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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive


Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Contributed by Al Grazevich

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


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Golf - Victor - Echo

NGVE

USAV FS-344 was manned by the US Coast Guard during World War II
FS-344 Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal


AGER-2 Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, 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,
  • Commissioned USAV FS-344 in July 1944, LT.J.R. Choate, USCGR, in command
  • LT. Choate was succeeded to command by LTjg. Marvin B. Barker, USCGR, 12 September 1945
  • USAV FS-344 was assigned to train Army civilian mariners
  • 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
  • Held in nominal commissioned status to protect from seizure and open to public viewing at Wonsan, North Korea as a propaganda monument to "evil Americans".

  • Berth shifted to Botong River, Pyongyang, North Korea, 27 July 2013
    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 propellers

    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Contributed By/Source
    USAV FP-344
    Pueblo
    09610229
    92k FS-344 sponsor's party at the ship's launching, at Kewaunee, Wisconsin, 16 April 1944. The sponsor, Mrs. C.L. Duvall, is in the right foreground. She was the mother of Lieutenant C.G. Duvall, USAAC, who had recently been killed in the crash of a bomber. Also present are (from left to right): H.C. Brogan, Vice President and General Manager, Kewaunee Shipbuilding & Engineering Corporation; C.L. Duvall, Mayor of Kewaunee, Wisc.; and The Reverend L.A. Spooner, of the Kewaunee Congregational Church, who delivered the invocation at the ceremonies. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 74688 Courtesy of Kewaunee Shipbuilding Corp., 1968. Tommy Trampp
    Pueblo 91k USAV 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 History and Heritage Command
    Pueblo 86k USAV 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 History and Heritage Command
    Pueblo
    09610223
    187k USAV FP-344 at anchor in Manila Bay, P.I., 21 August 1946
    US National Archives 111-SCA-Album 2926-048, US Army Signal Corps photo SC 255480
    Vincent M. Solinap
    USS Pueblo (AKL-44)
    Pueblo
    09610230
    498k
    Namesake
    Pueblo - Historic Arkansas River Walk of Pueblo Colorado
    Tommy Trampp
    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 History and Heritage Command
    Pueblo 80k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) off San Diego, CA., 19 October 1967.
    US Navy photo # USN 1129208
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Pueblo 80k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) off San Diego, CA., 19 October 1967.
    US Navy photo # USN 1129207
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Pueblo 49k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) underway, date and location unknown. Dennis Clouse
    Pueblo 197k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) underway, circa 1967, location unknown. Mike Smolinski
    Pueblo 97k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) underway, circa 1967, location unknown. From collection of Frank Guilfoy
    via USS Oxford (AG-159/AGTR-1)
    Web Site
    Pueblo
    09610224
    72k The Communist North Koreans were quite jubilant over the capture of USS Pueblo (AGER-2). They produced a leaflet depicting a heroic North Korean soldier holding the ship and crew. The text is: This is the People's Army's answer to provocation. American Imperialist, tread lightly!
    Photo courtesy SGM Herbert A. Friedman Psychological Operations
    Tommy Trampp
    Pueblo
    09610225
    165k North Korean's photographed some of the repentant sinners and criminal crew of USS Pueblo (AGER-2) for propaganda purposes. The crew all obliged with a one-finger salute, a propaganda statement apparently not understood by their communist captors.
    Photo courtesy SGM Herbert A. Friedman Psychological Operations
    Tommy Trampp
    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
    09610226
    68k North Korean propaganda found at the South's presidential compound praising Pyongyang. Activists in the North and South regularly use balloons to carry leaflets across the Demilitarised Zone.
    Asiaone News Psychological Operations
    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
    Pueblo
    09610227
    193k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) port side 2010 at Taedong River dock.
    ©John Pavella/Flickr USS Pueblo (AGER-2)
    Tommy Trampp
    Pueblo
    09610228
    289k USS Pueblo (AGER-2) starboard side 2012 at Taedong River dock.
    ©Joseph A. Ferris (III) USS Pueblo (AGER-2)
    Tommy Trampp
    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
    09610231
    125k Pueblo Rescue Patch In 1968, USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) was stationed off the coast of Vietnam. On board was VA-195, along with several other squadrons. The officers and enlisted men were enraged with the capture of the USS Pueblo (AGER-2) off the coast of North Korea. The entire military establishment felt this way, but several of the officers of the USS Ticonderoga wanted to express their anger by making a military patch, and organizing the USS Pueblo Recovery Team.
    Patch provided by Richard E. Armstrong
    Tommy Trampp

    USS Pueblo Memorabilia
    Pueblo
    Commemorative Coin
    Contributed by Tommy Trampp
    Pueblo
    09610212
    Commemorative Coin
    Contributed by Tommy Trampp
    Pueblo
    Memorial plaque
    Confederate Prison Museum, Andersonville, GA.
    February 2003
    Contributed by Robert Hall

    USS Pueblo (AGER-2)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    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 US Army Ship Index Back To The US Army Freight and Supply Vessel Index Back To the US Navy Light Cargo Ship (AKL) Photo Index Back To the US Navy Environmental Research Ship (AGER) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 20 August 2021