Posted on 02/14/2003 1:07:02 PM PST by chemicalman
MAYPORT NAVAL STATION -- Despite the pomp of the Navy's ceremony decommissioning for the USS Stark, Diana Pierce Ellis could not hold back the tears for her husband and 36 of his shipmates.
They died aboard the frigate in 1987 when it was struck by two missiles fired accidentally by an Iraqi jet fighter.
''It's like burying them all over again,'' said Mrs. Ellis. She attended the ceremony Friday putting the warship out of service with her daughter, Randi Lynn, 14, and son Logan, 12, who wears the ship's number, 31, on his T-ball uniform.
Her husband, Randy Pierce, was aboard the warship in the Persian Gulf when the two Exocet missiles struck the ship's left side, exploding into the combat information center and berthing areas where dozens of the crew were sleeping.
''For as long as the ship has been floating, he's been alive. He's been out there. He died at sea. Now she's gone and it's like letting him go again,'' she said.
Heroic firefighting efforts saved the ship and it was returned to service.
''Her scars are invisible. Her wounds will never heal,'' said Rear Adm. Henry G. Ulrich III, an earlier commanding officer for the Stark and guest speaker for the ceremony ending the ship's 17-year career.
''Stark has written her history,'' he said, recounting the ship's accomplishments, but said it would always be remembered ''for the 37 men she committed to the sea. This is right. This is just. This is how it should be.''
Cmdr. O. Wayne Young, the last commanding officer, ordered the commissioning pennant and flags to be lowered for the final time as the last eight sailors walked down the gangway from the 445-foot-long fast frigate.
The ship has already been stripped of its weapons, missiles, and radar.
''It has been a pleasure and an honor to lead this fine warship,'' said Young, who took command of the vessel in July 1997.
The Stark traveled more than 240,000 miles but never fired a shot in anger. Its most memorable voyage was the limping trip back to Mayport from the Middle East after the missile attack.
There is no sign on the exterior or interior of the ship that it had been severely damaged. A memorial plaque affixed to the side of an interior passageway has been removed to the Navy archives.
The missile strike happened in the Iran-Iraq war, when the United States was supporting Iraq.
A Navy report said Capt. Glenn R. Brindel ''failed fundamentally'' to prepare the crew for its mission. He was relieved of his command and allowed to retire from the Navy at the lower rank of commander.
Brindel contended the flight path of the Iraqi jet was similar to that of countless other Iraqi planes and there was no reason to believe that missiles would be fired from a friendly force. Iraq said it was a case of mistaken identity.
The Stark was commissioned in October 1982 in Seattle, Wash., and called Mayport Naval Station home during its entire history.
It was named for Adm. Harold R. Stark, who was commander of the U.S. Naval Forces in Europe, including the staging, training and logistics for the 2,904 Navy ships and other craft in the Normandy invasion during World War II.
The ship was being towed out of Mayport for the final time Friday night, headed to mothballs in Philadelphia.
</MCC STORY>
I was recently reminded about this incident from one of the threads here when someone mentioned "wonder what the French are hiding in Iraq?".
Well the cruise missles that hit the USS Stark were French made Exocet (2 had hit the ship, only one exploded). Were "accidently" fired by an Iraqi aircraft.
I wonder if France had snuck in any more missles?
Click on USS Stark link for the Navysite.de site on the USS Stark.
Just observing that the kid is 12 and still playing T-ball? Does he wear a helmet even when he's not batting?
U.S. Harpoon cruise missles are better than Exocets. Unfortunately only the Exocet has ever been used in combat. This is because the French are indiscrimate about whom they allow to buy their military hardware.
The Stark wasn't equipped with the Aegis system. FFG's of this class were primarily sub-hunters and escorts with only a secondary air defense role.
The main anti-air weapon was the CIWS (Close-In Weapons System) which was apparently not engaged in automatic-mode for safety reasons. The CIWS is the high-speed gatling-gun designed to shoot down low-flying cruise missiles. I imagine that the Captain didn't want to (accidentally) engage any non-military aircraft while operating at the upper end of the Gulf.
The Stark didn't have, and never has had, the AEGIS system. It's a Frigate. Only Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Burke-class destroyers (well, Japanese Kongo-class Destroyers, too) have AEGIS.
Yes, you are all correct and I was wrong - forgot the name of that white R2D2-looking defense system
Doesn't matter. The Commanding Officer of a U.S. warship is absolutely responsible for his command. The godlike authority entrusted to a ship's captain is accompanied by total accountability. USS Stark was attacked without detecting the enemy or responding. Sailors died. The Captain failed his ship, his crew, and his country.
Iraq said it was a case of mistaken identity.
Bet me. Saddam personally decorated the pilot after the attack.
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