While the USS Samuel B Roberts frigate backed up on April 14,
1988, while sailing in the Persian Gulf, the ship struck a cheap, Russian-designed Iranian mine.
The blow shattered Robert's keel and immediately knocked out her electrical power.
Within 90 seconds, the frigate had taken on nearly half its total water displacement.
Commander Paul X. Rinn suddenly faced two significant problems that affected the
vessel and the lives of the more than 200 men on board: fire and flooding.
For the next four hours, the ship’s beleaguered crew waged a fight against time to survive,
but the captain soon made an unexpected decision that was
met with blank stares at first. Even so, it was crucial in saving everyone's lives…
The Fearless Skipper
Paul Xavier Rinn, from Poughkeepsie, New York, first joined the United States Navy
in 1968, commissioned as a naval officer in Southeast Asia. During his years in Vietnam,
Rinn spent a considerable amount of time firefighting on the muddy Mekong River.
These experiences in the Vietnam War taught the officer how to work
efficiently in high-pressure situations. And Rinn quickly
learned how to focus all his intensity and brainpower on the things he could change.
After a series of successful tours aboard surface warships, Rinn was promoted to
captain, assuming command of the unfinished guided-missile frigate Samuel B. Roberts in 1984.
USS Samuel B. Roberts was one of the final ships in the United States Navy's Oliver Hazard Perry
class of guided missile frigates, and was named after Samuel B. Roberts, a Navy coxswain who
lost his life while evacuating US Marines during the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942.
As the ship was being built at Bath Iron Works,
Captain Rinn gathered his chief petty officers and set the tone for the crew: [QUOTE] "I don't
intend this ship to be a second-place ship. I want this ship to be the best ship there ever
was. But the key is that I want every sailor who ever served on the ship to think this is
the best thing he could ever possibly have done with his life for those three years."
The Very Best
For months, Captain Rinn put his crew under intense training.
Despite being a strict disciplinarian,
his crew was motivated and eager to respond to his energetic and demanding standards.
By the time Roberts sailed to the Persian Gulf on her maiden voyage in January of 1988,
she had beaten seven other frigates and won the squadron's Battle Effectiveness award.
The prized ribbon is only awarded to the best crews.
During her first deployment, the frigate was to participate in Operation Earnest Will,
the naval escort of reflagged Kuwaiti tankers during the Iran-Iraq War.
After Iran captured Iraq's conveniently located al-Faw Peninsula in 1986,
it left the country landlocked, and the Iraqi government was forced to use Kuwaiti
oil tankers and facilities to export its oil. As such, Iran began attacking these vessels,
followed by any tanker in the region. And one of their methods was the use of naval mines.
Soon, the United States deployed a large minesweeping force to the region,
but finding every single mine proved extremely difficult.
14th Time’s The Charm
During Operation Earnest Will, the largest naval convoy operation since World War 2, Roberts was
one of 30 American warships deployed to protect shipping activities in the Persian Gulf.
Although 70 percent of the ship’s crew had never been to sea,
the men felt confident in their at-sea abilities thanks to skipper Rinn.
By April 14, 1988, the USS Samuel B. Roberts guided missile frigate had been part of 13
convoys, escorting several oil tankers and minesweepers in and out of the Persian Gulf.
That afternoon, while sailing for resupplies toward another ship,
Captain Rinn received reports of naval mines only 350 yards from his ship's location.
The skipper then calmly called the crew to the general quarters,
ordering them to stay on the upper decks as a precaution.
He then ordered to reverse the ship, but about 25 minutes into their attempt to
evade the minefield, Captain Rinn heard the loudest explosion of his career.
Quick
Thinking
The sudden blast lifted the 4,200-ton frigate into the air, splashing down in a massive 100-foot
fireball. Seven sailors suffered severe burns, and Captain Rinn broke his foot.
The ship was heavily damaged,
with her keel shattered and her engine room decimated, including the diesel engines.
