Sea Services Strike for Iraqi Freedom

By RICHARD R. BURGESS
Managing Editor

The long reach of Navy ships and Navy and Marine Corps aircraft enabled the United States to hit targets deep in Iraq during the initial strikes of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the campaign to topple the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqi capital of Baghdad was hit on the morning of 20 March by approximately 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched by four surface ships and two submarines in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Navy EA-6B electronic attack aircraft provided jamming of enemy radar to protect the two Air Force F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighters that attacked Baghdad in the initial strike.

The Tomahawk missiles fired in the initial strike were launched from the Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) USS Milius and USS Donald Cook, the Ticonderoga-class Aegis guided-missile cruisers (CGs) USS Bunker Hill and USS Cowpens, and the Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) USS Montpelier and USS Cheyenne. The missile-shooters in the Red Sea--assigned to two carrier battle groups in the Mediterranean--had entered the Red Sea via the Suez Canal a few days prior to the attacks.

A second volley of approximately 50 Tomahawks was launched against Iraq on 20 March from the Arleigh Burke-class DDG USS John S. McCain, and Los Angeles-class SSNs USS Columbia and USS Providence, and from the British Royal Navy's Trafalgar-class SSN HMS Turbulent and Swiftsure-class SSN HMS Splendid.

Over the next several days, dozens of Tomahawks were launched from Navy ships in the region, including the Ticonderoga-class CGs USS Shiloh, USS Anzio, Cape St. George, USS Valley Forge, and USS Mobile Bay, and the Arleigh Burke-class DDGs USS Winston S. Churchill, USS Higgins, and USS Oscar Austin.

U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18 strike fighters and Navy F-14 and EA-6B aircraft--embarked on the five U.S. aircraft carriers deployed in the Middle East region--also joined in the strikes with precision-guided weapons on more than 100 Iraqi targets later on 20 March, and in the more extensive air campaign of 21 March, "Aerial Day," and on several days thereafter. Carrier- and land-based Navy and Marine Corps strike fighters also provided close air support to advancing U.S. and British forces.

The operation was less than a day old when Marine Corps units assigned to I Marine Expeditionary Force engaged Iraqi forces and advanced toward port cities and oil fields in southern Iraq. Several ballistic missiles were fired by Iraqi forces; one landed near Marine units in Kuwait, but caused no casualties. The first U.S combat casualties were two Marines killed near the main Iraqi oil transfer port of Umm Qasr. Later, ten Marines were killed, apparently by Iraqis pretending to surrender. A Marine Corps CH-46E Sea Knight transport helicopter assigned to Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 268 crashed on 20 March nine miles inside Kuwait, costing the lives of its four-man crew and eight Royal Marines from 3 Commando Brigade.

The Royal Marines engaged in securing the Al Faw peninsula in southeastern Iraq were provided naval gunfire support by the Royal Navy frigates HMS Chatham and HMS Marlborough, and the Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Anzac. Navy SEALS and British commandos were successful in seizing intact the Iraqi oil terminals in the Persian Gulf.

Two Royal Navy Sea King airborne early warning helicopters and their crews--including one U.S. Navy officer--were lost when they collided over the Persian Gulf.

In the days and weeks prior to the attack, carrier-based F/A-18, F-14, and EA-6B jets increased their Operation Southern Watch patrols over southern Iraq, striking air-defense sites when fired upon. The day before Operation Iraqi Freedom began, F/A-18 and F-14 strike fighters from the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk struck antiaircraft defenses in southern Iraq.

At sea, U.S. and allied warships intercepted Iraqi tugs that were carrying 130 mines and other weapons.

On 19 March, the Cyclone-class coastal patrol ship USS Chinook--assisted by the Coast Guard's Island-class patrol boat USCGC Adak--evacuated five U.N weapons inspectors from an Iraqi oil platform in the port of Mina al Bakr. The five inspectors were the only ones that the United Nations was unable to evacuate prior to the beginning of the action.

Marine Corps strength in the region had reached more than 65,000 Marines, most of them staged in Kuwait. Two of the eight amphibious assault ships in the area--USS Bataan and USS Bonhomme Richard--each have two Marine attack squadrons embarked, and many more AV-8B Harrier II aircraft operating from each ship than the normal six-aircraft detachments.

The Coast Guard has deployed a second Hamilton-class high-endurance cutter to the Middle East. The USCGC Dallas--with an HH-65 helicopter from Atlantic City, N.J., embarked--has joined the USCGC Boutwell in supporting the maritime-intercept operations in the area. The Juniper-class seagoing buoy tender USCGC Walnut also has been deployed to the Persian Gulf to assist in the cleanup of any oil spills that may result from the operation.

The hospital ship USNS Comfort left anchorage at Diego Garcia and moved to the Persian Gulf, ready for the treatment of casualties.

In the Western Pacific, the Nimitz-class CVN USS Carl Vinson and its battle group has been operating in waters near the Korean peninsula, backfilling in that politically tense region for the USS Kitty Hawk, which is deployed in the Persian Gulf.

The number of sea-service reservists activated for Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, and Liberty Guard as of 19 March 2003 included 9,875 Navy, 19,711 Marine Corps, and 3,636 Coast Guard Reservists.

Note: The two operations that enforced the no-fly zones over Iraq for many years--Operations Northern Watch and Southern Watch--are officially over.

Sea Service Notes

The Spruance-class destroyer (DD) USS Arthur W. Radford has been decommissioned in Norfolk, Va., but its retirement will be short-lived. After a period of storage in Philadelphia, Pa., the ship--named after former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Arthur W. Radford--will be towed to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in Pascagoula, Miss., for a second career as a test platform for the DD(X) program. The ship will begin a yearlong conversion in the fall of 2004 during which its superstructure will be removed, and one of its two power plants will be replaced with the integrated power system (IPS) proposed for the DD(X) program. The IPS will allow a rapid reconfiguration of power, reduce acoustic noise, and permit greater flexibility in ship design, said David Caskey, spokesman for the Naval Sea Systems Command. The ship also will be fitted with a composite-structure deckhouse with apertures, and dual-band radar engineering models.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service--citing the Navy's need for longer-range forecasts--has begun issuing five-day hurricane forecasts, a quantum improvement over the three-day forecasts issued since 1964.

The Maritime Administration (MARAD) has announced a program to provide financial assistance to states for preparation of obsolete ships as artificial reefs. Congress now has authorized MARAD to expend ship-disposal funds to clean toxicants from vessels before they are transferred to states for reefing projects. *