The Soviet Premier's Strange Gift to the US President

In late June 1967, Soviet Premier Aleksey Kosygin met with then US President Lyndon Johnson.

While on the subject of Vietnam, Mr. Kosygin presented Mr. Johnson with an unexploded 20mm shell fired from an American gun that had landed on the deck of the Soviet merchant ship "Turkestan" three weeks earlier.

Soviet merchant ship "Turkestan".

During the years of the American air war against North Vietnam, the activities of Soviet sailors delivering military equipment and aid to North Vietnam and the patriotic forces of the South were not only difficult but also deadly. The fate of the merchant ship "Turkestan" of the Soviet Far Eastern Shipping Company is an example.

In early 1967, the Turkestan made three visits to Vietnamese ports. On the third trip, in April 1967, the ship delivered aid from Vladivostok to Haiphong. At that time, the crew held a rally in support of the just cause of Vietnamese patriots and expressed their desire to become collective members of the Soviet-Vietnamese Friendship Association. A telegram informing them of this request was sent to Moscow. The next day, they received a reply telegram from the Chairman of the Soviet-Vietnamese Friendship Association, Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of Labor of Vietnam, cosmonaut German Titov: We are pleased to comply with the crew's request.

At the end of May 1967, the merchant ship "Turkestan" made its fourth trip to Vietnam, this time anchoring to unload cargo - construction materials - in the waters of Cam Pha port, and then began to receive Hong Gai coal for transport to Japan. On June 2, the US Air Force raided the city, two American fighter planes swooped down on the merchant ship Turkestan, dropped a bomb that exploded a few dozen meters from the ship, then fired artillery and a series of large-caliber machine gun rounds. The Turkestan suffered 67 holes. The cockpit and the bridge on the ship were damaged. Seven sailors were injured, one of whom died. It was electrician Nikolai Rybachuk.

"Our ship had all the signs of the Soviet state, - said Captain Viktor Sokolov, - On the stern mast - the Soviet flag, on the tube of which was a red background with a golden hammer and sickle. The ship was anchored about 400 meters from the shore, there were no other ships around. Our ship was in sight of the American pilots, and they aimed their guns at the superstructure of the ship, where the crew lived and worked. They fired very accurately, not a single shot at the bow or stern, where there was no one."

Merchant ship electrician Turkestan Nikolai Rybachuk was killed in Cam Pha.

After this airstrike, Cam Pha Port Director Le Van said: "I witnessed the shelling of the Turkestan ship. I admire the endurance and courage of the Soviet sailors. We are very close to them. Most of the ships that call at our port are Soviet ships. Soviet sailors often help us with unloading and repairing technical equipment. The port staff sincerely thank the Soviet sailors. And we will always remember the sailors on the Turkestan ship who shed their blood for the victory of the Vietnamese patriots."

On June 5, 1967, the Turkestan left Cam Pha port with its flag at half-mast. A few months later, after being repaired, the Turkestan returned to Vietnam with aid.

The US government denied involvement in the attack on the Soviet ship three times. At first, the Pentagon said that they had no information about the shelling of the Soviet ship by American aircraft. Later, they asserted that the Soviet ship was damaged by Vietnamese anti-aircraft artillery. And only after the Soviet ambassador to the United States informed US Secretary of State Dean Rusk that an unexploded shell fired from an American gun was found on the deck of the "Turkistan", Washington was forced to admit that American aircraft were responsible for the shelling of the Soviet ship. And the Soviet Premier presented the US President with that shell.

In the early 1970s, the Soviet Far Eastern Shipping Company received a new ship named Nikolai Rybachuk, the electrician who had died at Cam Pha. This ship also made trips to Vietnam.

According to Sputnik