Operation Praying
Mantis, the ruthless US
Navy response to the
mining of USS Samuel
B. Roberts by Iranian
ships, had begun on
April 18, 1988. The
first dawn lights slowly
illuminated the Persian
Gulf when Vietnam War-era
Belknap-class destroyer
USS Wainwright surged
forward to carry
on with her mission.
The destroyer was the vanguard of
the retaliation
operation. Guided by the
latest intelligence,
Wainwright's targeting
systems locked onto
the Sassan oil platform.
Coordinating with
other ships, Wainwright’s
missiles rocked the
platform, engulfing it in an
inferno of fire and smoke.
As plumes reached the
sky, Wainwright swiftly
changed course, ready
for the next target:
the Sirri oil platform.
Her crew unleashed a barrage that
led to more
devastation. Victorious,
the destroyer, and her
crew made way for their
next objective when
the unexpected occurred.
The small Iranian
Kaman-class fast attack craft
Joshan decided to
challenge her in single combat,
spraying the American ship
with machine-gun fire with the aim
of taking down some
American sailors.
USS Wainwright’s
response was instant:
she fixed her Mark 42
gun and Harpoon missile
launchers for one
lethal attack. The battle
between a highly advanced
behemoth of steel and
a David-sized Iranian
ship was about to begin.
Belknap-class
Destroyer (Cruiser) USS
Wainwright DLG-28 was the third US
Navy ship to bear the
name of Civil War era hero,
Commander Jonathan
Mayhew Wainwright. The brave
American sailor had
served with distinction in
engagements at Forts
Jackson and Saint Philip with
great success before
losing his life at the Battle
of Galveston in 1863.
Still, his legacy lived on
in Naval history due
to his intrepid nature.
USS Wainwright III
was laid down on July 2,
1962, at Bath, Maine,
by the Bath Iron Works
Corporation and
launched on April 25, 1965,
sponsored by Richard
W. Wainwright as the
United States prepared
for direct military
involvement in
Vietnam Southeast Asia.
Half a year later,
on January 8, 1966,
she was commissioned at
the Boston Naval Shipyard
with Captain Robert P.
Foreman in command.
USS Wainwright III was
a Belknap-class cruiser,
a class of single-ended
guided-missile cruisers
that, unlike double-ended
missile cruisers, its
missile armament was
only installed forward.
When commissioned,
the Belknap class main
armament included
a 5-inch/54-caliber Mk
42 gun mounted on
the quarterdeck and a
twin-rail RIM-2
Terrier MK 10 Launcher
on the foredeck with
over 40 SN-2ER missiles.
Wainwright III’s MK 10
Missile Launcher could
also launch 20 RUR-5
ASROC, all-weather,
all-sea-conditions
anti-submarine missiles
without an additional MK
112 ARSOC launcher. As
decades passed, the
armament would be revamped,
including two Phalanx
automated gun-based close-in
weapon systems, two
Mark 46 torpedo launchers,
and two Harpoon missile launchers.
The Phalanx Close-In Weapon System
was a state-of-the-art
automated defense
system designed
specifically for anti-ship
missiles and aircraft
threats. It comprised a
radar-controlled Gatling
gun that rapidly fired
armor-piercing rounds
at any upcoming threat.
Wainwrights’ propulsion
system comprised four
1200-pound per-square-inch
boilers, two geared
steam turbines, and
two shafts providing over
85,000 horsepower.
This allowed the ship
to reach a top speed
of over 32 knots.
The Belknap-class cruiser
was also equipped with
sophisticated AN/SPS-10
surface search RADAR,
AN/SPS-48 3D air search
radar, AN/SPS-49 2D air
search radar, and two
AN/SPG-55 Terrier missile
fire control radar,
providing the vessel with
constant eyes in the
skies and the depths below
to affront any upcoming
danger. Gulf of Tonkin
Following her commission
under Captain Foreman,
USS Wainwright departed
for her shakedown cruise,
testing her missiles
in the Atlantic and
sonar. She fired her
main gun at Culebra
Island and launched
several Terrier missiles.
