2DREZQ

I just found this little item. Stuff like this always brings me a smile.

25 Feb. 1991
HMS GLOUCESTER, escorting USS MISSOURI in Arabian Gulf, destroys an incoming Iraqi Silkworm missile aimed at MISSOURI with two Sea Dart missiles.

It's good to have friends.

__________________
USS North Dakota

Sandman

I am glad Great Britian is on our side, and I am sure the inverse is true.

RustyBattleship

But Chief Gunners Mate Miller was REALLY ticked off. He had his CIWS guns ready and raring to go and were already tracking the birds. His uncle and I were good friends and the whole family were gun collectors and target shooters.

According to a sitrep I saw, however, the missiles were in their third turn still trying to hunt for a target because so much SRBOC was already in the air. Also, only the lead Silkworm was hit and the second one ran into the wreckage leaving the second Sea Dart to wander on its own.

Well, whatever works, I'll take it.

Galrahn

I attended a panal discussion in 1994 that discussed Naval contributions during the Gulf War, and this episode was covered in some detail.

If I remember correctly there were several ships split into smaller groups operating off Kuwait that night, centered around the USS Wisconson, the USS Missouri, and the USS Okinawa. The group attacked was the USS Missouri, the USS Jarrett, the USS Avenger, and the HMS Gloucester. The ships put tons of chaff in the air before it was clear both missiles were going to miss wildly, until one of the missiles began tracking the chaff. When it turned toward the task group, the HMS Gloucester identified the missle and recognized the track was still going to miss the Task Group, but the order to shoot it down was given anyway. The HMS Gloucester was the primary AAW screen for the USS Missouri. Interestingly enough, the primary flagship for the 19 ship group was the HMS London, not either battleship or the USS Okinawa (which I think seems odd but maybe someone else would know why), which additionally had time to authorize HMS Gloucester to fire (althouth the destroyer didn't need authorization as the primary AAW screen of the group). A nearby A-6 visually ID'd both missiles hitting the silkworm.

The same A-6 dropped 12 rockeye cluster bombs on the 2 silkworm launchers within 11 minutes of the attack.

At about the time the Gloucester fired there was also a friendly fire incident. The CIWS on the Jarrett began firing at the chaff, and hit the USS Missouri. While at 3 miles, none of the weapons bullets were able to penetrate the armor of the ship, 1 sailor was wounded when a piece of equipment on the deck at the time was hit. A shattered piece of plastic cut the ear of a sailor on the deck, which resulted in the only injured sailor at sea on the Missouri during the 6-month deployment of that ship during the Gulf War.

That incident was later further investigated by the groups seeking evidence of poisoning by uranium rounds.

One of the panalist was a reporter who was onboard the HMS Gloucester and told the story in detail as he watched it unfold firsthand. He identified the sailor who did all the work tracking and shooting down the missile, a 17 year old RN sailor named Steven Bunbury.

I recently copied my minutes from that panal discussion to my computer while cleaning my office, never thought I would actually use them though.

RustyBattleship

Missouri was home ported in Long Beach at the time and upon her return we inspected her "hit". The penetrator hit above the main deck and went through a 3/8" thick medium steel exterior bulkhead and continued inwards through a few other metal joiner (thin sheet metal) bulkheads before coming to rest in Crew Quarters.

By that time any radiation contamination from specks of the depleted uranium penetrator had been cleaned up by the ship's ABC teams. Before Missouri went to the Gulf, we had modified two sanitary spaces (one forward and one aft) for decontamination rooms of HAZMAT/ABC teams. Procedures were well in place and the crew trained in them so by the time any inspectors came by all they could find was a rubber bottlestopper in the hole penetrating the weather bulkhead.

Galrahn

Rusty,

Very Cool. I had not heard that a round had penetrated the armor before. Your story led me to this.

http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du/du_re...24_0000001.gif

Although what is strange, according to what I heard, there was 1 guy slightly injured in the ear. I cut my finger today, and didn't call it an injury, so maybe the Navy didn't consider the ear cut an injury? Supposedly the injury was from shattered piece of broken equipment. Did the round shatter anything, like a pipe or other piece of equipment that you could tell?

RustyBattleship

Some damage was also done to other items in the spaces. I don't remember for sure because it was a long time ago. But the penetrator going through the weather bulkhead (which is NOT armor) would cause splinters to fly in all directions. A hit from just a shard of sheet metal the size of a fingernail clipping can be called an injury or even as a minor wound if it drew blood.

Don't forget, this was a depleted uranium penetrator (though "friendly fire") which is considered toxic so even a speck of dust from it clinging to the splinter is a cause of concern.

-{SpoonmaN}-

17? I thought it was illegal to send underage personel into combat zones. Did he get there by accident, cause that happened to few 17 year olds in the ADF during the Timor operation.