While water poured into the massive hole in the hull, a massive fire also threatened to
engulf the frigate. It only took a minute and a half for Roberts to take almost half of her
total displacement in seawater, and she was now being held together merely by the main deck.
With both threats posing devastating dangers to the frigate and the lives of everyone on board,
Captain Rinn was forced to make a tough decision.
After calculating how much water his ship could take to stay afloat, Rinn realized
that fighting the fire would be pointless if the vessel could not remain above the surface.
As such, he ordered his crew to stop focusing on putting
down the fire and turn to the flooding instead.
Fortunately, Rinn's implementation of a rigorous training and cross-training regimen for his crew
paid off, as his officers and sailors were prepared for any eventuality. Every single
man on that ship, from cooks to radiomen, had learned how to deal with fire and flooding.
Rinn then told his crew that if they didn't save one of the generators in the auxiliary
machinery rooms, they would lose the ship. Roberts had four electrical generators,
but three of them were either flooded or close to shutting down, and the last one,
located in auxiliary machinery room #1, had been shut down for repairs before the incident.
As the last working diesel engine began to shut down,
all the lights in the ship started to flicker.
Even so, Captain Rinn would not have to wait for long.
One Last Chance ﻿
Despite being ordered to stay above decks, fireman Mike Tilley and several
other shipmates decided to stay below and remain close to the diesel generator.
Tilley, who was in auxiliary machinery room #1 when the mine exploded,
opted to start the generator by using high-pressure air and get a fan motor
going. This would then set off the main generator.
With only one flask of air left, Tilley knew he had only one shot at rebooting the generator.
But he did it, and after some initial issues, the device came to life.
While the vessel was still sinking and burning in a minefield,
the working generator brought the fireman and dewatering systems back.
And with the power back on, it wasn't long before the fire and the flooding were contained.
For more than four hours, the USS Samuel B. Roberts' crew fought for their lives
and ultimately won the battle. Ten sailors were eventually evacuated
by helicopters due to injuries sustained during the incident, but not a single person perished.
In a post-retirement speaking tour, Captain Rinn claimed that he had not acted alone in
saving the ship and reiterated that his entire team deserved the honor and praise he got.
Later on, when American divers recovered several unexploded mines,
they found that their serial numbers fitted right into the sequence of
mines seized the previous September aboard an Iranian mine-layer vessel.
Payback
As naval analysts around the world marveled at the feat of Captain Finn and his crew while trying to
save the heavily damaged warship, several US military leaders started planning a response.
Not happy about Robert's incident at all,
President Ronald Reagan authorized the Navy to strike back, and only four days later,
United States forces retaliated against Iran in Operation Praying Mantis.
This one-day campaign was the most significant American surface engagement since World War 2.
During Praying Mantis, American ships, aircraft,
and troops destroyed two Iranian oil platforms, sank one Iranian frigate,
damaged another, and sent three armed high-speed boats to the bottom of the ocean.
The only American loss during the engagement was a single Marine helicopter that crashed
after a night maneuver accident rather than in hostile operations.
The battle was a milestone for the United States Navy,
as it was the first time the service engaged enemy vessels with ship-to-ship missiles.
Ultimately, Operation Praying Mantis was a success
and directly contributed to ending the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq.
Back To The Water
On October 6, 1988, the USS Samuel B Roberts frigate began repair work.
During this time, the entire engine room was cut out of the hull,
and a 315-ton replacement module was jacked up and welded into place. Then,
after over a year of repairs, Roberts returned to service in an October 16, 1989 ceremony.
The actions of Captain Rinn on that fateful day heavily
influenced how American naval captains command their ships.
According to Bryan McGrath, a retired US Navy destroyer captain,
the fight to save the guided missile frigate remains a case study in combat preparedness
and a model emulated by successive generations of commanding officers.
Rinn's relentless leadership during the 1998 Persian Gulf incident, as well as his training
methods, taught the crews that critical thinking is the most important asset during a crisis.
He concluded: [QUOTE] "They were ready. They had prepared. They had
actually thought through things. And they performed when it was most important."
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