In April 1967, she
transited the Panama Canal
and arrived at San
Diego, California, before
leaving for Pearl
Harbor. Wainwright then
made her way across
the Pacific, bound for
Southeast Asia to support
the American troops
fighting the Communist
forces in Vietnam.
On June 6, 1967, USS
Wainwright arrived at
the Tonkin Gulf to
begin her first tour in
Vietnam. She took
positive identification
radar advisory zone or
PIRAZ duties from USS
Long Beach and began
operating in the gulf,
maintaining visual
surveillance and radar to
identify hostile
aircraft near the coasts.
This job kept the vessel in
the same spot for a long time,
serving as a reference
point for friendly strike
aircraft flying above it
bound to attack targets
ashore. USS Wainwright’s
duties also provided
help to Search and
Rescue or SAR helicopters,
which also used her
as a base for takeoff.
During this time, a
SAR helicopter crashed
on USS Wainwright’s
flight deck, but damage was
minimal. After these
surveillance operations,
the destroyer visited
Sasebo and Okinawa
before resuming
PIRAZ duty in August.
Wainwright’s 27 days
of operations finished
on September 8 after
she surveyed the gulf
and visited the British colony
of Hong Kong for five days.
For her third tour,
Wainwright served as a
screen commander
for two aircraft carriers
operating on Yankee Station and an
anti-aircraft warfare command ship
that supported all the
units of Task Force 77.
On September 28, 1967,
USS Wainwright and her
crew completed their
final assignment in Vietnam
and departed the combat
zone in Southeast Asia.
Back in NAM Starting
in 1968 in Charleston,
USS Wainwright swiftly
transitioned to her role
as a school ship for
the Destroyer School in
Newport. After a brief
return to Charleston,
her operations spanned
Rugby Match exercises
to increase her readiness
in the West Indies.
Transiting the Panama
Canal in late June 1968,
months after the launch of North
Vietnam’s unexpected TET Offensive,
USS Wainwright visited
strategic waypoints
such as Pearl Harbor,
Guam, and Subic Bay en
route to her combat
duty station in Indochina.
Stationed on PIRAZ duty
once again, Wainwright
survived a typhoon
and returned promptly to
her post despite the
unexpected attack from
Mother Nature. Relieved
in mid-September,
she embarked on a
series of port visits,
a testament to American
military might globally.
Resuming PIRAZ duty
in late October 1968,
USS Wainwright
effectively controlled
the airspace over the Tonkin Gulf.
In January 1969,
Wainwright began her final
tour of duty as a PIRAZ
ship, showcasing her
persistence in such
an important role. The
voyage home took her
through the Philippines,
Subic Bay, and a
trans-Pacific journey marked
by stops in Sydney,
Auckland, and Papeete.
Returning to Charleston
in February, she entered
a period of inspections
before embarking on
dynamic exercises,
including a Presidential
Seapower Demonstration
and participation in
"Exotic Dancer" and
"Spark Plug" exercises.
In August, she
underwent her first regular
overhaul at the Charleston
Naval Shipyard, a
testament to her enduring
service in the US Navy.
Last Tour After
resuming operational
status in February 1970,
USS Wainwright engaged
in rigorous training
off the coasts of Florida
and Virginia. In mid-March,
she set off for the
Atlantic Fleet weapons
range near Puerto Rico,
undertaking gunnery
and missile exercises.
In late April, Wainwright
received orders
to intercept three
Haitian Coast Guard
vessels fleeing an
unsuccessful coup.
While encountering one
vessel near Guantanamo
Bay, she stood guard
as American officials
boarded the vessels
peacefully to defuse the
situation. Later,
Wainwright escorted the two
remaining ships back
to Guantanamo Bay.
