Parker, Vincent E, Sr., EN1

Worst Moment
Search Goes On for 2 U.S. Sailors Missing After Ship Sinks Off Iraq. WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2001 - Navy ships and helicopters continued to search today for two American sailors missing in the northern Persian Gulf after an overloaded cargo ship they had boarded for inspection sank in rough seas, the Pentagon said. The sailors were part of an eight-member team from the destroyer Peterson who had boarded the ship on Sunday after American officials became suspicious that it was carrying oil from Iraq in violation of United Nations sanctions. Pentagon officials said the team discovered tanks carrying 1,700 metric tons of oil hidden under bags of grain. The ship, the Samra, which was registered in the United Arab Emirates, was so overloaded that it was already riding dangerously low in the water when the Peterson first spotted it, officials said. The Samra, which was at anchor at the time not far from the Iraqi coastline, sank in high seas just 30 minutes after the sailors boarded it, the officials said. There were no sounds of explosions or gunfire on the Samra before it began to sink, indicating that the crew had not attempted to resist the inspection, officials said. SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters dispatched from the Peterson were able to rescue 6 American sailors and 10 members of the Samra's 14-member Iraqi crew not long after the ship went under. The body of one Iraqi sailor was also recovered, while three remaining crew members from the Samra were missing tonight. Today, the Peterson and its two helicopters, which are part of the Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain, were joined in the search by two other American warships, four additional helicopters and a PC-3 Orion patrol plane. In addition, an American supply ship and an Australian warship, the Sydney, were involved. The missing American sailors were identified as Petty Officer First Class Vincent E. Parker, 38, of Preston, Miss., and Petty Officer Third Class Benjamin Alan Johnson, 21, of Rochester. Cmdr. Thomas Van Leunen, a spokesman for the Navy, said the search would continue through the night. ''The water temperature there is high, so the chances of their surviving are better,'' he said. The United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990, allowing Iraq to export crude oil only under United Nations supervision. This year, American ships and other navies involved in enforcing the sanctions have inspected 99 tankers suspected of smuggling oil from Iraq. The Security Council has said the sanctions would be removed only when Iraq had eliminated all its weapons of mass destruction. Iraq insists that it has done that and has refused to allow United Nations weapons inspectors back into the country.

Other Memories
PETERSON departed Norfolk, VA, on September 19, 2001, as part of the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) Aircraft Carrier Battle Group (CVBG) for a scheduled six-month deployment, and in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. For the previous eight months, PETERSON had trained with the CVBG in preparation for this deployment through a series of increasingly demanding exercises and operations. These pre-deployment exercises had culminated the previous month with the successful completion of Joint Task Force Exercise 01-3. The aim of Unified Spirit, which is held every four years, was to train forces and the Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) headquarters staff in the planning and conducting of a NATO-led out-of-area United Nations Charter Chapter VII Peace Support Operation. It was a key element in the NATO four-year CJTF headquarters training cycle. During the exercise, forces were faced with two quickly developing scenarios in two different regions. One was a peace support operation between two fictional former warring nations, and the other involved open hostilities in the fictional states of "Kartuna" and "Korona." Both scenarios stressed the ability to react to high-threat environments requiring air, naval and ground operations. They incorporated surveillance, reconnaissance and other missions, including humanitarian assistance, maritime interdiction, embassy support and a non-combatant evacuation. The Battle Group returned to the US in March 2002 and on October 4, 2002, PETERSON was decommissioned. PETERSON was homeported in Norfolk, Va., and was a member of Commander, Destroyer Squadron Twenty-Eight, serving as flagship for the Commodore and staff.