Word: starks
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Captain Glenn Brindel, 43, commander of the Stark since January 1985, knew that the gulf's serenity was often illusory. With mines concealed below, jet fighters screaming above and antiship missiles lurking onshore, sudden violence was an ever present danger. More than 200 vessels had been attacked in the gulf during the past three years. Earlier on this day, Iraqi jets had delivered missiles into a Cypriot tanker, leaving it dead in the water. The increasing threats to shipping in the vital region were precisely why the Stark was there, signaling U.S. determination to keep the oil lifelines open...
...moment, however, the ship was in a relatively safe area some 80 miles northeast of the island nation of Bahrain and fully 40 miles south of the main war zone. A frigate of the Perry class, the smallest combat vessels in the U.S. Navy, the Stark was steaming alone. The closest ship was 35 miles away. The U.S.S. LaSalle, the flagship for the seven warships operating in the gulf, was in port in Bahrain...
Aboard the Stark, radar operators picked up the jet when it was about 200 miles to the north and tracked its southward course until it was virtually due west, well off the frigate's port bow. At that point, no one on the American ship had particular reason for alarm. As Brindel said later, Iraqi warplanes "commonly come down the gulf and pass within close distances." None of them had ever attacked a U.S. vessel. Even the Iranians, whom the Americans considered a greater threat, often flew their jets within missile range of U.S. warships but would back off after...
...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...
...Brindel ordered a radio operator to flash a message: "Unknown aircraft. This is U.S. Navy warship on your 078 ((the Stark's bearing relative to the Mirage)) for twelve miles. Request you identify yourself. Over...