Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate
USS
Stark
(FFG-31)
|
History
|
United States
|
Name
| Stark
|
Namesake
| Admiral
Harold Rainsford Stark
|
Awarded
| 23 January 1978
|
Builder
| Todd Pacific Shipyards
,
Seattle, Washington
|
Laid down
| 24 August 1979
|
Launched
| 30 May 1980
|
Commissioned
| 23 October 1982
|
Decommissioned
| 7 May 1999
|
Stricken
| 7 May 1999
|
Homeport
| Naval Station Mayport
(former)
|
Identification
| |
Motto
| Strength for Freedom
|
Fate
| Scrapped 2006
|
Badge
| |
General characteristics
[1]
|
Class and type
| Oliver Hazard Perry
-class
frigate
|
Displacement
| 4,100 long tons (4,200 t), full load
|
Length
| 445 feet (136 m),
overall
|
Beam
| 45 feet (14 m)
|
Draft
| 22 feet (6.7 m)
|
Propulsion
| |
Speed
| over 29 knots (54 km/h)
|
Range
| 5,000 nautical miles at 18 knots (9,300 km at 33 km/h)
|
Complement
| 15 officers and 190 enlisted, plus
SH-60
LAMPS detachment of roughly six officer pilots and 15 enlisted maintainers
|
Sensors and
processing systems
| |
Electronic warfare
& decoys
| AN/SLQ-32
|
Armament
| |
Aircraft carried
| 1 ×
SH-2F LAMPS I
|
Notes
| Short deck variant, no towed array
|
USS
Stark
(FFG-31)
was the 23rd ship of the
Oliver Hazard Perry
class
of guided-missile
frigates
and was named after Admiral
Harold Rainsford Stark
(1880?1972). Ordered from
Todd Pacific Shipyards
in
Seattle, Washington
, on 23 January 1978,
Stark
was
laid down
on 24 August 1979,
launched
on 30 May 1980, and
commissioned
on 23 October 1982. In 1987, an
Iraqi jet fired two missiles
at
Stark
, killing 37 U.S. sailors on board. Decommissioned on 7 May 1999,
Stark
was scrapped in 2006.
Missile attack
[
edit
]
USS
Stark
was deployed to the
Middle East Force
in 1984 and 1987. Captain
Glenn R. Brindel
was the
commanding officer
during the 1987 deployment. The ship was struck on 17 May 1987 by two
Exocet
anti-ship missiles during the
Iran?Iraq War
fired from an Iraqi aircraft officially identified as a
Dassault Mirage F1
fighter,
[2]
The Reagan administration attributed the blame to Iran for its alleged belligerence in the underlying conflict.
[3]
The plane had taken off from
Shaibah
, Iraq at 20:00 and had flown south into the
Persian Gulf
. The pilot fired the first Exocet missile from a range of 22.5 nautical miles (41.7 km), and the second from 15.5 nautical miles (28.7 km), just about the time
Stark
issued a standard warning by radio.
[4]
The frigate did not detect the missiles with radar; warning was given by the lookout only moments before the missiles struck.
[2]
The first penetrated the port-side hull and failed to detonate, but left flaming rocket fuel in its path. The second entered at almost the same point, and, leaving a 3-by-4-meter (10 by 13 ft) gash, exploded in crew quarters. The missiles killed 37 sailors and injured 21.
[2]
No weapons were fired in defense of
Stark
. The autonomous
Phalanx CIWS
remained in standby mode,
[5]
Mark 36 SRBOC
countermeasures were not armed until seconds before the missile hit. The attacking Exocet missiles and Mirage aircraft were in a blindspot of the STIR
fire control
director (Separate tracking and illumination Radar, part of the
Mk 92 Guided Missile Fire Control System
), and the
Oto Melara
Mk 75
76 mm/62 caliber naval gun
, but in the clear for the MK 92 CAS (Combined Antenna System, primary search and tracking radar of the Mk 92 Guided Missile Fire Control System) and the Mk 13 Mod 4 single-arm launcher. The ship failed to maneuver to bring its Mk 75 to bear before the first missile hit.
[2]
On fire and listing, the frigate was brought under control by its crew during the night. The ship made its way to
Bahrain
where, after temporary repairs by the
destroyer tender
USS
Acadia
to make her seaworthy,
[6]
she returned to her home port of
Naval Station Mayport
, under her own power. The ship was eventually repaired at
Ingalls Shipbuilding
in
Mississippi
for $142 million.
