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Today in American Military History -- 1987
USS 'Stark' (FFG-31) hit by Iraqi missiles, 37 sailors die
USS 'Stark' (FFG-31) hit by Iraqi missiles, 37 sailors die
USS Stark (FFG-31) - Wikipedia
Posted from en.wikipedia.org
Military History
Naval Historical Foundation
Persian/Arabian Gulf
Posted 5 y ago
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I remember it well. I was active duty when it happened. A tragedy. One of the keys was that Stark - like the British during the Falklands - picked up the Exocet and had it listed as "friendly" in its database. This would be a cause of embarassment as we (USA) had liberally teased the British for making the same mistake years earlier.
Iraq was our ally at the time so I believe the official (at the time) ruling of mistaken identity was kept.
Iraq was our ally at the time so I believe the official (at the time) ruling of mistaken identity was kept.
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PO3 Donald Murphy
Not really hard to believe - after all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. We were no longer friendly with Iran and Iraq had just started a war with them. So we brought them under our wing. Even after Israel bombed them in 1980. And then of course, don't even get me started on the gas weapons we gave Saddam, wink wink...
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CDR Dan Cunningham
We learned a good deal from the British experience in the Falklands, and from the after-action reports re USS Stark. As I recall, a lookout reported the first missile launch, but that never reached the TAO. While the ship had a track on the Mirage, I don't ever recall reading they had a track on the vampire(s). The mistake was not putting CIWS into AAW-Auto when the Mirage's Cyrano radar locked on the ship, which the SLQ-32 operator reported.
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