[GATOR NAVY]

Another possibility is that they turned the Phalanx system off because they didn't want it shooting up the Israeli gun/missile boats that it was escorting.

The latest mods of Phalanx can be optically guided to take surface contacts. The older models are strictly air defense. They will not even track surface contacts.

[Spktyr]

They *would* track sea skimming missiles, though - and IIRC there's at least one case where someone left a Phalanx system on and it shredded a truck driving down a dock.