Word: exocets
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...Mirage, flying at 5,000 ft., headed toward the Stark at 550 m.p.h. Tucked under each wing was a French-made Exocet AM39 air-to-surface missile with a 352-lb. warhead and a range of 40 miles...
Both the AWACS spotters and those on the Stark had missed the most ominous sign of all: just before its twisting turns, the Mirage had released one of its Exocet missiles. Within seconds it launched another. Traveling at more ) than 500 m.p.h., the initial warhead would reach the Stark in one minute...
There was almost no time to react. The first Exocet would hit the Stark within ten seconds. To Brindel, that was not enough time to get the ship's Phalanx antimissile system switched from a manual to an automatic mode and into action...
...missile struck, ripping through the thin steel hull midway between the deck and the waterline. It tore open a 10-ft. by 15-ft. hole on the port side. Spewing unexpended fuel from its short flight, the Exocet smashed into the crew's cramped quarters. Sleeping sailors were jolted out of their bunks. Some were hurled through the ship's open wound and into...
That lesson was vividly illustrated during the Falklands war in 1982 when an Argentine aircraft dispatched an Exocet missile to sink the British frigate Sheffield some 40 miles away. In the next two years the French-built sea- skimming missiles were snapped up by 27 nations. Even third-rate powers suddenly acquired the ability to threaten valuable warships from over the horizon...