THE TANKER WARS - In May 1987 the US frigate Stark, calmly sailing the waters of the Persian Gulf, was suddenly blown apart by an Exocet missile fired from a jet fighter of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. A fifth of the ship’s crew were killed and many others horribly burned or wounded. This event jumpstarted one of the most mysterious conflicts in American history: “The Tanker War,” waged against Iran for control of the Persian Gulf.This quasi-war took place at the climax of the mammoth Iran-Iraq War, during the last years of the Reagan administration. Losing on the battlefield, Ayatollah Khomeini’s Iran had decided to close the Persian Gulf against shipping from Iraq’s oil-rich backers, the emirate of Kuwait. The Kuwaitis appealed for help and America sent a fleet to the Gulf, raising the Stars and Stripes over Kuwait’s commercial tankers.The result was a free-for-all, as the Iranians laid mines throughout the narrow passage and launched attack boats against both tankers and US warships. The sixth largest ship in the world, the tanker Bridgeton, hit an Iranian mine and flooded. The US Navy fought its largest surface battle since World War II against the Ayatollah’s assault boats.Meanwhile, US Navy Seals had arrived in the Gulf, setting up shop aboard a mobile platform from which they would sally out in fast craft to combat the Iranians. As Saddam Hussein, who had instigated the conflict, looked on, Iranian gunners fired shore-based Silkworm missiles against US ships, actions which, if made known at the time, would have required the US Congress to declare war against Iran.In July 1988, nervous sailors aboard the cruiser USS Vincennes shot an Iranian airliner out of the sky, killing 300 civilians.

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For those of you that don't already know me let me introduce myself and our project. I'm with the Pacific Fleet Center in Long Beach, California and we are developing the USS Ranger CV-61 as a naval museum. Where we will certainly display the history of the aircraft carrier and the local history of the Navy town of Long Beach and on a broader scale will will showcase the history of proud ships of the Pacific Fleet. Our webpage just went up and HOUSTON is one of the two historic ships of the Pacific Fleet we display ( www.pacfleet.us ).

The USS Houston is one of the icon stories in the Pacific theater and with our local history where Rossevelt came to Long Beach / San Pedro Harbor to depart on CA-30 for his Baja, Mexico fishing trips. Also, we are developing a US Marine Sea Duty display-memorial utilizing what will be a replica of the USS Houston's main-forward mast. I have been working with USMC Howard Charles and other members of the association in these past months and everyone has been solid help.

We are having our first annual fund raising dinner at the Planes to Fame Air Museum in Chino, California on 26 July 2008 (see attached invitation). Please consider attending if you are able and help the Pacific Fleet Center promote this event. To make the naval museum and HOUSTON - Marine Corps Sea Duty Display / Memorial a reality fund raising is a top priority. Attending yourself, forwarding this e-mail, word-of-mouth, phones calls...anything the men and women of HOUSTON can do to help promote this first ever event will be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions or request don't hesitate to ask me.

Daniel Hadel
Pacific Fleet Center
(720) 273-6287

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I was aboard the O'Callahan during 79-80, are there any of my shipmates around?

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