A composite documentary by fifteen crew members of the USS Pueblo after eleven brutal months of imprisonment by the North Koreans.

For President Lyndon Johnson, 1968 was a year of calamity, including the hijacking of the USS Pueblo in international waters off North Korea. After a fierce attack by the North Korean Navy, the lightly armed spy ship was captured and its 83 crewmen taken hostage, imprisoned and tortured for nearly a year before being released. How and why did the Navy, the National Security Agency and the Johnson administration place the Pueblo in such an untenable situation? What drove Kim Il-sung, North Korea's autocrat, to gamble on hijacking a ship belonging to the world's most powerful nation? Drawing on extensive research, including summaries of White House meetings and conversations, the author answers these questions and reviews the events and flawed decisions that led to Pueblo's capture.

WINNER OF THE SAMUEL ELIOT MORISON AWARD FOR NAVAL LITERATURE “I devoured Act of War the way I did Flyboys, Flags of Our Fathers and Lost in Shangri-la.”—Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author In 1968, the small, dilapidated American spy ship USS Pueblo set out to pinpoint military radar stations along the coast of North Korea. Though packed with advanced electronic-surveillance equipment and classified intelligence documents, its crew, led by ex–submarine officer Pete Bucher, was made up mostly of untested young sailors. On a frigid January morning, the Pueblo was challenged by a North Korean gunboat. When Bucher tried to escape, his ship was quickly surrounded by more boats, shelled and machine-gunned, forced to surrender, and taken prisoner. Less than forty-eight hours before the Pueblo’s capture, North Korean commandos had nearly succeeded in assassinating South Korea’s president. The two explosive incidents pushed Cold War tensions toward a flashpoint. Based on extensive interviews and numerous government documents released through the Freedom of Information Act, Act of War tells the riveting saga of Bucher and his men as they struggled to survive merciless torture and horrendous living conditions set against the backdrop of an international powder keg.

Mitchell Lerner now examines for the first time the details of this crisis and uses the incident as a window through which to better understand the limitations of American foreign policy during the Cold War." "Drawing on thousands of pages of recently declassified documents from President Lyndon Johnson's administration, along with dozens of interviews with those involved, Lerner provides the most complete and accurate account of the Pueblo incident to date."--BOOK JACKET.

WINNER OF THE SAMUEL ELIOT MORISON AWARD FOR NAVAL LITERATURE “I devoured Act of War the way I did Flyboys, Flags of Our Fathers and Lost in Shangri-la.”—Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author In 1968, the small, dilapidated American spy ship USS Pueblo set out to pinpoint military radar stations along the coast of North Korea. Though packed with advanced electronic-surveillance equipment and classified intelligence documents, its crew, led by ex–submarine officer Pete Bucher, was made up mostly of untested young sailors. On a frigid January morning, the Pueblo was challenged by a North Korean gunboat. When Bucher tried to escape, his ship was quickly surrounded by more boats, shelled and machine-gunned, forced to surrender, and taken prisoner. Less than forty-eight hours before the Pueblo’s capture, North Korean commandos had nearly succeeded in assassinating South Korea’s president. The two explosive incidents pushed Cold War tensions toward a flashpoint. Based on extensive interviews and numerous government documents released through the Freedom of Information Act, Act of War tells the riveting saga of Bucher and his men as they struggled to survive merciless torture and horrendous living conditions set against the backdrop of an international powder keg.

It was a miracle worthy of the season. When Captain Leonard La Rue spied from his twelve-man merchant ship, the Meredith Victory, the throng of Korean refugees on the docks of a city in flames, he didn't hesitate to do what others would consider impossible. In December of 1950, La Rue and his skeleton crew rescued fourteen thousand Korean refugees from the hands of the rapidly-approaching Chinese army in the city of Hungnam. Through the night and next day, a seemingly endless succession of refugees boarded the Meredith, their will to live and strong spirit steeling them against the bitter cold and incredibly crowded conditions. Standing shoulder to shoulder for three days the refugees and crew stoically endured as La Rue steered the ship through sea battle, a thirty-mile web of sea mines, and enemy shelling. "Ship of Miracles" is the incredible story of what has been called "the greatest rescue operation by a single ship in the history of mankind." Against all odds, the little merchant vessel transported its precious cargo to the island of Koje-Do on Christmas Eve completely unharmed, all fourteen thousand refugees alive and well, including an additional five new lives begun on this incredible journey. As the fiftieth anniversary of this miraculous rescue approaches, "Ship of Miracles" is as touching today as it was then; a tale you'll hold close to your heart, and return to time and again. While the United States Navy prepares to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the perilous evacuation at Hungnam and honor the Meredith Victory's miraculous feat, read this never-before-told account from the crew themselves, as they relate the incredible and unbelievable details of their three-day journey from fear to freedom.