2 Kuwait Ships Reflagged; U.S. Convoy Sails Tonight : 500-Mile Perilous Journey Set

The Stars and Stripes were hoisted on the masts of two Kuwaiti tankers today as U.S. warships prepared to escort the first convoy of reflagged vessels into the perilous waters of the Persian Gulf.

Pentagon officials said the 500-mile trip from Khor Fakkan, an Arabian Sea port in this Emirates sheikdom, to Kuwait’s oil loading terminals was tentatively scheduled to begin tonight.

This morning, a small U.S. flag was raised on a mast at the stern of the supertanker Bridgeton, formerly the al-Rekkah. An hour later, the ceremony was repeated on the stern of the much smaller oil products carrier Gas Prince, formerly the Gas al-Minagish.

Khor Fakkan is 90 miles south of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow gateway to the gulf between Iran and Oman. Iran has a store of Silkworm anti-ship missiles on its side of the strait.

No military action was reported in the gulf today after a month of attacks on shipping by both Iran and Iraq and sustained Iraqi bombing of Iranian oil installations. The Persian Gulf neighbors have been at war since Iraq invaded Iran in September, 1980.

On Monday, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution demanding a cease-fire. Iraq supported it, but Iran said in advance it would ignore the measure, as it has similar resolutions in the past.

Accused of Supplying Arms

The Iranians accuse Kuwait of being a conduit for arms shipments to Iraq, whose ports have been closed since shortly after the war began. Iran began regular attacks last September on ships owned by or serving Kuwait, and it vows to continue despite the American flags and escorts.

Pentagon officials in Washington said the two tankers and their Navy escort will set out late today or early Wednesday on the three-day trip to Kuwait, Iraq’s western neighbor at the northern end of the gulf.

Shipping sources in Fujaira said privately that the convoy might move out tonight and anchor at the southern end of Hormuz, then pass through the strait in daylight.

The Bridgeton and the Gas Prince are the first of 11 Kuwaiti tankers to be reflagged.

Kuwait also has chartered three tankers each from the Soviet Union and Britain, whose warships will escort them through what seamen call “Exocet Alley” after the French-made missiles Iraqi warplanes fire at ships.

France, which severed relations with Iran last Friday in a diplomatic dispute, said its warships will escort two French tankers scheduled to enter the gulf later this week.

Each of the three countries has about three warships in or near the gulf.

American captains now command the Bridgeton and Gas Prince, which were guarded at their anchorage in international waters off Khor Fakkan by the missile cruiser Fox, the missile destroyer Kidd and two frigates.

Whether any of those ships would be involved in the escort duty was not clear. They are part of a 15-vessel Navy task force deployed in the gulf area to protect reflagged tankers on the voyage to Kuwait’s Al-Ahmadi oil terminal.

Fighters from the aircraft carrier Constellation will fly air cover and U.S.-supplied Saudi Arabian airborne warning and command systems (AWACS) planes will provide reconnaissance.