI OKAMOTO/LYNDON B. JOHNSON LIBRARY)

Families greet the Liberty on its return to Virginia on July 29, 1967. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)