"Things are going great, and they're only getting better"

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-01-26/news/mn-38572_1_u-s-ships

Los Angeles Times


U.S. to Reduce Ships in Mideast Force

January 26, 1988 Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci has authorized a small reduction in the number of U.S. warships deployed in the Persian Gulf, including the withdrawal of the battleship Iowa, Pentagon officials said Monday.

The officials, who insisted on anonymity, said the reduction will begin around Feb. 18. The total of ships assigned to the Middle East force will change only slightly--dropping by three or four--but the mix of ships will be realigned, the sources said.

At least 30 U.S. ships are assigned to the region, 17 inside the Persian Gulf and the others in the northern Arabian Sea.

The Navy will allow the Iowa and the amphibious helicopter carrier Okinawa to steam for home without replacing them with ships of the same type, the sources said. A number of regular, one-for-one rotations will also take place over the next month, they said.

The aircraft carrier Midway will be replaced by the carrier Enterprise in the northern Arabian Sea, and four other ships now operating inside the gulf will be replaced, the sources said. The cruiser Turner and frigates Carr, Elrod and Gallery will be replaced by the cruiser Wainwright and frigates Williams, Roberts and Simpson.










http://articles.latimes.com/1988-04-18/news/mn-1005_1_iranian-oil-platforms

Los Angeles Times


U.S. Attacks Iran Frigates, Oil Platforms, Sinks Boat : American Helicopter Is Missing

April 18, 1988 Times Wire Services

MANAMA, Bahrain — U.S. warships and aircraft destroyed two of Iran's Persian Gulf oil platforms today, sank a patrol boat and damaged two Iranian frigates that fired missiles at American planes.

Iranian naval forces responded with attacks on Arab oil facilities, U.S., British and Cypriot commercial vessels and on a press helicopter chartered by NBC.

It was the most intense direct U.S.-Iran conflict since President Reagan ordered last summer that Navy forces be strengthened in the gulf, where Iran and Iraq have been at war since September, 1980.

Later today Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci said that a two-man U.S. attack helicopter was missing and "we are concerned."

Defense Department officials said naval forces were searching for the Cobra chopper, a Marine aircraft that had been stationed aboard the cruiser Wainwright.

Washington called destruction of the oil platforms a "measured response" to the explosion of a mine, allegedly planted by Iran, that blew a hole in an American frigate last week and wounded 10 sailors.

Reagan said today's operations were a warning to Iran that "we will protect our ships and, if they threaten us, they'll pay a price. We undertook this action to make sure the Iranians have no illusions about the cost of irresponsible behavior."

No casualties were reported among U.S. forces. Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency said there were deaths and injuries aboard the platforms but it did not say how many.

Gave Advance Warning

On Reagan's instructions, about 9 a.m. gulf time, two groups of Navy warships struck the Iranian oil platforms Sassan and Sirri, 100 miles apart in the southern Persian Gulf.

They gave the Iranians advance warning to evacuate the platforms, which have been used as speedboat bases for attacks on neutral shipping. Reagan ordered the attacks as retaliation for the mine that holed the frigate Samuel B. Roberts on Thursday.

Both platforms were destroyed and left ablaze, one by naval gunfire and the other by explosives that were placed on it, according to statements in Washington.

The Iranian news agency said U.S. warships hit the Sassan platform at 9 a.m. and, 23 minutes later, the Sirri platform off nearby Sirri Island.

IRNA said Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati wrote a letter of protest to U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar that said, in part: "Iran will never submit to the policy of violence and intimidation and will definitely respond to the cowardly U.S. attacks."

Gunboats on Rampage

After the U.S. attacks, Iranian gunboats went on a rampage in the southern gulf. They attacked oil facilities and commercial vessels at the Mubarak oil field off the Sharjah emirate and, hours later, a Cypriot freighter leaving the United Arab Emirates with a load of fertilizer.

Carlucci said a Navy helicopter was fired on during the raid on the platforms but was not hit. Iranians shot at a press helicopter carrying an NBC-TV crew and an Associated Press photographer but missed.

AP photographer Norbert Schiller said the "Iranians fired at least half a dozen .50-caliber rounds and small-arms fire" at the helicopter.

Two Iranian warplanes tried to harass a U.S. warship but the ship fired missiles and the aircraft fled, shipping sources reported.