A different mission
arose in May 1970
when she set out
to intercept a Soviet
task group. Engaging
two Russian ships,
including a guided missile
cruiser and destroyer,
she witnessed the
arrival of two submarines,
an oiler, and a submarine
tender. Together,
they entered port
at Cienfuegos, Cuba,
marking a significant
diplomatic encounter
reminiscent of the
1962 Missile Crisis.
Following this period,
Wainwright returned
to Guantanamo Bay for
more training. In June,
she moored at Charleston
for two months of
essential upkeep and
training, gearing up for
her imminent deployment
to the Far East as part
of President Nixon’s
policy of Vietnamization.
Embarking on her third
and final deployment to
Indochina in August,
Wainwright transited via
the Panama Canal and
Pearl Harbor, arriving
in Yokosuka, Japan,
by September 1970.
Over the next two
months, she conducted
operations in Japanese
waters, focusing
on bilateral ASW exercises
in the Sea of Japan
alongside Japanese
Maritime Self-Defense Force
units. Periodic stops in
Yokosuka and Sasebo
provided moments of
respite and maintenance.
In early November,
USS Wainwright headed
to the Taiwan Strait
to reach the familiar
waters of the Tonkin
Gulf for her last tour
of duty in Vietnam
before the conflict ended.
Son Tay Raid During the
midnight of November 21, 1970,
USS Wainwright took
part in one of the greatest
special operations
deceptions in modern warfare to
assist the Army and Air
Force in rescuing American
prisoners of war from
Son Tay in North Vietnam.
Seaborne radar on
board the USS Wainwright
(CG-28), the Navy’s
air traffic control
station “Red Crown,” would monitor
all aircraft over
the Gulf of Tonkin.
Any ship equipped with NTDS could
selectively monitor any activity
in real-time with
updates from each new
sweep of the
Wainwright’s radar antenna.
During more than two
hours, Wainwright’s radar
controllers tracked
unprecedented numbers of
blacked-out and radio-silenced
Navy and Air Force
aircraft that flew multiple
paths overland north
of Haiphong and
over the Gulf of Tonkin.
These paths or tracks
had time and altitude
separations, but
the aircraft crossed
each other in congested locations,
always paying attention
to monitor coded
altitude data squawked
by each aircraft’s IFF
or Identification Friend
or Foe transmitter.
Thanks to Wainwright’s
PIRAZ coverage,
the assets deployed
for the operation
had complete access
to the entire region,
from the Gulf of Tonkin
to the mountains that
went beyond the Black
River of North Vietnam.
The Navy could track
aircraft in real-time
as they flew across
the skies from one point
to another. As if that
was not enough, the Navy
could also monitor aircraft
radio frequencies and
listen to radio frequencies from
both friendly and hostile aircrews.
All these data were
displayed on screens
that allowed the
US to provide timely
inputs on enemy NVA
responses to attacks.
While the Navy and
Air Force took over the
skies to distract the
enemy with the info
provided by Wainwright,
the Army launched
a raiding force of six
helicopters, two large
support aircraft, and
five small attack aircraft
from Thailand in the
early hours of November
20, 1970, bound for the
Son Tay prison camp.
The diversion conducted
by the aircraft led
by Wainwright was a
complete success. Still,
the ground operation
was not triumphant
at all. The Green
Berets discovered
the POWs had been
evacuated before.
Nevertheless, the
Son Tay raid proved
what the branches of
the US armed forces could
achieve working together,
laying the groundwork
for future joint forces
operations. Farewell to Indochina
On November 14,
1970, Wainwright relieved
USS Jouett on PIRAZ
station as the American
air coordinator in
the northern part of
the gulf. Shortly
after, the reliable
destroyer was relieved
by USS Chicago.
Still, Wainwright
kept the role of the
coordinator ship
designated for the north SAR
station. She navigated
between the north and south
SAR stations for nearly
a month, participating
in Operation Beacon
Tower in mid-December.
The three-day exercise
increased the preparedness
of US Navy vessels
in the Tonkin Gulf
against NVA air
and surface threats.
On December 16,
Wainwright departed the
combat zone, setting
course for Singapore,
where she stayed to
celebrate Christmas.
She then headed
for the Philippines,
reaching Subic Bay on December 29.
