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USS Wainwright (DLG/CG-28),
was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for members of the Wainwright
family; specifically, Commander Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, his son, Master
Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, Jr., and his cousin, Commander Richard
Wainwright, as well as Rear Admiral Richard Wainwright, the son of Commander
Richard Wainwright, and Commander Richard Wainwright, the son of Admiral
Wainwright. Her keel was laid down on 2 July 1962 at Bath, Maine, by the Bath
Iron Works Corporation. She was launched on 25 April 1965 sponsored by Mrs.
Richard W. Wainwright; and commissioned on 8 January 1966 at the Boston Naval
Shipyard with Captain Robert P. Foreman in command.
Shakedown
Between January and May, the guided missile frigate completed her outfitting
at Boston, Massachusetts. On 21 May, she departed Boston, initially to test
the Navy's newest sonar equipment and then to proceed to her home port,
Charleston, South Carolina. During the months of June, July, and early
August, she operated out of that port along the eastern seaboard and in the
West Indies. During this period, she made six highly successful missile
firings on the Atlantic Fleet weapon range and conducted a three-day search
for an unidentified submarine contact. Though no positive identification of
the submarine could be made, Wainwright did establish contact with her new
long-range sonar and then tracked the vessel for a time.
On 13 August, the ship returned to Charleston for 15 days of upkeep in
preparation for shakedown training, upon which she embarked on 28 August. At
the conclusion of shakedown, she proceeded to Culebra Island for both gun and
Terrier missile shoots. She returned to Charleston in October to prepare for
the annual Atlantic Fleet exercise. On 28 November, the guided missile
frigate stood out of Charleston for 17 days of drills, including
replenishment exercises, weapon coordination drills, and formation steaming
maneuvers and tactics. She returned home on 16 December and ended the year in
a leave and upkeep status.
Vietnam
On 6 January 1967, Wainwright got underway for Boston and post-shakedown
availability. She concluded that repair period and headed back to Charleston
on 15 March. Following local operations there, the guided missile frigate
embarked upon her first deployment to the western Pacific on 10 April. She
transited the Panama Canal a week later and arrived in San Diego, California,
on 23 April. For almost a month, she conducted exercises off the coast of
southern California before heading west on 15 May. After brief stops at Pearl
Harbor and Guam, Wainwright entered Subic Bay in the Philippines on 3 June.
Three days later, she arrived on station in the Tonkin Gulf and, on 8 June,
took over positive identification radar advisory zone (PIRAZ) duties from
Long Beach. In that capacity, Wainwright maintained constant radar and visual
surveillance of the gulf and adjoining coasts for the purpose of identifying
all aircraft in the zone and vectoring defensive forces to the interception
of any possible airborne enemy intruders. Because of the relative immobility
necessary to those duties, she also served as a reference point to guide
American strike aircraft to their targets ashore. Since her duties afforded
her a continual picture of the events occurring in the air over the zone, she
also served as a base for search and rescue (SAR) helicopters. During that first
line period, one SAR helicopter crashed Wainwright's flight deck area; but
the damage proved to be minimal, and the frigate was able to resume
full-scale flight operations the following day.
After a three-week upkeep period at Sasebo, Japan, and a Terrier missile
shoot at Okinawa, the warship resumed PIRAZ duty on 12 August. Her 27 days on
station ended on 8 September when she cleared the gulf for a five-day visit
to Hong Kong. On 15 September, she stood out of the British colony to return
to Vietnamese waters. During that third and final tour, she served as a
screen commander for two of the attack aircraft carriers operating on
"Yankee Station" located in the southern reaches of the Tonkin Gulf
as well as antiaircraft warfare command ship for all of Task Force (TF) 77.
On 28 September, Wainwright completed her final assignment in the combat zone
and departed the Tonkin Gulf. En route home, she visited Subic Bay; Sydney,
Australia; Wellington, New Zealand; and Tahiti. The warship retransited the
Panama Canal on 12 November and reentered Charleston four days later.
