PUEBLO SITREP NO. 25

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02391210
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: March 16, 2022
• Document Release Date: July 5, 2016
• Case Number: F-2015-00887
• Publication Date: January 31, 1968

Approved for Release: 2015/12/22 002391210
UU1NF1L1TI
(0115:CZ-cc/ )
r
I. j
OCI No. 01912/68
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Directorate of Intelligence
31 January 1968
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
Pueblo Sitrep No. 25
(As of 5 PM EST)
1. North Korea has indicated it may eventually
be willing to discuss the Pueblo issue with the US
at Panmunjon. Kim Kwang-Hyop, a member of the
secretariat of the central committee of North Korea's
communist party, said today in Pyongyang that "there
is a precedent for the treatment of similar cases
(as the Pueblo incident) at the Korean Military
Armistice Commission." "It is a miscalculation,"
Kim continued, "if the US imperialists think that
they can solve the incident of the intrusion of the
Pueblo into the territorial waters of our country
by military threats or by the method of aggressive
war or through illegal discussion at the United Na-
tions." He added, however, that "it will be a dif-
ferent story if they want to solve this question by
method of the previous practice."
2. The precedent Kim mentions probably refers
to negotiations at Panmunjon in 1963-1964 which re-
sulted in the release of two US helicopter pilots
downed in North Korea.
3. According to preliminary reports, the des-
troyer Rowan was in a collision with a Soviet mer-
chant ship at 2:52 PM this afternoon. The Rowan
, was accompanying the Ranger task group about 50
1 miles off the South Korean coast. The Soviet ship,
the 11,000 tons Kapitan Vislobokov, was en route
, to Odessa from Vladivostok when the collision oc-
curred. There is no information yet on the extent
of the damage suffered by either ship.
(b)(3)
CONF AL
Approved for Release: 2015/12/22 002391210
Approved for Release: 2015/12/22 002391210
ET
No Foreign ssem
No 0634/68
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Directorate of Intelligence
1 February 1968
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
Supplement to Pueblo Sitrep No. 25
(Information as of 12 Midnight 31 January)
1. At 1:53 PM EST on 31 January the USS Rowan,
a destroyer escorting the attack carrier Ranger,
was involved in a collision with a Soviet merchant
ship. The Soviet ship--the merchant vessel Kapitan
Vislobokov--approached the Rowan, which was return-
ing to its station after replenishment, from the
north. The two ships' courses gave the Rowan the
right of way which required it to maintain course
and speed until in clear danger of colliding with
the other ship.
2. The Rowan maintained speed until a collision
appeared imminent, whereupon the Rowan turned away
from the path of the Soviet ship and one minute later
gave the emergency-collision signal and reversed
its engines. The collision occurred three minutes
later.
3. The Rowan received a three-foot hole above
the waterline on the port (left) side. The Soviet
ship signaled it had "damage to my stern two meters
in length" and "no assistance required".
eign Dissem
SE
Approved for Release: 2015/12/22 002391210
Approved for Release: 2015/12/22 002391210
SR
CHINA
NORTH
KOREA
� P'yongyang
Yellow Sea
()SEOUL
SOUTH
KOREA
Pusan
0
East China Sea
Vladivostok
0
SEA OF JAPAN
Collision of
USS Rowan and
x Kapitan Vislobokov
0
Osaka
TOKYO
(b)(3)
Approved for Release: 2015/12/22 002391210