Iran-Iraq War

Operation Praying Mantis was an attack on April 18, 1988, by U.S. naval forces within Iranian territorial waters in retaliation for the Iranian... mining of the Persian Gulf during the Iran–Iraq war and the subsequent damage to an American warship. On 14 April, the guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck a mine while deployed 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. The explosion blew a 25-foot hole in the Roberts's hull and nearly sank it. The crew saved their ship with no loss of life, and Roberts was towed to Dubai on 16 April. After the mining, U.S. Navy divers recovered other mines in the area. When the serial numbers were found to match those of mines seized along with the Iran Ajr the previous September, U.S. military officials planned a retaliatory operation against Iranian targets in the Persian Gulf. 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.
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Operation Earnest Will was the U.S. military protection of Kuwaiti owned tankers from Iranian attacks in 1987 and 1988, three years into the Tanker... War phase of the Iran–Iraq War. It was the largest naval convoy operation since World War II. The U.S. Navy warships that escorted the tankers, part of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, were the most visible part of the operation, but U.S. Air Force AWACS radar planes provided surveillance and Army special operations helicopters hunted for possible attackers. Other U.S Navy vessels participated in Operation Ernest Will. They were then under the command of the U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet which had primary responsibility for combat operations in the Persian Gulf region. The numerous ships used in Operation Ernest Will mostly consisted of Battleship Battle Groups, Carrier Battle Groups, Surface Action Groups and ships from the Pacific's Third and Seventh fleets and the Mediterranean-based Sixth fleet. They generally operated in and near the Gulf for parts of their normal six-month deployments.
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Operation Prime Chance was a United States Special Operations Command operation intended to protect U.S.-flagged oil tankers from Iranian attack... during the Iran–Iraq War. The operation took place roughly at the same time as Operation Earnest Will , the largely Navy effort to escort the tankers through the Persian Gulf. The operation was begun after the mining of the U.S.-flagged Kuwaiti oil tanker Bridgeton. The two operations were intertwined—United States Army helicopters flew nighttime search-and-destroy missions from Navy frigates and destroyers and from two leased barges in the northern Persian Gulf. Navy SEALs and Explosive Ordnance Disposal operated from the barges as well. But while Earnest Will was the widely publicized reaction to Kuwaiti pleas for help, Prime Chance was secret. The Army helicopters flew at night, slipping to and from Navy flight decks under cover of darkness. The helicopter pilots often flew some 30 feet above the water, and became the first to use night vision goggles and forward looking infrared devices in combat.
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Operation Nimble Archer was the October 19, 1987, attack on two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf by United States Navy forces. The attack... was a response to Iran's missile attack three days earlier on the MV Sea Isle City, a reflagged Kuwaiti oil tanker at anchor off Kuwait. The action occurred during Operation Earnest Will, the effort to protect Kuwaiti shipping amid the Iran-Iraq War. Iran subsequently filed a lawsuit against the United States at the International Court of Justice. On 16 October, Sea Isle City was in Kuwaiti waters, waiting to be loaded. It had been escorted there by U.S. warships, but was not under their protection at the time. An Iranian Silkworm missile launched from the Iranian-occupied Al-Faw Peninsula hit the ship's wheel house and crew quarters, blinding its master, a U.S. citizen and wounding 18 crew members. The damage to the ship would take four months to repair. In retaliation, U.S. officials decided to attack two platforms in the Rashadat oil field .
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