They said an Iranian patrol boat fired at the Wainwright, one of the ships attacking Sassan and Sirri, but did not hit it.










https://books.google.com/books?id=oTY4AAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT26&ots=SzjTy8d2hl&dq=%22wainwright%22%20%22fire%20controlman%22&pg=PT29#v=onepage&q=molck&f=false

Google Books


A Sailor's History of the U.S. Navy

By Thomas Cutler


As they continued to work, Molck heard approaching footsteps on the deck above; the sound reminded him of that April day in 1988 when he had heard the pounding of feet along the steel passageways as the Sailors in Wainwright's crew rushed to their battle stations.

In the dimly lit missile plot room, Petty Officer Richard Molck listened intently as reports of the approaching Iranian fast attack craft Joshan continued to flow in. Four times, the Americans had warned the Iranians to turn back. But Joshan continued to close on Wainwright and the other ships of SAG Charlie.










https://books.google.com/books?id=oTY4AAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT26&ots=SzjTy8d2hl&dq=%22wainwright%22%20%22fire%20controlman%22&pg=PT29#v=onepage&q=molck&f=false

Google Books


A Sailor's History of the U.S. Navy

By Thomas Cutler


Up in CIC, Operations Specialist Second Class Tom Ross, who had been serving in Wainwright since 1985, heard the captain tell all to brace themselves and felt his heart thumping in his chest. He remembered that an earlier Iranian propaganda broadcast had warned that the Americans would "never leave the Persian Gulf alive."

Out on deck, Doug Brewer actually saw the Harpoon as it roared toward his ship. He fervently hoped the Harpoon's acquisition radar would prefer the fluttering chaff "tinfoil" to the ship beneath his feet.

From the starboard bridge wing, Jon Fischman watched as the missile grew larger at a very rapid rate. At less than one hundred feet, he could see the lettering on the its side, and he realized that he would not be seeing letters if the missile were coming straight at him.

Inside CIC, Tom Ross felt the bulkheads rattle as the Harpoon roared down the ship's starboard side, close aboard. It was a moment he was not likely ever to forget.

Brewster was most relieved where he saw the missile plunge into the sea astern of the ship, hitting just fifty to seventy-five yards from Wainwright. As Palmer later wrote, "In a literal sense, Wainwright had 'dodged a bullet.'"

With the roar of the missile still echoing in CIC, rapid but disciplined orders and reports filled the air: "Whiskey, this is Alfa Whiskey. Red and free!"

"Fire SWC!"

"Birds affirm."

"Birds away on hostile track 1077."

Again, the bulkheads rattled as several surface-to-surface missiles left Wainwright's rails in retaliation. The other ships in SAG Charlie - frigates Simpson and Bagley - opened fire as well.


Wainwright's trial by fire was not yet over










https://books.google.com/books?id=oTY4AAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT26&ots=SzjTy8d2hl&dq=%22wainwright%22%20%22fire%20controlman%22&pg=PT29#v=onepage&q=molck&f=false

Google Books


A Sailor's History of the U.S. Navy

By Thomas Cutler


This was the first time in history that an American warship had simultaneously engaged both surface and air targets with missiles.










http://articles.latimes.com/1988-04-20/news/mn-1441_1_persian-gulf

Los Angeles Times


Confrontation in the Persian Gulf : U.S. Humbling of Iran Viewed as a Turning Point in Gulf War

April 20, 1988 TYLER MARSHALL Times Staff Writer

MANAMA, Bahrain — As Iranian leaders vowed Tuesday to avenge their losses in the previous day's clashes with U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf, regional analysts viewed the fighting as part of a new chapter that will alter the course of the seemingly endless Iran-Iraq War.

Some described the recent developments as a "watershed," although they admitted that it is not clear exactly where events are heading.

They noted that Monday's attack marked the first time that Iran's nine-year-old revolutionary government has been so humiliated by American military strength.

"The Americans have shown the extent of their firepower for all to see," noted Heino Kopietz, who monitors developments in the Persian Gulf War for the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. "It's bigger than any previous U.S. action against Iran. It's a watershed."

Iran's government-run radio said Tuesday that the attacks cost more than 40 Iranian lives in addition to two oil platforms, a patrol boat and two badly damaged frigates.

It quoted the commander of the Iranian navy, Commodore Mohammed Hussein Malekzadegan, as saying that 15 sailors aboard the patrol boat Joshan were killed and 20 others were wounded when it was hit by fire from the U.S. Navy cruiser Wainwright.



- posted by H.V.O.M - Kerry Wayne Burgess 7:38 PM Pacific Time Spokane Valley Washington USA Thursday 23 April 2015