USS Stark

1987

Persian Gulf, two Iraqi Exocets Location: Persian Gulf, ~85 nmi NE of Bahrain · Coordinates: 26.50°N 51.50°E · Casualties: 37 · Survivors: 183 · Depth: survived · later decommissioned · Cause: anti-ship missile — Struck by two Exocet AM-39 missiles fired by an Iraqi Mirage F-1 on the evening of 17 May 1987 during the Iran-Iraq tanker war. The first missile failed to detonate but spread burning fuel through berthing spaces; the second exploded in the CIC. Flooding and fire control kept her afloat for 24 hours. · Fate: repaired · scrapped 2006 · Type: frigate · Oliver Hazard Perry class · Tonnage: 4,100 tons · Crew: 221 · Flag: United States · Launched: 1980 American Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, on Persian Gulf escort duty during the Iran-Iraq tanker war. Struck by two Exocet missiles fired by an Iraqi Mirage F-1 on the evening of 17 May 1987 in international waters. 37 dead — the first missile spread burning fuel through the berthing spaces, the second detonated inside the Combat Information Center. Iraq apologised and paid indemnity; Saddam Hussein personally called the incident an accident, an explanation that has held up through every subsequent review. The Vessel USS Stark (FFG-31) was an Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate of the United States Navy, commissioned at the Todd Pacific Shipyards in Seattle, Washington, on 23 October 1982. She was 138 metres long, 4,100 tons, armed with a single Mark 13 missile launcher (capable of firing SM-1 Standard surface-to-air missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles), a single 76mm Oto Melara gun, two triple 324mm torpedo tubes, and a Phalanx 20mm close-in weapons system. Her designed speed was 29 knots on a single-shaft gas turbine arrangement. Her commissioning into the Atlantic Fleet placed her in a class that was the principal American frigate type of the 1980s and early 1990s. By 1987, Stark had completed two deployments: a 1985 Mediterranean deployment and a 1986 Caribbean counter-narcotics deployment. She was on her third full deployment, to the Persian Gulf, from February 1987 forward. Her Persian Gulf mission was participation in Operation Earnest Will, the American naval operation to protect Kuwaiti oil tankers from Iranian attacks during the Iran-Iraq War. The specific tactical situation in May 1987 was complex: Iran and Iraq had been at war since September 1980; both sides were conducting attacks on third-party shipping in the Persian Gulf; and the Iraqi air force was using French-supplied Mirage F1 fighter-bombers armed with Exocet missiles to attack Iranian oil infrastructure and shipping. The Disaster The first of two Exocet AM-39 missiles fired by the Iraqi Mirage F1 reached USS Stark at 21:09 on 17 May 1987. The missile struck Stark's port side at Frame 43, near her crew berthing compartments. The warhead failed to detonate on impact but the missile's residual rocket motor fuel ignited and produced a fire that spread rapidly through the forward port-side crew compartments. Twenty-five seconds after the first missile impact, the second Exocet reached Stark at Frame 75, penetrating her port side and detonating in her Combat Information Center. The CIC detonation killed the CIC watch team and destroyed Stark's primary combat management systems. The ship was, from the moment of the second missile impact, essentially defenceless and unable to coordinate her own damage control. Stark's surviving crew fought the resulting fires for 24 hours. The ship's structural integrity was maintained by the remarkable performance of her damage-control teams under the most difficult conditions: her ship-wide firefighting water main had been breached in multiple places, her electrical power had been progressively lost, and her commanding officer Captain Brindel had been forced to direct operations by voice rather than through the ship's intercom system. By 21:00 on 18 May 1987 the fires had been contained. 37 of Stark's 221 crew died, all in the initial missile impacts or in the immediate aftermath. 29 were wounded. The ship did not sink.