The guided missile frigate ended 1967 and began 1968 at Charleston. On 19
January 1968, she exited her home port and headed for Newport, Rhode Island,
where she served as school ship for the Destroyer School from 21 January to 3
February before returning to Charleston on 5 February. Her operations from
her home port, including Operation "Rugby Match" exercises in the
West Indies, lasted until she sailed for the western Pacific on 24 June. The
warship transited the Panama Canal on 29 June, stopped briefly at Pearl
Harbor from 11 July to 15 July and at Guam on 21 July, and arrived at Subic
Bay on 26 July. Four days later, she embarked upon the first tour of combat
duty of her 1968 deployment. She stopped at Da Nang for briefings on 2 August
and then relieved Sterett on PIRAZ station on 4 August. During the following
41 days, she left her station only once — to evade a typhoon — and returned
immediately after the storm passed. On 14 September, she turned PIRAZ duties
back over to Sterett and steamed off for a month of port visits which
included a brief upkeep period at Subic Bay followed by calls at Hong Kong
and Yokosuka. On 13 October, she headed from Japan directly to the PIRAZ
station and relieved Sterett once more. The 27 days of her second line period
passed even more routinely than those of the first, and she cleared the
Tonkin Gulf on 15 November for a four-day upkeep in Sasebo from 19 November
to 23 November. Back on station on 28 November, Wainwright concluded the year
as the Navy's air coordinator in the northern portion of the Tonkin Gulf.
The warship spent the first three days of 1969 winding up her third and final
tour of duty as PIRAZ ship and then set a course for the Philippines, the first
pause on her way home. After stopping at Subic Bay from 5 January to 9
January, she continued her roundabout voyage to Charleston, stopping along
the way at Sydney, Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; and Papeete, Tahiti. She
passed back through the Panama Canal on 11 February, stopped at St. Thomas
for a two-day visit on 15 February, and reached Charleston on 21 February.
Following a month of leave and upkeep, Wainwright underwent a whole series of
inspections at Charleston that spring. During the middle of May, she steamed
north to Norfolk, Virginia, where she participated in the Presidential
Seapower Demonstration conducted in the Virginia Capes operating area. At the
conclusion of that event on 19 May, she headed south for the multifaceted
combat exercise, "Exotic Dancer." For the first two weeks of June,
Wainwright remained in the West Indies and participated in the NATO
antisubmarine warfare exercise, "Spark Plug", along with ships of
the navies of Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Portugal. That
exercise ended on 11 June, and the frigate proceeded to Newport where she
disembarked the Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla 2. She returned to
Charleston on 16 June and spent all but two days of the next two months in
port. On 18 August, Wainwright entered the Charleston Naval Shipyard for her
first regular overhaul.
On 16 February 1970, the ship returned to operational status. Training off
the Florida coast followed by more of the same off the Virginia Capes
occupied her until mid-March. After three days in Charleston, Wainwright got
underway for gunnery and missile shoots on the Atlantic Fleet weapons range
near Puerto Rico. Refresher training out of Guantanamo Bay followed in April,
but it was interrupted by two special assignments. On 26 April, she received
orders to intercept three Haitian Coast Guard vessels fleeing that country in
the wake of an unsuccessful coup. The ship encountered one near the entrance
to Guantanamo Bay; but, observing American port officials boarding the ship
peacefully, she continued on her way. Later, Wainwright found the other two
ships and escorted them back to Guantanamo Bay for temporary asylum. Later,
on 10 May, she put to sea to intercept quite a different force — a Soviet
task group. That night, she came upon two of the Russian ships, a guided
missile cruiser and a guided missile destroyer. The following day, two
submarines, an oiler, and a submarine tender rendezvoused with the first two
ships; and all six entered port at Cienfuegos, Cuba, on 14 May. The next day,
Wainwright returned to Guantanamo Bay to resume refresher training. Less than
a month later, on 12 June, she moored at Charleston for two months of upkeep
and training in preparation for her forthcoming deployment to the Far East.