[7]
It is unknown whether Iraqi leaders authorized the attack. Initial claims by the Iraqi government that
Stark
was inside the Iran?Iraq War zone were shown to be false. The motives and orders of the pilot remain unanswered. American officials have claimed he was executed, but an ex-Iraqi Air Force commander later said that the pilot who attacked
Stark
was not punished, and remained alive.
[8]
According to Jean-Louis Bernard, author of "Heroes of Bagdad" T1 (Editions JPO 2017), the pilot, Abdul Rhaman, not only was not punished, but would have received the medal of bravery at the end of 'a joint Iraqi-American commission of inquiry.
[9]
[
page needed
]
His subsequent defection is not mentioned in this book. Jean-Louis Bernard also confirms the use of a Falcon 50 during this action.
[
clarification needed
]
Citing lapses in training requirements and lax procedures, the U.S. Navy's board of inquiry relieved Captain Brindel of command and recommended him for
court-martial
, along with tactical action officer Lieutenant Basil E. Moncrief. Instead, Brindel and Moncrief received
non-judicial punishment
from
Admiral
Frank B. Kelso II
and
letters of reprimand
. Brindel opted for early retirement while Moncrief resigned his commission after only eight years of service.
[10]
The
executive officer
,
Lieutenant Commander
Raymond Gajan Jr., was detached for cause and received a letter of admonition.
[11]
1990s
[
edit
]
Stark
was part of the Standing Naval Forces Atlantic Fleet in 1990 before returning to the Middle East Force in 1991.
Stark
was attached to
UNITAS
in 1993 and took part in
Operation Uphold Democracy
and
Operation Able Vigil
in 1994. In 1995,
Stark
returned to the Middle East Force before serving with the Standing Naval Forces, Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT) in 1997 and in 1998.
Stark
was decommissioned on 7 May 1999. A scrapping contract was awarded to Metro Machine Corp. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 7 October 2005. The ship was reported scrapped on 21 June 2006.
[12]
Her stern plate was saved and donated to
Naval Station Mayport
.
[13]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"USS Stark (FFG 31)"
. Navsource.org
. Retrieved
11 April
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Formal Investigation into the Circumstances Surrounding the Attack of the USS Stark in 1987
- ^
Bacevich, Andrew (2016).
America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History
. Random House.
- ^
Stephen Andrew Kelley (June 2007).
"Better Lucky Than Good: Operation Earnest Will as Gunboat Diplomacy"
(PDF)
.
Naval Postgraduate School
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 23 August 2007
. Retrieved
9 November
2007
.
- ^
Navy Jag Corps
[
dead link
]
- ^
Chuck (31 May 2010).
"A Stark Reminder"
.
- ^
"USS Stark Sails To Mississippi For Repairs"
.
AP News
. 4 November 1987
. Retrieved
9 June
2022
.
- ^
Fisk, Robert (2005).
The Great War For Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East
. Knopf Publishing.
ISBN
9781400041510
.
- ^
Bernard, Jean-Louis (2020).
Les heros de Bagdad: Tome 2, Les debuts du Mirage F1, et l'aventure du Super-Etendard
. Editions Jean-Pierre Otelli.
ISBN
978-2-37301-131-9
.
- ^
"Two Officers Accept Blame in Frigate Attack, Will Leave Service"
.
Associated Press
.
- ^
Cushman Jr, John H. (28 July 1987).
"Navy Forgoes Courts-Martial for Officers of Stark"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
Naval Vessel Register
.
STARK (FFG 31)
. Retrieved 4 April 2007.
- ^
Lopez, Michael (20 May 2016).
"Mayport, Fla., remembers fallen shipmates at Stark Memorial"
. Aerotech News and Review.
This article includes information collected from the
Naval Vessel Register
, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the
public domain
. The entry can be found
here
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Levinson, Jeffrey L. and Randy L. Edwards (1997).
Missile Inbound
. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN
1-55750-517-9
.
- Wise, Harold Lee (2007).
Inside the Danger Zone: The U.S. Military in the Persian Gulf 1987?88
. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN
978-1-59114-970-5
.
- United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services (1987).
Report on the Staff Investigation into the Iraqi Attack on the USS Stark of the Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, First Session
. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
External links
[
edit
]