Message to my shipmates: Back in July 2000, Shawn saw a web posting that I made on veterans.com concerning the incident with the airliner. It provided information that he did not have and asked that I develop it further for the benefit of all who did not have the wide-ranging access to the information that I was afforded. Like many of you, I go through periods when I am willing to discuss the event and when I am not willing to discuss it. I apologize for the delay in writing this as I was in the latter ?period? for some time. You all deserve the truth. The truth is that you were all heroes that day. Nearly 400 of you did nothing wrong and everything right in defending your ship and fulfilling your mission in support of United States? national foreign policy. You will not read these truths in Newsweek and you will not see them on television on such expos?ype programs as Investigative Reports, Military Blunders, Unsolved Mysteries, and History Undercover. So take your shoes off and enjoy the read. If it brings back bad memories, or creates angst or anger, I apologize for opening old wounds and encourage you to please consider seeking counseling assistance from a local VET Center or the VA. The origins of our deployment rest with the USS Samuel B Roberts striking an Iranian mine in April 1988. In retaliation, the U.S. executed Operation PRAYING MANTIS. During the operation, three Surface Action Groups (SAGs) engaged Iranian oil platforms, frigates, and aircraft. Shots were fired everywhere (hence the euphemistic term used to refer to the operation of ?Red and Free Monday?) and there were many blue-on-blue engagements. One thing that occurred was that the ?short-shooters? were firing missiles at an Iranian C-130 that was controlling the small boat action. The aircraft (circling 25 miles away) watched missile after missile be launched towards it only to fall harmlessly into the sea when they reached their maximum range of 22 miles. Additionally, USS Wainwright (CG 28) and a ?long-shooter? was miss the F4s she fired upon and claimed to have had a Silkworm anti-ship missile pass close aboard. In reality, the ?silkworm? was a Harpoon fired from another USN ship, but we won?t go into that. In any event, the ?word? went out that Silkworms were in use and they needed a quick-draw, long-shooting AAW platform (read: AEGIS) on-site ASAP. We all know how we departed on deployment - we were at sea on an exercise when advised to return to port at ?best available speed? and deploy the next morning to the Gulf. Although our departure date was adjusted by 3 days to permit installation of the 25mm chain guns, we were fully loaded and CASREP free in record time. (I was later told by a senior Supply Corps officer that Vincennes? lessons learned package for surge deployments to the Gulf was ?the Bible? employed by ships deploying to DESERT SHIELD/STORM - so well done there as well). Anyway, you all know that we crossed ?the pond? in record time - 13 days to Subic (we still had fresh milk aboard) and another 8 days to Fujairah for a transit that normally took 42 days. (The USS Halsey (CG 23) left San Diego the day before we did and arrived in the Gulf two weeks after we did). Getting to the incident at hand. On July 2nd, Vincennes escorted the battle damaged USS Samuel B Roberts out of the Gulf. You may recall that Vincennes was assigned all of the high value escorts through the Straits of Hormuz Silkworm envelope. That evening, while transiting back north enroute to Bahrain to celebrate the ship?s birthday, we copied a "mayday" from a merchant who was being harassed by Iranian gunboats. We raced through the Straits at 33 knots and took tactical command of the USS Elmer Montgomery (FF 1082) who was closer to the action. "Monty" was directed to fire a star shell over the gunboats and they broke off their attack and dispersed. The next morning, another "mayday" was received. Thirteen gunboats were attacking another merchant ship. Vincennes was ordered south by Commander, Joint Task Force Middle East (CJTFME) and directed to launch our helo so that their could have a real time radar picture of what the boats were doing. The helo's radar was linked directly back to the ship but CJTFME?s flagship was not Link capable and each position had to hand entered and updated via JOTS - a laborious process. During this surveillance, the helo was fired upon and Vincennes closed her position to put her under the cover of her weapons. Some ?Arm Chair Experts? have written that the Iranians were not trying to shoot our helo down but intercepted R/T transmissions indicated that the Iranians claimed to ?have downed a ?Blackhawk?.? (Note: in profile a LAMPS Mk 111 SH-60 Seahawk resembles an Army HU-60 Blackhawk) Shortly thereafter, one gunboat passed between Vincennes and Monty but didn't show hostile intent so, while we covered it with guns, he was let to pass unharmed. Six of the 13 boats sought refuge in Omani territorial waters (hiding among the many islands). Note: Some television shows play the bridge-to-bridge radio messages from the Omani Navy to ?leave the area at once? and allude that these instructions were meant for Vincennes. In point of fact, these instructions were meant for the Iranian boats that were hiding among the Omani islands. (Just another point ?you ain?t gonna read in the papers.?) About this time the 7 remaining gunboats suddenly turned into a "swarm attack" formation. Receiving a "take with guns" order, Vincennes opened fire on the gunboats while they were outside the maximum effective range of their weapons. Although we were hit between a dozen and two dozen times, all the Iranian rounds were losing velocity and therefore succeeded in doing little more damage than chipping paint. During the engagement 5 of the gunboats were sunk (we actually didn't know that more than two had been sunk until weeks later after SPQ-9 radar data tapes were analyzed at NSWC Dahlgren). From about the third or fourth shot out of Mount 51, Mount 52 was engaged. The two guns alternated fire until, after 30-odd rounds were fired from Mount 51, she suffered an extractor pawl casualty. Because of the on again, off again, GQs that morning, the normal GQ watch team did not relieve the standing watch. Accordingly, when the order came to come left to unmask Mount 52, the inexperienced JOOD used full rudder and caused the ship to heal markedly. This error was rapidly corrected but much has been made of it (I think disproportionately). This is approximately the time when Captain Rogers had to decide whether or not to shoot at the inbound CBDR air contact. What aided the misidentification of the airliner was that the data link track number under which the aircraft was originally tagged, was duplicated by another ship so we had two tracks with the same track number. One was descending altitude and increasing speed, one was ascending. The duplication was missed by four different people (2 with previous combat experience) in CIC but the error was made and the rest is history. What you haven't read anywhere else is that Vincennes - seeking to use the least lethal weapons available - also "soft-killed" (with electronic countermeasures) three Iranian F4D Phantom II fighter bombers and withheld fire on the following Iranian military targets: a Tomb-class LST (mother ship for the gunboats), an P-3 aircraft (capable of controlling the gunboats), a C-130 aircraft, a Sumner-class DDG armed with Exocet missiles, and a military hovercraft that approached at 60 knots. It definitely had the potential for a battle royale. You also haven?t read about the restraint we showed in early June during an incident where an Iranian frigate stopped, boarded, searched, and interned a Cypriot merchant vessel. Under the rules of engagement, we would have been permitted to fire upon the frigate, and we were ready to do so, had the request to stop the internment come from the Cypriot government. As disturbing as the airliner incident was it served as the catalyst for forcing Iran to accept the UN cease fire 17 days hence thereby ending the 8 year war with Iraq that claimed over one million lives. And, in so doing, returned freedom of the seas to the waters of the Arabian Gulf. I hope this helps you all. M. C. ?Connie? Agresti