On 25 August, the guided missile frigate stood out of Charleston, bound for
her third and final deployment to the western Pacific in conjunction with the
Vietnam conflict. Steaming via the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor, she arrived
in Yokosuka, Japan, on 21 September. For almost two months, she conducted
operations in Japanese waters, primarily bilateral ASW exercises in the Sea
of Japan with units of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force.
Periodically, the warship put into Yokosuka and Sasebo for upkeep and
liberty.
Wainwright departed Japan on 14 November and headed via the Taiwan Strait for
the Tonkin Gulf. On 20 November, she relieved Jouett on PIRAZ station and
took up familiar duty as the American air coordinator in the northern part of
the gulf. That assignment proved very brief for, on the following day,
Chicago relieved Wainwright; and the guided missile frigate moved on to new
duties as the coordinator ship assigned to the north SAR station. For almost
a month, she alternated between north and south SAR stations, taking time
briefly in mid-December to participate in Operation "Beacon Tower",
a three-day exercise to test the readiness of American warships in the Tonkin
Gulf to meet and deal with air and surface attacks. On 16 December,
Wainwright left the combat zone, bound for Singapore, where she remained from
19 December to 26 December. From there, she set a course for the Philippines
and arrived in Subic Bay on 29 December.
The warship completed six days in port at Subic Bay on 4 January 1971 and got
underway for Hong Kong. She returned briefly to Subic Bay, however, for
repairs to one of her radar antennae but finally reached Hong Kong on 11
January. Following a four-day visit, she stood out of the British colony on
her way to the Tonkin Gulf. She served 16 days in the gulf, dividing her time
between PIRAZ duties and assignments as the northern SAR ship.
After a final two-day stop at Subic Bay, Wainwright began the long voyage
back to Charleston which took her through the Indian Ocean, around the Cape
of Good Hope, and across the southern Atlantic to complete her first
circumnavigation of the globe. Along the way, she made a series of calls at
African and South American ports, beginning with Djibouti in French
Somaliland. From there, she headed for Massawa, Ethiopia, where she
participated in the celebration of the Ethiopian Navy Day, during which she
joined ships of other nations in observing the graduation of midshipmen from
the Ethiopian Naval Academy and hosted then-Emperor Haile Selassie I on
board. She rounded out her African itinerary with calls at Diego Suarez,
Madagascar, and at Lourenço Marques, Mozambique, before rounding the cape and
heading across the Atlantic toward Brazil. Visits to Rio de Janeiro and
Recife in Brazil and at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands preceded gunfire
support training and a missile shoot at Culebra Island. On 2 April,
Wainwright steamed into Charleston and began an extended standdown period.
Wainwright received four battle stars for service in the Vietnam War.
Post Vietnam service
Upon completion of a 59-day post-deployment stand-down, Wainwright resumed
operations early in June as a unit of the Atlantic Fleet Cruiser-Destroyer
Force. She spent much of June in the Caribbean Sea undergoing gunnery and
missile training and returned to Charleston on 19 June. Four days later, work
began on the installation of a Light Airborne Multipurpose System (LAMPS).
Those modifications were completed by mid-July, and Wainwright occupied the
following four months with operations along the eastern seaboard in
conjunction with the initial evaluation of her LAMPS helicopter. A tender
availability followed by the conversion of her propulsion plant to burn Navy
distillate fuel brought the year to a close at Charleston. The warship
completed the conversion on 11 January 1972 and had resumed operations at sea
out of Charleston by 24 January. For the next nine months, she tested her new
LAMPS installation, made port visits to Atlantic and gulf coast ports, and
participated in the usual Second Fleet exercises. Those duties took her from
the southeastern coast of Texas to the West Indies and thence as far north as
Maine. By late November, she was at Charleston preparing for her first tour
of duty in the Mediterranean Sea.
