UNITED STATES NAVY IN DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM

In ~980, the Carter Doctrine declared WILL in July 1987. During the very first escort
the Persian Gulf region to be a "vital" interest mission, a mine ripped into the re-flagged
to the Unii:ed States - one for which we were supertanker BRIDGETON. That first month,
willing to fight. Events in the Middle East three tankers hit mines and minesweeping
convinced President Carter that the United operations by Navy helicopters began.
States required a means of rapid response to
regional crises. b~ October1980, a new unified Later that summer, U.S. forces captured
Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) was created to the Iranian minelayer Iran Ajr while it was
meet that need. The RDF later evolved into deploying mines in international shipping
Central Command, which marked the begin- lanes andU.S. helicopters repelled an attack by
ning of the capability to move large military Iranian speedboats. In October 1987, U.S. sur-
forces into the Persian Gulf, the sine quo non of face forces destroyed an armed Iranian oil
DESERT SHIELD/STORM. complex in retaliation for an Iranian missile
attack on a U. S. -flagged tanker.
The political situation in Southwest Asia
continued to deteriorate. After 10 months of On 14April1988, watchstanders aboard
intermittent skirmishes over the Shatt-al-Arab USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (FFG 58) sighted
waterway, Iraq attacked Iran in September three mines floating approximately one-half
1980, launching a war that would last eight mile from the ship. Twenty minutes after the
years. By 1982, more than 100,000 people had first sighting, as ROBERTS was backing clear
died. The war was costing each side $1 billion of the minefield, she struck a submerged mine
a month and devastated both countries' oil nearly ripping the warship in half. Working
industries. In the so-called "tanker war", both feverishly for seven hours, the crew stabilized
belligerents launched attacks on neutral mer- the ship. ROBERTS was sent back to the United
chant vessels transiting the Gulf, prompting States for repair and later returned to the re-
several Gulf states to seek protection from gion to serve with the Maritime Interception
foreign navies. Force during DESERT SHIELD.

On 1 November 1986, Kuwait, a non- Three days after the mine blast, forces
belligerent, announced it would seek interna- of the now-Joint Task Force Middle East ex-
tional protection for its ships. On 7 March ecuted the American response - Operation
1987, the United States offered to reflag 11 PRAYING MAN~S. During a two-day pe-
K~waiti tankers and provide U.S. Navy pro- riod, the Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air
tection. Kuwait accepted. Force units of Joint Task Force Middle East
destroyed two oil platforms being used by Iran
On 17May 1987, an Iraqi attack aircraft to coordinate attacks on merchant shipping,
fired two Exocet missiles, killing 37 sailors and sank or destroyed three Iranian warships and
wounding 21 others aboard USS STARK (FFG neutralized at least six Iranian speedboats.
31). Iraq apologized, claiming "pilot error." The success of PRAYING MAN~S - and A-
broad-based allied naval cooperation during
American units had already found a Operation EARNEST WILL - proved the
dozen mines in Persian Gulf shipping lanes value of joint and combined operations in the
when the Navy began escorting re-flagged Gulf and paved the way for the massive joint/
Kuwaiti tan]kers during Operation EARNEST coalition effort during DESERT SHIELD/
STORM.

-4-