As USS Missouri was providing artillery support to friendly forces during the first days of
the Persian Gulf War in 1991, a completely unexpected event occurred near Kuwait's coast.
On February 24, the Iraqi forces launched two lethal Seersucker missiles to destroy
the Iowa-class battleship. The first missile failed, but the second one was
coming directly towards the ship when suddenly it disappeared. The nearby HMS
Gloucester had detected the threat and fired at it, saving the lives of Missouri’s crew.
Still, a day later, the Americans returned to the spot to continue with their mission,
and footage taken from the ship’s Fire Control team in her 16-inch gun main battery
shows how commanding officer Captain A. L. Kaiss orders the crew to brace for impact,
followed by several minutes of increased tension and uncertainty.
The fight was not over yet, and the crew feared a potential chemical attack
and even more missile attacks…
USS Missouri
USS Missouri had a long military history during several conflicts of the 20th century.
The battleship was ordered on June 12, 1940, when things were heating up in Europe and the Pacific.
She was the youngest of several Iowa-class battleships such as USS New Jersey,
Wisconsin, and Iowa, which were designed to be fast and with balanced armor and firepower.
Missouri was 887 feet long, with a beam of 108 feet
and a draft of about 36 feet. Fully loaded, she displaced 57,500-long tons.
Also, there was enough room to house four large engines with 212,000 shaft horsepower, which
allowed Missouri to reach speeds of up to 37 miles per hour at 32.5 knots, or 17 miles at 15 knots.
Although Missouri’s armament would vary according to the times, her main gun battery consisted
of nine 16-inch .50-caliber guns in three triple-gun turrets with a range of 23 miles,
while the secondary battery comprised twelve 5-inch 38-caliber
guns in six dual mounts with a range of 9 miles.
During World War 2, the ship was manned by 134 officers and 2,400 sailors,
but from 1945 onwards, her personnel was reduced to 65 officers and 1,450 enlisted men.
USS Missouri left for the Pacific in January of 1945 and provided anti-aircraft defense
for warships conducting artillery strikes against Tokyo. The ship also served during
the gruesome campaign of Iwo Jima, providing additional support for the amphibious assault.
She eventually became the flagship of the Third Fleet.
Then, in 1950, Missouri was revamped with new guns and made way for the Pacific to fight in the
Korean War. The ship became crucial for defending Seoul from the Communists during the first months
of the war, including in the Battle of Inchon and in the amphibious landings of Wonsan.
She was decommissioned in 1955 and moored at Bremerton, becoming a popular attraction. However,
it wouldn’t be long before the seasoned ship was reactivated to storm the seas once again.
Operation Desert Storm As USS Missouri returned to the seas,
she escorted US tankers on the North Arabian Sea to Operation Earnest Will during 1986 and 1987.
Then, when the Iraqi Army invaded Kuwait in August of 1990, the US urged the United Nations
to form a coalition of allied countries and stop President Saddam Hussein’s thirst for conquest.
The result was Operation Desert Shield, which was the buildup phase of the Kuwaiti,
American, British, French, Arabian, and Egyptian forces. However, after the UN's deadline was
imposed on the Iraqi forces, Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm, and USS Missouri was one
of the first ships sent to the Persian Gulf. While patrolling the ocean on January 9,
1991, the ship’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal team disarmed its first mine,
which quickly became the most significant threat for every allied vessel in the area.
Eight days later, USS Missouri fired the first of 28 Tomahawk missiles aimed at the city of
Baghdad. And on February 3, she fired her main battery at Iraqi artillery positions and bunkers,
using over 110 16-inch rounds to decimate the enemy.
In the following days, Missouri would fire additional rounds to enemy infantry and
armored formations before heading to Kuwait to provide more fire support.
Soon after, Missouri made way to Faylaka Island, which was under enemy control.
Brace for Impact!
On February 24, the US-led forces began the attack on Kuwait, and Missouri provided fire
support for the advancing ground troops. However, the next day, while the
battleship simulated an amphibious assault to distract enemy forces,
an A6 attack plane sighted two lethal Seersucker missiles against USS Missouri at around 4:52am.
The Silkworm, or HY1 missile, was a Chinese anti-ship missile heavily inspired by the
Soviet P15 Termit missile. Although it was not a sophisticated device, its large 513-kilogram high
explosive warhead was powerful enough to sink a ship like the USS Missouri with a single hit.
