Why didn't they use better weapons appropriate for the task? The planes that attacked the Liberty dropped napalm on it and strafed it with their cannons. While these attacks killed 9 of the crew and set it on fire they didn't come near to destroying the ship, A single 500 lb. bomb(Mk. 82) which Israel had in abundance would likely have blown Liberty in half, quickly sinking it and killing the entire crew. Yet the Israelis didn''t use larger, appropriate weapons until the torpedo boats showed up. A single torpedo hit nearly sank Liberty and killed two dozen of the crew.
