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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Contributed by Mike Smolinski

USS Pueblo (AGER-2)
ex
 USS Pueblo (AKL-44) (1966 - 1967)
US Army FS-344 (1944 - 1954)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Golf - Victor - Echo
NGVE
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive)
Bottom Row - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Korea) - Korean Defense Service Medal
Individual Awards
Award
Recipient
Navy Cross Sgt. Robert J. Hammond USMC
Silver Star Silver Star FN Duane Hodges USN, and LTjg. Frederic Carl Schumacher USN)
Bronze Star Ron K. Berens, Robert J. Chicca, Timothy L. Harris, Peter M. Langenberg, Wendell G. Leach, F. Carl Schumacher
Purple Heart CDR. Lloyd M. Bucher, FN Duane Hodges
Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medal (Combat V) All Crew members
Navy Achievement Medal (Combat V) Ruchel J. Blansett, Monroe O. Goldman, Charles B. Law Jr., Lawrence N. Mack, John Mitchell, Clifford C. Nolte, Ralph E. Reed and Angelo Strano
Prisoner of War Medal All Crew members
Camano Class Light Cargo Ship:
  • Laid down in 1944 for the US Army as Small Freighter FP-344 at Kewaunee Shipbuilding and Engineering Corp., Kewaunee, WI.
  • Launched, 16 April 1944
  • Redesignated FS-344, date unknown
  • Delivered to the US Army, 5 July 1944 and commissioned US Army FS-344
  • Placed out of service in 1954
  • Transferred to the Navy, 12 April 1966
  • Named Pueblo (AKL-44), 18 June 1966
  • Converted to a Banner Class Environmental Research Ship at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA.
  • Commissioned USS Pueblo (AGER-2), 13 May 1967, LCDR. Lloyd M. Bucher USN in command
  • Boarded by North Korean forces, 23 January 1968, 82 crew members imprisoned in North Korea
  • Final Disposition, held in nominal commissioned status to protect from seizure and open to public viewing at Wonson, North Korea as a propaganda monument to "evil Americans".

    Specifications:
    Displacement 550 t.
    Length 177'
    Beam 33'
    Draft 10'
    Speed 12 kts.
    Complement
    (AKL) 42
    (AGER) 83
    Armament
    (AKL) none
    (AGER) four .50 cal machine guns
    Propulsion two 500hp GM Cleveland Division 6-278A 6-cyl V6 diesel engines, twin screws
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed By/Source
    US Army Small Freighter FP-344
    Pueblo 91k US Army Small Freighter US Army FP-344 photographed shortly after launching, at Kewaunee Shipbuilding & Engineering Corp. Shipyard, Kewaunee, WI., 16 April 1944. FP-344 was later renamed FS-344. Transferred to the Navy in 1966, she became Pueblo (AGER-2).
    US Navy photo # NH 74689, courtesy Kewaunee Shipbuilding Corp., 1968    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Pueblo 86k US Army Small Freighter US Army FP-344 fitting out at the Kewaunee Shipbuilding & Engineering Corp. Shipyard, Kewaunee, WI., circa July 1944.
    US Navy photo # NH 74690, courtesy Kewaunee Shipbuilding Corp., 1968    		 US Naval Historical Center
    USS Pueblo (AKL-44)
    Pueblo 105k USS Pueblo (AKL-44) moored pierside, 18 June 1966, location unknown.
    US Navy photo from the collections of the US Navy Memorial    		 Stan Svec
    USS Pueblo (AGER-2)
    Pueblo 128k During the commissioning ceremony of USS Pueblo (AGER-2), 13 May 1967, at Bremerton, WA. the commanding officer, LCDR Lloyd M. Bucher, accepts a bronze plaque from Mr. Jack Osbourne, President of the Pueblo, CO., city council. In the center of the photo is CT2 Donald M. McClarren.
    AP Wirephoto    		 Ron Reeves
    Pueblo 83k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) in port, circa 1967. Photograph received by Naval Photographic Center January 1968.
    US Navy photo # USN 1129296    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Pueblo 80k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) off San Diego, CA., 19 October 1967.
    US Navy photo # USN 1129208    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Pueblo 80k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) off San Diego, CA., 19 October 1967.
    US Navy photo # USN 1129207    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Pueblo 49k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) underway, date and location unknown. Dennis Clouse
    Pueblo 99k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) underway, circa 1967, location unknown. .
    Pueblo 97k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) underway, date and location unknown. From collection of Frank Guilfoy
    via USS Oxford (AG-159/AGTR-1)
    Web Site
    Pueblo 118k CDR. Lloyd M. Bucher, Commanding Officer of USS Pueblo (AGER-2), receiving the Purple Heart.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 75565.    		 Robert Hurst
    Pueblo 143k CDR. Lloyd M. Bucher, Commanding Officer of USS Pueblo (AGER-2) at Court of Inquiry, January 1969. Ron Reeves
    Pueblo 129k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) at Wonsan after its capture by North Korea, 26 January 1968. Photo CIA. Robert Hurst
    Pueblo 82k
    Pueblo 67k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) moored at Pyongyang in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, on the Taedong River. The photographer of this image has elected to remain anonymous. Robert Hurst
    Pueblo 956k North Korean postcard of USS Pueblo (AGER-2) reads "U.S. Armed Spy Ship Pueblo". Photo shows the ship on the Taedong River at Pyongyang, North Korea. Tommy Trampp
    Pueblo 133k North Korean postage stamp on reverse side of above postcard of USS Pueblo (AGER-2). Tommy Trampp
    Pueblo 100k North Korean tour guide speaking in front of the captured USS Pueblo (AGER-2) on the Taedong River in Pyongyang, next to the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum, summer 2004. Photo courtesy of the Korean Friendship Association (KFA). Robert Hurst
    USS Pueblo Memorabilia
    Pueblo
    Commemorative Coin (front)
    Contributed by Tommy Trampp    		 Pueblo
    Commemorative Coin (back)
    Contributed by Tommy Trampp    		 Pueblo
    Memorial plaque
    Confederate Prison Museum, Andersonville, GA.
    February 2003
    Contributed by Robert Hall
    USS Pueblo (AGER-2)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    USS Pueblo (AGER-2)
    US Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To The Service Ship Photo Index Back To the Light Cargo Ship (AKL) Photo Index Back To the Environmental Research Ship (AGER) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 15 February 2013