Sailors in Gulf Prepare Cruise Missiles

AP | 3/12/03

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ABOARD THE USS COWPENS March 12 —

As warplanes roar over the Persian Gulf in preparation for a possible strike on Iraq, sailors are readying another weapon for attack: Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Sailors aboard the cruiser USS Cowpens and up to 30 other ships within range of Iraq have been running drills on how to launch the sophisticated long-range attack weapon that was first used extensively during the 1991 Gulf War.

"We run all the way through the system, short of pushing the button to fire," Lt. Cmdr. Jim Jones, 35, of Titusville, Fla., said Tuesday.

"The only thing missing is the 'click, bang, whoosh'" of the missiles' launch, said Jones, the ship's executive officer.

Tomahawks are satellite-guided, precision missiles which evade radar by skimming the land or sea surface, and were designed in the mid-1980s. Following the Gulf War, they became one of the U.S. weapons of choice to respond to Iraqi breaches of U.N. sanctions.

The Cowpens can carry 122 missiles, but the exact number of Tomahawks one board is a secret, Capt. Charles Dixon said.

The 567-foot guided missile cruiser is armed with the advanced Aegis radar and weapons system, which can track and fire at incoming threats automatically to protect itself and other friendly vessels.

The Cowpens, named for a Revolutionary War battle in South Carolina, is currently the command vessel for air defense in the Gulf, stretching from the Kuwaiti coast to the Horn of Africa.

If used against Iraq, the Tomahawk would likely be fired at targets where there was a high risk of civilian casualties, or positions strong enough to threaten a warplane, Dixon said.

"Our strength is being able to bring combat power to bear from international waters," said Dixon, 44, of Alliance, Ohio.

"If the commanders decide to use Tomahawks, we will be able to have the most effective strikes on selected targets with minimum collateral damage," he said.

Five U.S. aircraft carriers have moved within striking distance of Iraq in recent weeks, launching hundreds of warplanes that have been patrolling southern Iraq and practicing bombing runs and dogfighting.

But far from the roar above, in the Cowpens' command and control room, sit about two dozen sailors scanning glowing radar screens and computer monitors and tracking military and commercial aircraft movements on four home theater-sized wall screens.

At the other end, gunner's mate Chief Petty Officer Eric Palmer struggled behind the weight of the door to the ship's rear missile bay, one of two that can each hold 61 missiles.

With a hiss of escaping air, the door about six inches of metal and three layers of protective Kevlar gave way and Palmer, 30, of Silverthorn, Colo. gave journalists a rare tour.

Inside, 20-foot-long and three-feet-wide white oblong metal containers were lined up, each connected to a hatch leading to the ship's deck.

When launched, smokes and flames blast out over the deck in a fiery plume that reaches about two stories high, Palmer said.