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Melanie Hopka, HM1
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Hopka, Richard Lee, HM1 USN(Ret).
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Description Operation Praying Mantis was an attack on 18 April 1988, by U.S. forces within Iranian territorial waters in retaliation for the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf during the Iran–Iraq war and the subsequent damage to an American warship.
On 14 April, the guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck a mine while deployed in the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Earnest Will, the 1987–88 convoy missions in which U.S. warships escorted reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers to protect them from Iranian attacks. The explosion blew a 4.5 m (15-foot) hole in Samuel B. Roberts's hull and nearly sank it. The crew saved their ship with no loss of life, and Samuel B. Roberts was towed to Dubai on 16 April. After the mining, U.S. Navy divers recovered other mines in the area. When the serial numbers were found to match those of mines seized along with the Iran Ajr the previous September, U.S. military officials planned a retaliatory operation against Iranian targets in the Persian Gulf.
According to Bradley Peniston, the attack by the U.S. helped pressure Iran to agree to a ceasefire with Iraq later that summer, ending the eight-year conflict between the Persian Gulf neighbors.
On 6 November 2003, the International Court of Justice ruled that "the actions of the United States of America against Iranian oil platforms on 19 October 1987 (Operation Nimble Archer) and 18 April 1988 (Operation Praying Mantis) cannot be justified as measures necessary to protect the essential security interests of the United States of America." However, the International Court of Justice dismissed Iran's claim that the attack by United States Navy was a breach of the 1955 Treaty of Amity between the two countries as it only pertained to vessels, not platforms.
This battle was the largest of the five major U.S. surface engagements since the Second World War, which also include the Battle of Chumonchin Chan during the Korean War, the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the Battle of Dong Hoi during the Vietnam War, and the Action in the Gulf of Sidra in 1986. It also marked the U.S. Navy's first exchange of anti-ship missiles with opposing ships and the only occasion since World War II on which the US Navy sank a major surface combatant.
By the end of the operation, U.S. air and surface units had sunk, or severely damaged, half of Iran's operational fleet.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
April / 1988
To Month/Year
April / 1988
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories ON BOARD THE USS GARY (FFG-51)
The USS Samuel B Roberts came over to relieve the USS Gary from the patrol it was running (generic boring holes in the ocean, aka water doughnuts). A few hours later, they hit the minefield that the Gary had passed over unscathed during the night.
The US had been posturing in the Gulf for a while, and at one point we had to sit by while a tanker was shelled at will by the Sahalan. Calls of help were left unanswered because we did not get permission to engage. When the Sammy B hit the mine, the rules changed.
The US was purposely looking for the Sahalan when we retaliated. It was targeted because her crew was responsible for attacking quite a few tankers. A few items not mentioned in Epyons fine writeup include how the Sahalan was also hit with some laser-guided bombs from US aircraft and how the command and control platforms were warned in advance that shelling would commence in five minutes. A lot of folks hopped on the speedboats and took off, and we let them go because we were interested in damaging the infrastructure, not the humans.
This all took place on April 17th, 1988. What is not generally known is what happened the next morning.
The USS Gary (FFG-51) was assigned to go to the northern portion of the Gulf, north of some barges that we were using for northern gulf operations. We were well out of the air protection envelope. The main job of the USS Gary was to act as a quacking duck to see if the Iranians still wanted to fight.
The two helicopters that were onboard the USS Gary were launched early, and encountered an Iranian aircraft that was at the far field of the RADAR. They were jamming on most frequencies. The ship got a call from Grey Ghost (the Combat Air Patrol, a P3 Orion, if memory serves) that they were tracking two inbound missiles. It turns out that the two missiles were Silkworms, relatively stupid yet packing quite a punch. The USS Gary turned and kicked their engines into high gear. The ship was prepared for impact, and the overhead PA system was tuned into the 1MC channel, which was occupied by Combat. Everyone heard the order given to place a "bird on the rail", meaning the USS Gary was going to launch an anti-missile missile. Unfortunately, the jamming by the Iranians kept them from launching.
COMBAT: "Launch the bird, repeat, launch the bird." GUNNER: "We cannot launch, we have no RADAR lock." COMBAT: "Well, fire the goddamned missile anyway!" GUNNER: "Sorry, Sir, you cannot launch unless you have a RADAR lock.
Oh, shit.
Loud bangs announced the deployment of chaff to confuse the Silkworms. One did lock onto the cloud of aluminum confetti, and veered off. The other one kept coming. Another problem for the USS Gary was that the Phalanx anti-missile gun on the back flight deck was RADAR-guided. The USS Gary ended up shooting their main gun (a 75) in the general direction of the missile, sort of like trying to hit something a few feet across with a shell that was only about four inches in diameter while rocking and rolling on a ship moving at 30+ knots. That was when Grey Ghost confirmed that the missile had run out of fuel and had splashed down exactly 17 seconds from impacting the USS Gary. The ship was well within the theoretical operating envelope of the Silkworm, perhaps they had short-changed the fuel load on the missile.
It should be noted that then-President Reagan had stated that the United States would attack any missile site that ever launched a Silkworm missile at any US ship. A man on the barges in the Gulf had taken actual pictures of the Silkworms passing nearby. These were supposed to be given to the Captain of the USS Gary for the wardroom. Additionally, the entire action had been filmed by a news team from the US, including shots of the Silkworm splashing down. Since the US did not want to follow up on their threat, the man mysteriously disappeared off of the barge, along with his pictures (tough to do when you're miles from any coast). The news team was told not to report the action of that morning. Senator Alan Cranston, when directly asked by the news media if any Silkworms were fired at US ships during the whole affair, said, "At no time was any Silkworm fired at a US ship." A blatant lie, but a political way of getting out of bombing missile sites in Iran.
During Operation Praying Mantis, the helicopter personnel on the USS Gary set the all-time helicopter flight hours record in a one-month period, which still stands to this day. The CNO has decreed that the record will never be broken because it required a lot of fast-paced work that could jeapordize lives.