The Seersucker was an improved version of the Silkworm but had its share of disadvantages,
as its seeker, a modern monopulse radar, was still vulnerable to jamming.
Meanwhile, Missouri was equipped with the MK15 Phalanx CIWS close-in weapon system,
consisting of two radars to acquire a target and another to track it and align
it with the bursts of its six-barrelled, Gatling-type M61 20-millimeter gun.
Both missiles were launched by trailers that crucial February day,
and US intelligence believed that Iraq had 7 operational trailers,
10 reload trailers, and between 50 to 45 Seersucker missiles.
The Seersucker missiles flew in a straight course at 1,000 feet at around Mach 0.8 and
were guided by an autopilot. The A6 Intruder detected the two distinct missile plumes
from the area of Al-Fintas, near the Southern portion of Kuwait City.
One of the two missiles immediately fell into the sea, and it is likely that its
radar seeker system failed. Meanwhile, the second Seersucker kept its course and went
straight for the American ship, with its radar seeker functioning perfectly.
Given the coalition’s radio network setup, the warning from the A6 Intruder never made
it to Missouri and was instead detected by HMS Gloucester. The British quickly
classified the missile as hostile and decided to engage it as fast as possible.
HMS Gloucester was willing to take the risk and shoot the missile down despite the possibility
that it could be a friendly aircraft coming back from bombing Iraq, but they
had less than 45 seconds to make a decision. Meanwhile, the sailors on Missouri visually
detected the hostile missile, and the ship quickly activated its Phalanx system to repel it.
The crew was then ordered to brace for impact, and the sailors immediately broke
their duties and got into position. After a moment of tension, the radio broke again,
and the sailors laughed after hearing the operator tell a joke about losing contact with the missile.
He then assured the crew that there was no more danger, and the sailors resumed their duties.
Although the men from Missouri did not know it,
they were alive thanks to the Royal Navy's HMS Gloucester, which had detected the
missile at 21 nautical miles range and quickly classified the upcoming threat as hostile.
43 seconds after the British detected the Seersucker,
they fired two Sea Dart anti-air missiles, one of which neutralized the Iraqi missile before
Missouri’s Phalanx could engage the target. It was the first time in history that a
warship used a missile to shoot down another missile during actual combat.
Not Over Yet
While the crew aboard Missouri moved on with their duties, other nearby ships detected more
hostile enemy activity in the area. During the afternoon of 25 February, almost a day after the
first missile attack, the ship returned to the same area to keep bombarding coastal targets.
Another Royal Navy ship in the area, HMS Exeter, warned the nearby vessels that the
plume of an anti-ship missile had been sighted. Footage from the ship’s Fire Control shows the
crew getting into position after commanding officer Capt. A. L. Kaiss orders to brace
for impact. The men are seen taking hold of the control boards around them with their two hands
while getting down and bending their legs. They then stayed put
and prepared for the upcoming clash. Seconds passed, and the video shows
the crew of the 16-inch gun battery carrying on with its duties after the danger was averted.
About 20 minutes later, the men were ordered to don their gas masks and suits in case of
a chemical attack, and they can be seen quickly dressing up. The nature of the
enemy missile was not properly identified, but the captain was not willing to risk it.
After waiting for a minute, the radio broke and
warned the crewmen of yet another possible missile coming their way.
The men adopted their impact posture once again, and silence took hold as they nervously waited.
Meanwhile, the ship’s Phalanx fired a volley that detonated in the sky,
and the Vulcan gun also started firing to starboard to shoot down the supposed missile.
The crew is then told that the threat has been cleared,
and the footage shows how they went on with their duties as if nothing had happened.
The men were later told that both missile sightings had been false.
The first missile plume spotted earlier was the product of Iraqi troops blowing up an oil well
and not a Seersucker's missile plume. As for the second threat, Missouri had
mistaken chaff clouds for a threat when it unleashed the power of the Phalanx system.
Only three days after the incident, the Gulf War ended in a coalition victory,
and USS Missouri went on to be featured in several Hollywood films like ‘Pearl Harbor,’
‘Under Siege,’ and ‘Battleship.’ She currently belongs to the USS Missouri Memorial Association.
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