On 1 December, Wainwright stood out of Charleston and set a course for Rota,
Spain, where she arrived on 10 December. After changing operational control
from the Second Fleet to the Sixth Fleet, the guided missile frigate departed
Rota on 11 December and entered the Mediterranean Sea. Conducting ASW and
antiair warfare (AAW) exercises, the warship headed across the Mediterranean,
stopping at Barcelona from 20 December to 26 December and arriving in Naples,
Italy, on 30 December. She departed that port on 6 January 1973, and headed
for the Ionian Sea. During ASW exercises in Greek waters, Wainwright
contacted, tracked, and positively identified four Soviet submarines in spite
of their strenuous efforts to evade.
Upon completing those exercises, she headed for the southern coast of France,
arriving in Marseille on 17 January for a two-day visit. More AAW exercises
followed, as did port visits to Palma de Mallorca, Málaga, and Genoa. On 17
February, she departed Genoa in company with the Italian cruiser Vittorio
Veneto to participate in National Week XV, a multinational naval exercise of
broad scope conducted across the Central Mediterranean. In addition to the
Americans and Italians, units of the Greek and Turkish navies also
participated in drills and battle exercises extending westward from Crete to
the Strait of Messina between Sicily and the toe of the Italian boot.
After National Week XV, Wainwright punctuated a series of Sixth Fleet ASW and
AAW exercises with visits to many of the ports already mentioned as well as
at Athens, Civitavecchia, Livorno, and Golfe Juan. On 17 June, she steamed
from Palma de Mallorca through the Strait of Gibraltar to Rota on the
Atlantic coast of Spain. There, she turned her duties over to Belknap on 21
June.
That same day, she departed Rota for Lisbon, where she joined Guam and Bowen
in preparation for a transatlantic exercise to test the concept of the sea
control ship. The three warships departed Lisbon on 28 June. The exercise
lasted from 28 June to 8 July, during which time Wainwright vectored Guam-based
Harrier II aircraft to the interception of two Soviet "Bear"
aircraft. Just before the conclusion of the exercise on 8 July, Wainwright
ventured across the Arctic Circle briefly before setting a course for
Charleston. The guided missile frigate concluded her first Mediterranean
deployment on 20 July and began her standdown period at Charleston. On 10
September, she entered the Charleston Naval Shipyard for her second regular
overhaul.
Wainwright completed sea trials, the final phase of overhaul, between 10 June
and 14 June 1974 and officially rejoined the Atlantic Fleet on 20 June at the
Charleston Naval Station. For the remainder of the year, the warship was busy
with refresher training, a myriad of tests, qualifications, inspections, and
evaluations, and other normal Second Fleet operations conducted along the
southern Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean. The beginning of 1975 brought
another period in drydock, this time at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, for
repairs to her sonar dome. She returned to Charleston on 1 February 1975 and
resumed tests and inspections in preparation for her second deployment to
European waters.
On 5 March, she stood down the Cooper River on her way to Europe. En route to
the Mediterranean, the guided missile frigate joined Forrestal and Tunny in a
series of ASW, surface, and air action drills, at the conclusion of which
Wainwright continued on her way to Spain.
She changed operational control to the Sixth Fleet while at Rota between 15
and 17 March. The warship entered the "middle sea" on the latter
date and arrived in Naples, her first Mediterranean port of call, on 22
March. As during her previous Mediterranean cruise, she engaged in one
training exercise after another, but interrupted that schedule almost as
frequently for port calls all along the Mediterranean coast of Europe. Late
in April, a missile-firing exercise was interrupted by a snoopy Soviet
destroyer and had to be postponed until the following day.
June proved to be an important month in Wainwright's history, for it was
during the latter part of that month that she transited the Straits of the
Bosphorus and the Dardanelles into the Black Sea and became the first
American ship to visit Romania, at the port city of Constanta, in 49 years.
After concluding that visit on 24 June and passing back into the
Mediterranean on 25 June, she conducted a brief surveillance of the Soviet
helicopter carrier Leningrad before resuming her schedule of training
exercises and port visits. On 30 June, Wainwright was redesignated a guided
missile cruiser, CG-28. Her second tour of duty with the Sixth Fleet lasted
until late August. On 22 August, she made a one-day stop at Rota; then headed
home. Nine days later, she moored at Charleston and, for the remainder of the
year, resumed a routine of Second Fleet operations, inspections, and upkeep.