Wainwright left the
Philippines on January 4,
1971, bound for Hong
Kong. Following a four-day
visit, she left the British
colony en route to the
Tonkin Gulf for two
intense weeks of operations.
Throughout the year,
Wainwright participated
in more training exercises
in the Atlantic and
conducted patrols
in South America, the
Caribbean, and
Africa. In January 1972,
the destroyer underwent
a conversion process
before a tour of the
Mediterranean Sea.
In December, the
ship’s crew visited Rota,
Spain, before venturing
into the Mediterranean,
where she conducted
ASW and Antiair warfare
or AAW exercises
with allied vessels.
While conducting
these exercises in Greek
waters, USS Wainwright
successfully tracked,
contacted, and
identified four Soviet
submarines despite the Communist
efforts to evade contact
with the NATO vessels.
After her successful
European tours, Wainwright
returned to the US and
underwent an overhaul. In
March 1975, she became
the first American ship to
visit Romania in over
50 years. Praying Mantis
On April 18, 1988,
USS Wainwright played a
pivotal role in Operation
Praying Mantis,
a retaliatory action
by US Navy forces in
response to the Iranian
mining of the USS
Samuel B. Roberts. This
guided missile frigate was
patrolling the Persian
Gulf before the incident.
This mining of the US
ship, which occurred
on April 14, was taken
as a direct threat to
America’s Operation
Earnest Will, whose purpose
was to safeguard
reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers
from Iranian attacks
in the Persian
Gulf. In the aftermath
of the incident,
US Navy divers
located additional mines
in the vicinity, with
their serial numbers
linking them to those
previously confiscated
from the Iranian Air
Force in September 1987.
American naval response
was swift. An immediate
counteroffensive was
born to avenge USS Samuel
B. Roberts: Operation
Praying Mantis, which
turned out to be the
largest surface action for
American forces since
World War 2 had ended.
On April 18, 1988,
a coalition of surface
warships, complemented
by aircraft from
USS Enterprise,
executed the operation.
In close cooperation
with two destroyers and
the amphibious transport
dock USS Trenton,
Wainwright launched a
coordinated strike on the
Sassan oil platform
and the Sirri oil platform.
The operation saw
US Marines descending
onto the Sassan
platform, gathering crucial
intelligence and
strategically disabling
it. In response, Iran
dispatched Boghammar
speedboats to launch
attacks across the Persian
Gulf. An American
A-6E Intruder aircraft from
VA-95 targeted the
speedboats, sinking one
and inflicting damage
on several others.
The intensity escalated
further as Iranian
Kaman-class fast attack
craft Joshan challenged
Wainwright. It launched
a Harpoon missile,
prompting Wainwright
to retaliate with four
Standard missiles.
Additional strikes from USS
Bagley culminated in
the destruction of Joshan.
The Iranian frigate
Sahand then entered
the fray, taking the
fight to elements of
another American surface
group. In an exchange
of missiles, Sahand was
inevitably sunk against
the superior naval power
of the American ships,
leading to another
victory for US Navy forces.
Operation Praying
Mantis turned out to
be the most substantial
surface action
for American troops
since World War 2 had
ended, resulting
in the sinking of two
Iranian warships and up
to six armed speedboats.
It also marked the
first-ever surface-to-surface
missile engagement
in US Navy history.
This decisive operation
compelled Iran to
agree to a ceasefire
with Iraq later
that summer, putting an end to the
eight-year-long conflict
between both nations.
Wainwright was
decommissioned on November 10,
1993, and remained in
the reserve fleet for almost
a decade. In June 2002,
the British Royal Navy
used her as a live fire
target. She was struck
by two Harpoon missiles
fired from HMS Richmond.
The missiles did not put
her down, and Wainwright
remained afloat during
the night. The next day,
she was struck by a
Spearfish torpedo fired from
the submarine HMS
Tireless, striking the bow.
Shortly after, American
aircraft made a strafing run,
severely damaging her
before being ultimately
sent to the depths
with explosive charges.