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0731Z 15 June 1967 transmitted message text from
Naval Communications Station, Greece to
Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces Europe

P 150731Z JUN 67
FM NAVCOMMSTA GREECE
TO CINCUSNAVEUR
BT
C O N F I D E N T I A L
SUBJ USS LIBERTY COMMUNICATIONS
A. YOUR 141629Z JUN 67
1. IAW REF A FOLLOWING INFO FORWARDED. SUB-PARAGRAPHS KEYED TO
REFERENCE.
   A. COMSIXTHFLT 080917Z RECEIVED FROM MAJRELSTA ASMARA (AEZ) AT
081238Z.
   B. NAVCOMMSTA GREECE WAS INADVERTANT RELAY POINT. NORMAL DELIVERY
PATH FROM ORIGINATOR TO ADDEE WOULD HAVE BY-PASSED THISTA. ONCE
RECEIVED, HOWEVER, NAVCOMMSTA GREECE HAD TO PROTECT FOR RUQPNA
NAVCOMMSTA ASMARA. THIS WAS THE ONLY ADDEE IN THE ROUTING LINE WHEN
RECEIVED THISTA.
   C. HANDLED AS ANY OBOE MSG ALONG WITH OTHERS OF EQUAL AND HIGHER
PRECEDENCE. DCS RELAY HANDLED 251 FLASH MSGS ON 08 JUN RADAY. OBOE
TRAFFIC COUNT SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER, ESTIMATE 1500. EXACT COUNT WOULD
REQUIRE SEVERAL DAYS EFFORT. TOTAL TRAFFIC HANDLED IN THIS TORN TAPE
RELAY ON 08 JUNE WAS 5718 MSGS.
   D. NO PERSONNEL RECOGNITION OR SPECIAL ACTION REQUIRED ON THE
PARTICULAR MSG AS IT CARRIED A VALID ROUTING MULTIPLE ADDRESS
PROCESSING UNIT (MAPU) AUTOMATICALLY RE-ROUTED MSG BACK TO MAJRELSTA
ASMARA (AEZ) SEND POSITIONS. MAPU IS A MEMORY CORE DEVICE PROGRAMMED
WITH PRE-DETERMINED ROUTING INDICATORS. ALL RUQP TRAFFIC, REGARDLESS
OF RECEIVE ORIGIN, WILL BE DIRECTED TO THE AEZ SEND POSITIONS BY THIS
DEVICE.
   E. DUE TO EXTREMELY HEAVY TRAFFIC CONDITIONS, IT IS DOUBTFUL THAT
THE MISSENT (NOT MISROUTED) MSG WAS EVER CONSIDERED FOR RE-ROUTE
ACTION. THISTA HANDLES MANY OBOE MSGS TO NAVCOMMSTA ASMARA WITHOUT
REQUIREMENT TO PASS VIA DIRECT CIRCUITRY. DIRECT CIRCUITRY CARRIES
A DIFFERENT ROUTING THAN DCS COMMON USER CIRCUITRY AND DELIVERY MEANS
IS DETERMINED BY THE ORIGINATOR, NOT THE RELAY STATION. RE-ROUTE
ACTION DIRECT TO NAVCOMMSTA ASMARA WOULD HAVE ENTAILED CUTTING A
A NEW ON THE MSG BY HAND, THEN PASSING TO A COMPLETELY SEPARATE
RELAY (NAVCOMMOPNET) AT THISTA FOR DELIVERY VIA DIRECT CIRCUITRY.
CONSIDER NEGATIVE RECOUP OF LOST TIME BY THIS METHOD.
   F. TRAFFIC VOLUMES 29 MAY - 2 JUN WERE APROX THREE-FOURTHS AS
HEAVY AS PERIOD 3-9 JUN. PRECEDECES 29 MAY-2 JUN MUCH LOWER. VERY
LITTLE FLASH AND OBOE TRAFFIC PASSED. VOLUMES FEB VERSUS JUNE LESS
THAN TWO-THIRDS AS HIGH. NO HIGH PRECEDENCE TRAFFIC OF CONSEQUENCE
IN FEB. DIRECT COMPARISON FIGURES CAN BE FURNISHED BUT WILL REQUIRE
TIME FOR COMPILATION.
   G. TOTAL PERSONNEL ALLOWANCE FOR NAVCOMMSTA GREECE IS 299. ON
BOARD COUNT IS 292. RM/CYN COMMUNICATIONS PERSONNEL ALLOWANCE IS 175.
ON BOARD 139. THESE ALLOWANCE FIGURES ARE FOR BOTH RECEIVER AND
TRANSMITTER SITES. CONTROL/TRAFFIC PERSONNEL HAVE BEEN IN A THREE
SECTION WATCH STATUS FOR THE PAST 14 MONTHS.
   H. LEADERSHIP AND EXPERIENCE LEVEL CONSIDERED MARGINAL BUT NOTHING
LACKING IN ENERGY AND ENTHUSIASM. EXAMPLE: 54 RM2 ALLOWED, 27 ON
BOARD; 12 RMSN ALLOWED, 25 ON BOARD.
   I. AT 081234Z JUN NAVCOMMSTA GREECE INTERCEPTED INITIAL LIBERTY
ATTACK REPORT FROM THE USS SARATOGA ON THE CINCUSNAVEUR E04.04
VOICE HI-COM NET. THIS WAS PUT IN TTY FORMAT AND RELAYED
VIA NAVCOMOPNET AND XRA BCST AS A NO DTG MSG, NAVCOMMSTA GREECE TIME OF
FILE 1239Z/8 JUN. SUBSEQUENT TO THE INITIAL REPORT, SARATOGA AND
NAVCOMMSTA GREECE PASSED ALL AMPLIFY
INFO OBTAINED VIA XRA
BCST, HI-COM NET, AND DIRECT TTY CIRCUITRY. DUE LIBERTY DESTRUCTION
OF CLASSIFIED MATERIAL ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO/FROM SHIP WAS LIMITED
TO VOICE TRANSMISSIONS. AFTER INITIAL ATTACK REPORT THISTA SHIFTED
TO BEAMED ANTENNAS SEND/RECEIVE TO IMPROVE SIGNAL QUALITY UNDER
EXTREMELY NOISY CKT CONDITIONS. RELIABLE COMM WITH SARATOGA AND
LIBERTY WERE MAINTAINED BY THIS ACTION ALTHOUGH CIRCUIT DEGRADATION
OCCURED TO OTHER STATIONS ON THE NET. NAVCOMMSTA GREECE ASSUMED
RELAY RESPONSIBILITIES FOR LIBERTY AND COORDINATED SPEED, COURSE,
AND ESCORT RDVU INSTRUCTIONS FROM COMSIXTHFLT. COMDESRON 12,
ASSIGNED AS ESCORT, TERMINATED FULL PERIOD ORESTES THISTA AT 0030Z/9
JUN AND RDVU EFFECTED 0424Z/9 JUN. COMDESRON 12 ASSUMED COMM GUARD
FOR LIBERTY AND MAJORITY OF TRAFFIC PASSED AFTER RDVU WAS VIA DIRECT
SHIP/SHORE TERMINATION.
2. COMDESRON 12 REMAINS TERMINATED NAVCOMMSTA GREECE UNTIL FURTHER
NOTICE.
GP-4
BT

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