The USS Vincennes in the Persian Gulf. A naval investigator told Congress last September that a series of errors caused by stress, including misinterpreting electronic data, caused the mistaken attack on the airliner. The carrier bore a strange deck cargo, 16 Army B-25 Mitchell medium bombers slated to strike at Japan's heart. Naval Institute Proceedings magazine. He thought it was an F-14 fighter jet intent on attacking the U.S. naval vessel. The probe showed how a perfect storm of miscommunication, miscalculation, and human error in the heat of battle resulted in one of the deadliest commercial tragedies in modern times. A navy cameraman happened to be shooting videotape on the ship that day and caught the looks of dismissiveness on the faces of the officers as they ignored the Omani request. The United States acknowledged responsibility for the attack, but top U.S. military officials claimed that Iran bore substantial responsibility because it had not taken steps to prevent the commercial plane from traversing a war zone. The downing of Iran Air Flight 655 occurred at the height of the 1980s war that pitted the revolutionary Islamic government of Iran against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. ″Having watched the performance of the Vincennes for a month before the incident, my impression was clearly that an atmosphere of restraint was not her long suit,″ Carlson wrote. VINCENNES, Ind. Iran considered the U.S. action hostile because it prevented the country from responding in kind to Iraqi attacks on Iranian oil ships. Rogers knew full well he was moving into the crossroads of the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf waters claimed by the country of Oman on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. At the time, Iraq enjoyed the backing of the United States. Other countries should prepare now for their own reformations. The world doesn’t have to put up with Beijing’s attempts at economic coercion. As part of our Document of the Week series, Foreign Policy is posting the U.S. military investigation into the accident, along with letters from top U.S. military brass defending the commander’s action as justified as a result of the fog of war. According to Carlson, the event started with a Vincennes’ helicopter drawing fire from Iranian speedboats, which he claims were only warning shots. According to various reports, Rogers, who had a reputation for aggressiveness, ignored orders to change course and instead continued to pursue the enemy gunboats. On July 3, 1988, William C. Rogers III, the commander of the USS Vincennes, ordered the downing of an Iranian passenger plane over the Strait of Hormuz, killing 290 people from six nations. It was the ninth worst incident in aeronautical history and to make it even worse, the decision that led to these deaths was based on a theory of the situation rather than on supporting evidence. The Jan. 8 Iranian shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger flight shortly after takeoff from Tehran Airport was not the first time that U.S.-Iranian tensions had resulted in a major commercial airline tragedy. Down below, Rogers was having the time of his life blasting Boghammers when his men detected Flight 655. She was one of 27 ships of the Ticonderoga class constructed for the United States Navy, and one of five equipped with the Mark 26 Guided Missile Launching System. Rogers did move the Vincennes but left the helicopter in the area to follow the gunboats, which began taking on … --1983 Beirut barracks bombing of the U.S. Marine and French 'Drakkar' barracks which killed 241 American and 58 French peacekeepers. At this point, Capt Rogers and the USS Vincennes had just set themselves up for a very bad situation. ″No profit has come from the pathetic post-incident attempts to place the blame on the victims,″ he wrote. The USS Vincennes, commanded by Captain William C. Rogers III, was in the same area and believed the USS Montgomery was in trouble. ″A review of the facts is in order,″ Carlson wrote. In particular, the decisions made by Captain Rogers of the USS Vincennes, Lieutenant Collier of the USS Vincennes, then-Commander Carlson of the USS Sides, and Rear Admiral Less of Joint Task Force Middle East (Bahrain High Command) allowed the events of 3 July 1988 to escalate beyond the capabilities of these individuals. 40-2261, which was mission plane No. With this book, however, he breaks his silence and gives a full accounting of what happened. On July 3, 1988, the USS Vincennes and another US vessel were caught in a skirmish with Iranian gun boats. (AP) _ Last year, Capt. Interestingly, some experts at the time felt the deployment of highly sophisticated but unproven air defence destroyers like the USS Vincennes to the Gulf in … Carlson almost vomited, he … The report, it turned out, was wrong. What happens when Washington pushes Tehran too hard. ″The tragedy was avoidable, and we must learn from it,″ he said. handful of US mainstream media reports turn up on first-page results.Max Fisher in the Washington Post wrote a piece about it several years ago, appropriately titled “The Forgotten story of Iran Air Flight 655”. Carlson suggests the crew of the Vincennes wanted to prove the viability of the ship’s Aegis missiles in the Persian Gulf. William C. Rogers III, was involved in several skirmishes with Iranian vessels. Aboard the USS Vincennes, the ship's captain was getting information that an unknown aircraft contacted by radar was not responding to calls. Days before the attack on the Iranian airliner, Iraq carried out a series of air raids against Iranian oil facilities and tankers. Will C. Rogers III stood before the USS Vincennes Association, a guest at its annual reunion. Storm center : the USS Vincennes and Iran air flight 655 : a personal account of tragedy and terrorism. The crew of the USS Vincennes was still engaged in a gunfight when the Iran Air Airbus A300 lifted off from Bandar Abbas en route to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. At 10:17 AM Iranian time (UTC +3:30), 655 finally took off and headed back the way it had come along commercial air corridor Amber 59 – a 20-mile wide lane which stretched directly over the Vincennes. 7, piloted by 2nd Lieutenant Ted W. Lawson. USS Vincennes exploded the airliner with two surface-to-air missiles, killing all 290 people on board. The USS Vincennes returns from deployment on Oct. 24, 1988, just months after shooting down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Strait of Hormuz.. Photo by … The documents—marked secret—were obtained by the Black Vault, a repository of declassified U.S. government documents founded by John E. Greenewald Jr. through Freedom of Information Act requests. The Pentagon released an official report by Admiral William Fogarty on August 19 th . Also, for future reference, this (point) is the airport from which Flight 655 departed, and this (point) is the airport to which they were headed. There were mitigating factors, according to the U.S. military. “Given the conditions existing on 3 July, Captain Rogers and his senior CIC [Combat Information Center] watch personnel acted reasonably,” William J. Crowe Jr., then-chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote on Aug. 18, 1988. The Vincennes saw heavy service in the alpha quadrant from 2299 to 2309 under the leadership of Captain Arthur Brandenburg. ″The Vincennes saw an opportunity for action, and pressed hard for Commander Middle East Force to give permission to fire,″ Carlson said. ″I was also prepared to deal with an air threat, but in all honesty did not perceive one,″ Carlson said. Shortly before the attack, the U.S. military issued tougher rules of engagement to their commanders, granting them authority to fire on suspected enemy targets even if they had not themselves come under fire. [Will Rogers; Sharon Rogers; Gene Gregston] -- The tragic shootdown of a commercial Iranian airliner by a U.S. Navy cruiser in 1988 drew worldwide attention and became the subject of a heated debate that continues even today. USS Vincennes (CG-49) was a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser outfitted with the Aegis combat system that was in service with the United States Navy from July 1985 to June 2005. 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