Following a spring of special operations and underway training out of
Charleston, Wainwright got underway on 30 June for New York City and her big
events for 1976: the International Naval Review and Operation
"Sail", both in honor of the United States' Bicentennial birthday.
To the guided missile cruiser went the signal honor of being the focal point
of both events, serving as flagship for the naval review and as reviewing
ship for Operation "Sail." During her service in those two
capacities, she entertained Vice President of the United States Nelson D.
Rockefeller, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld, Admiral James L. Holloway III, Chief of Naval Operations, and Admiral
Shanahan, Commander, Second Fleet. On 6 July, the ship departed New York and
headed back to Charleston to resume her more mundane schedule of special
operations and training cruises. That routine, spiced liberally with tests,
inspections, evaluations, and certifications. saw her through the
Bicentennial year and the first three months of 1977.
On 31 March 1977, Wainwright embarked upon her third deployment to the
Mediterranean. She joined the Sixth Fleet officially upon arrival in Rota on
12 April and actually entered the Mediterranean the following day. Port
visits and an almost incessant schedule of training exercises — ASW drills,
AAW practice, missile shoots, multinational and bilateral exercises —
occupied her once again. During June, she visited the Black Sea once more,
but otherwise, her routine was similar to that she had experienced in
previous tours of duty with the Sixth Fleet. She concluded her Mediterranean
operations at Rota at the end of the first week in October and arrived back
in Charleston on 21 October. For the remaining two months of 1977, typical
Second Fleet operations out of Charleston filled her schedule.
January 1978 was spent in grooming for a multi-threat training exercise,
"READEX 1-78", which took place in February in the southern Florida
and Caribbean operating areas. Returning to Charleston late in the month,
Wainwright entered the Charleston Naval Shipyard on 23 February for the
commencement of a scheduled 13-month overhaul which concluded in March 1979.
1979: 3/79; Overhaul ended. Wainwright outfitted with the advanced Harpoon
anti-shipping missile system. Deployment to the Caribbean. Pacific ocean ops
during the Nicaraguan Revolution. November 27 Wainwright departs for Med
cruise and black sea ops.
1980: Wainwright returns from Med cruise and Black Sea ops on May 6th. From
August to November Wainwright was deployed on a North Atlantic cruise.
1981: 2/81; Med deployment. 7/81; returned to Charleston
1982: 6/82; deployed to Med as a key participant in Lebanon Contingency
Operations. Escort duty during the P.L.O. evacuation from Beirut. Transited
Suez canal, Indian Ocean ops for 1 month. 11/82; arrived Charleston
Wainwright received the prestigious Arleigh Burke Award for fleet excellence.
1983: 3/83; entered Charleston Naval Shipyard for regular overhaul. Systems
upgrade to SM2-ER Extended Range missile, 1st ship in the fleet. 12/83:
Shipyard period completed.
1984: MED CRUISE 1-84 9/84; Departed Charleston for Med cruise. Exercises
typical, operated in the Black Sea, Aegean Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Ionian Sea,
and others. Port calls included Toulon France, Catania Sicily, Naples Italy.
Haifa Israel, Barcelona, Spain, Villefranche France. Miles steamed; 39,399.
5/85; Arrived Charleston.
1986: Med cruise 2A-86. USS Josephus Daniels Major Engine room Casualty;
Wainwright moved up in rotation. 6/86: Departed Charleston Arrived Med for
8th Med Deployment. Operation Sea wind with the Egyptian navy. Typical
Operations & exercises. Ports visited; Gaeta Italy, Palma de Majorca,
Naples Italy, Marseilles France, Toarmina Sicily, Genoa Italy, 10/86; Arrived
Charleston Wainwright awarded prestigious 6t Fleet TOP HAND.
1987: 9/87; Wainwright operates in NATO exercise OCEAN SAFARI 87, North
Atlantic, with ships of the Navies of Canada, England, France, Germany,
Netherlands, Norway, Spain, as part of Striking Force Atlantic Fleet NATO.
