USS Stark (FFG-31)

USS Stark (FFG-31)
Career (US)
Builder:	Todd Pacific Shipyards, Seattle, Washington
Laid down:	24 August 1979
Launched:	30 May 1980
Commissioned:	23 October 1982
Decommissioned:	7 May 1999
Struck:	7 May 1999
Status:	Disposed of by scrapping - dismantled June 21, 2006
Homeport:	Mayport, Florida (former)
General characteristics
Displacement:	4,100 tons (4,170 t) full load
Length:	453 ft (138.1 m), overall
Beam:	45 ft (13.7 m)
Draught:	22 ft (6.7 m)
Propulsion:	2 × General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines generating 41,000 shp (31 MW) through a single shaft and variable pitch propeller
Speed:	29+ knots (54+ km/h)
Range:	5,000 nm (9,300 km) at 18 knots (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:	AN/SPS-49 air-search radar AN/SPS-55 surface-search radar CAS and STIR fire-control radar AN/SQS-56 sonar.
Electronic warfare and decoys:	AN/SLQ-32
Armament:	As built: One OTO Melara Mk 75 76 mm/62 caliber naval gun one Mk 13 Mod 4 single-arm launcher for Harpoon anti-ship missiles and SM-1MR Standard anti-ship/air missiles (40 round magazine) two Mk 32 triple-tube (324 mm) launchers for Mark 46 torpedoes one Vulcan Phalanx CIWS; four .50-cal (12.7 mm) machine guns.
Aircraft carried:	2 × SH-60 LAMPS III helicopters
Motto:	Strength for Freedom

USS Stark (FFG-31), twenty-third ship of the Oliver Hazard Perry class of guided-missile frigates, was named for Admiral Harold Rainsford Stark (1880–1972). In 1987, it became the victim of the only successful anti-ship missile attack on a U.S. Navy warship. Ordered from Todd Pacific Shipyards, Seattle, Washington on 23 January 1978 as part of the FY78 program, Stark was laid down on 24 August 1979, launched on 30 May 1980, and commissioned on 23 October 1982, CDR Terence W. Costello commanding. Decommissioned on 7 May 1999, Stark was scrapped in 2006.

Missile attack

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 May 17, 1987, by two Exocet antiship missiles fired from an Iraqi Mirage F1 fighter during the Iran-Iraq War. The fighter had taken off from Shaibah at 20:00 and had flown south into the Persian Gulf. Shortly after being routinely challenged by voice on the international air distress frequency by the frigate around 21:07 (local time), the fighter fired two Exocet missiles. The frigate did not detect the missiles with radar and warning was given by the lookout only moments before the missiles struck.^[1] The first penetrated the port-side hull; it failed to detonate, but spewed flaming rocket fuel in its path. The second entered at almost the same point, and left a 3-by-4-meter gash—then exploded in crew quarters. Thirty-seven sailors were killed and twenty-one were injured.

Stark listing following 2 hits by Exocet missiles

No weapons were fired in defense of Stark. The Phalanx CIWS remained in standby mode, Mark 36 SRBOC countermeasures were not armed, and the attacking Exocet missiles and Mirage aircraft were in a blindspot of the defensive STIR (Separate Target Illumination Radar) fire control system, preventing usage of the ship's Standard missile defenses. The ship failed to maneuver to bring its weapons batteries to bear prior to the first missile impact.^[1] Afire 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 tender USS Acadia (AD-42) to make her seaworthy, she returned to her home port of Mayport, Florida, under her own power. The ship was eventually repaired at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi for $142 million.

A view of external damage to the port side.

The question of whether or not Iraqi leadership authorized the attack is still unanswered. If it was not authorized, the question of the motives of the pilot remain unanswered. According to Iraqi officials, the pilot who attacked the Stark was not punished. Though American officials claimed he had been executed, journalist Robert Fisk, in his book The Great War For Civilisation, quotes an ex-Iraqi Air Force commander who says the pilot is still alive. The attack was the U.S. Navy's second-most-deadly peacetime disaster, after the gun turret explosion on board the battleship USS Iowa. Brindel was relieved of command and recommended for court-martial by the board of inquiry. Instead, he received non-judicial punishment from Admiral Frank B. Kelso II and a letter of reprimand. He opted for early retirement, retiring at the rank of commander because he had insufficient time in service as a captain.^[2]

1990s

Stark was part of the Standing Naval Forces Atlantic Fleet in 1990 before returning to the Middle East Force in 1991. She was attached to UNITAS in 1993 and took part in Operation Support Democracy and Operation Able Vigil in 1994. In 1995, she returned to the Middle East Force before serving in the Atlantic in 1997 and in 1998. Stark was decommissioned on May 7, 1999. A scrapping contract was awarded to Metro Machine Corp. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 7 October, 2005. The ship was reported scrapped on June 21, 2006.^[3]

Casualties

USS Stark (FFG-31) memorial in Mayport, FL.

Further reading

• 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 1-59114-970-3. 

References

External links

• Photos of the damaged Stark
• Host page for PDF version of report: Formal Investigation into the Circumstances Surrounding the Attack of the USS Stark in 1987
• US Navy's Damage Control Museum page on the USS Stark
• navsource.org: USS Stark (FFG-31)
• Information on Operation Earnest Will
• MaritimeQuest USS Stark FFG-31 pages
• Memorial Site for USS Stark casualties