Frigate’s weapons turned off?

Press, 21 May 1987, Page 10

Frigate’s weapons turned off?

By

MARK THOMPSON

Knight-Ridder Newspapers

NZPA Washington The battery of sophisticated weapons aboard the U.S.S. Stark was probably turned off on Sunday night, leaving it practically defenceless when it was attacked by an Iraqi warplane, a navy spokesman said yesterday.

Like all other United States ships in the Gulf, the Stark was operating under a “Condition 3” alert when it was hit by an Iraqi missile, killing 37 sailors, Lieutenant Commander Walter Urban, a Navy spokesman, said.

“All of the weapons systems are manned with one-third of the crew, Commander Urban said, describing the Condition 3 alert status under which the Stark sailed at the time of the attack.

“The weapons are not energised as they would be under a Condition 1 watch, which is general quarters.” An “energised” weapon is primed to work “at the drop of a pin,” Commander Urban said, while an “unenergised” weapon takes much more time before it can be used. “We don’t know for a fact if he had any of his systems energised,” Com-

mand Urban said of the Stark’s captain. “Typically he would not have his systems energised” under a Condition 3 alert. The Stark’s MK-15 Phalanx close-in weapon system, the final defence against an attacking missile, could fire within five seconds if it had been energised at the time of the attack, he said.

“If the (Phalanx) system were off, it would take five to six minutes to be fully energised.”

Several defence officials, including a retired Navy admiral, said it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for the Stark to defend

itself given the scant one minute between the time the ship realised it was being surveyed by the Iraqi plane’s radar and the missile’s detonation deep amidships. Navy ship alerts range from a low of Condition 5, which means the ship is in port, to Condition 1, in which the crew mans battle stations. Condition 4 is for normal peacetime steaming, Condition 3 is a heightened alert status, and Condition 2 is an alert stage just short of full battle readiness, Commander Urban said. In Bahrain, Rear-Ad-miral Harold Bernsen said the Stark’s radar spotted the plane but ap-

patently did not detect the missile’s launch. Numerous problems, from Persian Gulf humidity to radar operator boredom, could have caused the missile to be missed, navy weapons experts said. Despite President Ronald Reagan’s statement on Tuesday that the ships in the Gulf had been placed on a higher level of readiness following the attack, they remained on “Condition 3,” military officials said yesterday. The ships have been instructed to mount a more aggressive defence if they believe an attack is imminent.