1988: 1/88; Departed Charleston as lead ship of Middle East Force 1-88. 2/88:
entered Persian Gulf with Samuel. B. Roberts, Jack Williams, Simpson.
Wainwright served as command ship. Samuel B. Roberts hits a mine. 4/88;
Operation Praying Mantis, Wainwright, Simpson & Bagley destroy SIRRI
gas-oil separation platform with naval gunfire. Same ships sank Iranian
gunboat JOSHAN with missile and gunfire attacks after unsuccessful missile
attack on Wainwright. Then Wainwright fired long range missiles on an Iranian
F-4 Phantom for a kill. Wainwright awarded C.A.R., J.M.U.A., A.F.E.M. 6/88:
Arrived home at Charleston "BATTLE TESTED - BATTLE PROVEN"
Operation Praying Mantis
On 18 April 1988 the USS Wainwright participated in Operation Praying Mantis.
Operation Praying Mantis was the 18 April 1988 action waged by U.S. naval
forces in retaliation for the Iranian mining of an American warship.
The 14 April mining nearly sank the guided missile frigate USS Samuel B.
Roberts, which was sailing in the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Earnest
Will, the 1987-88 convoy missions in which U.S. warships escorted reflagged
Kuwaiti oil tankers to protect them from Iranian attacks.
After the mining, U.S. Navy divers recovered other mines in the area. The
serial numbers matched those of mines seized along with the Iran Ajr the
previous September.
By the time the Roberts was towed to Dubai on 15 April, battered but saved
with no loss of life, U.S. planning for the retaliatory operation had already
begun in Washington and in the Middle East.
The battle, the largest for American surface forces since World War II, sank
two Iranian warships and as many as six armed speedboats. It also marked the
first surface-to-surface missile engagement in U.S. Navy history.
The attack by the U.S. helped pressure Iran to agree to a ceasefire with Iraq
later that summer, ending the eight-year conflict between the Persian Gulf
neighbors.
On 18 April 1988, the Americans responded with several groups of surface
warships, plus airplanes from the carrier USS Enterprise. The action began
with coordinated strikes by two surface groups. One group, consisting of two
destroyers and the amphibious transport dock USS Trenton, attacked the Sassan
oil platform while the other, which included the guided missile cruiser,
Wainwright and two frigates, attacked the Sirri oil platform. U.S. Marines
from Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) 2-88 fast-roped onto the Sassan
platform, gathered intelligence, and set explosives to disable it.
Iran responded by dispatching Boghammar speedboats to attack various targets
in the Persian Gulf, including an American-flagged supply ship and a
Panamanian-flagged ship. After these attacks, A-6E Intruder aircraft from
VA-95 were vectored in on the speedboats by an American frigate. The two
aircraft, piloted by Lieutenant Commander James Engler and Lieutenant Paul
Webb dropped Rockeye cluster bombs on the speedboats, sinking one and
damaging several others.
Action continued to escalate. Joshan, an Iranian Combattante II Kaman-class
fast attack craft, challenged USS Wainwright (CG-28) and her surface group,
firing a Harpoon missile at Wainwright. Wainwright responded to the challenge
by firing four Standard missiles. After damage assessment of Joshan, USS
Bagley (FF-1069) fired one Harpoon missile at Joshan; however, Joshan's
superstructure had been destroyed by the previous attacks, so the missile did
not strike the target. The three ships of Surface Action Group Charlie closed
on the Joshan, destroying it with naval gunfire.
Fighting continued when the Iranian frigate Sahand departed Bandar Abbas and
challenged elements of an American surface group. She was observed by two
VA-95 A-6Es while they were flying surface combat air patrol for USS Joseph
Strauss (DDG-16).
Sahand launched missiles at the A-6Es, and the Intruders replied with
launches of two Harpoons and four laser-guided Skipper bombs. This was
followed by a Harpoon firing from Joseph Strauss. The weapons delivered
against Sahand were successful.
By the end of the operation, elements of the American fleet had damaged
Iranian naval and intelligence facilities on two inoperable oil platforms in
the Persian Gulf and sunk at least six armed Iranian speedboats. Sabalan was
repaired in 1989 and has since been upgraded and is still in service with the
Iranian navy. In short, Iran lost one major warship and a smaller gunboat.
Damage to the oil platforms was eventually repaired, and they are now back in
service.
The U.S. side took two casualties: the aircrew of a Marine Corps AH-1T Sea
Cobra gunship. The Cobra, attached to the USS Trenton, was flying
reconnaissance from the Wainwright and crashed sometime after dark about 15
miles (24 km) southwest of Abu Musa island. The bodies of Capt. Stephen C.
Leslie, 30, of New Bern, N.C., and Capt. Kenneth W. Hill, 33, of Thomasville,
N.C., were recovered by Navy divers in May, and the wreckage of the
helicopter was raised later that month. Navy officials said it showed no sign
of battle damage, though the aircraft could have crashed while trying to
evade Iranian fire.
The guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes was called to protect the extraction
of the Roberts and arrived a month later. The heightened tensions contributed
to the crew of the Vincennes mistakenly shooting down a commercial airliner
on a routine flight, Iran Air Flight 655, killing all 290 crew and passengers
on 3 July, less than 2 months after their arrival.
Operation Praying Mantis is one of five American naval engagements cited by
United States Naval Academy Prof. Craig L. Symonds in his book Decision at
Sea (2005) as being decisive in establishing U.S. naval superiority. The
others were the Battle of Lake Erie (1813), the Battle of Hampton Roads (1862),
the Battle of Manila Bay (1898), and the Battle of Midway (1942).
On 6 November 2003 the International Court of Justice dismissed Iran's claim
for reparation against the United States for breach of the 1955 Treaty of
Amity between the two countries. The court also dismissed a counter-claim by
the United States, also for reparation for breach of the same treaty. As part
of its finding the court did note that "the actions of the United States
of America against Iranian oil platforms on 19 October 1987 (Operation Nimble
Archer) and 18 April 1988 (Operation Praying Mantis) cannot be justified as
measures necessary to protect the essential security interests of the United
States of America."
1989: 4-6/89; Operation Checkmate, Caribbean sea law enforcement operations.
9/89; in port Charleston for hurricane Hugo rebuilding and repairs. 10/89;
Departed Charleston for Med 1-90. Supported Presidential Summit at Sea, at
Malta, President Bush & Soviet President Gorbachev. 12/89; Helo crash.
Port calls; Dubrovnik Yugoslavia, Monaco/Nice France, Rome Italy, Naples
Italy, Valencia Spain, Palma de Majorca Spain, Toulon France, Barcelona,
Spain 4/90; arrived home at Charleston
1990: In port Charleston 8/90; regular overhaul, with New Threat Upgrade
installation at Metro Machine Shipyard, Norfolk, Va., 13 months.
1991; Metro Machine shipyard overhaul continues. 9/91; shipyard overhaul
completed, operation testing.
1992: Wainwright assigned to USS John F. Kennedy Battle Group under the
navy's new command structure realignment. 10/92; Med deployment. Adriatic Sea
support for NATO Operation Provide Hope. Wainwright serves as AAW commander
for a multi-national battle group.
1993: Spring; Wainwright is awarded the Battle "E. Also awarded her
second Arleigh Burke Award. Named winner in the Capt. Edward Ney Memorial
Award.
Wainwright decommissioned on 15 November 1993 and was mothballed for most of
a decade.
On 11 June 2002, ex-Wainwright was used as a live fire target and struck by
two Harpoon missiles from HMS Richmond. She remained afloat overnight and was
sunk the next day by two Spearfish torpedoes, fired from the Royal Navy
attack submarine HMS Tireless. She broke in half and sank quickly.
Wainwright rests at approximately 036° 47’ 32” North / 071° 37’ 44”
West. This location is approximately 254 miles from land.
USS WAINWRIGHT received four
battle stars for Vietnam service.
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