Coast Guard Boats, Planes Reportedly Going to Gulf

Coast Guard patrol boats, planes and helicopters are expected to be sent to the Persian Gulf to free Navy ships for the more dangerous mission of hunting Iranian speedboats and mine-laying craft, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.

No final decision has been made to dispatch the Coast Guard on its farthest-flung mission since the Vietnam War, but officials said that Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger is just days away from giving the order.

New Attacks Threatened

Meanwhile, in the Persian Gulf, Iraq threatened Tuesday to answer the latest Iranian missile attacks on Baghdad by blitzing Iranian cities with air raids, artillery and new long-range missiles that can reach Tehran.

Two Iranian missiles hit Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, on Monday night and early Tuesday, killing or wounding an unspecified number of people. Iran had fired two dozen Soviet-made Scud missiles into Baghdad beginning late last year, but these were the first attacks since Feb. 13.

Pentagon officials said the Joint Chiefs of Staff had decided that the use of Coast Guard vessels would free larger Navy frigates to concentrate on searching for Iranian boats suspected of sowing mines.

The Coast Guard declined comment beyond acknowledging in a statement: “There has been a recent review of Coast Guard capabilities that have potential use in the current situation (in the Persian Gulf).”

The Pentagon officials said the patrol vessels will be used to help guard large barges that have been leased to serve as floating bases for Navy minesweepers.

The Coast Guard boats “will certainly not be used to escort tankers,” one official said. “But they could help with other things.”

Another defense source, noting that two U.S. military helicopters have crashed in the gulf in recent weeks during routine operations, said the Coast Guard boats and helicopters would be available for search-and-rescue duties in the event of future accidents, “again, freeing up the Navy ships.”

Coast Guard patrol craft range from small boats to 300-foot vessels. The sources said the Coast Guard would probably send some cutters about 100 feet long to the gulf.

All of the larger patrol cutters are armed, albeit lightly.

The Coast Guard was heavily involved in supporting the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, maintaining patrols along the South Vietnamese coastline. More recently, Coast Guard cutters were sent to the island of Grenada for temporary maritime patrol duties after the U.S. invasion in 1983.

Coast Guard patrol cutters are not considered combat ships, and thus many of them include women among their crews. Warner Siems, a Coast Guard spokesman, declined comment when asked whether Coast Guard boats might sail to the gulf with women aboard.

The official Iraqi News Agency said the two Iranian missiles damaged a school and destroyed homes and businesses in Baghdad, but it gave no number for casualties.

‘Vile Crime’

Baghdad radio said: “With this vile crime, the Iranian regime voluntarily threw itself into a fatal situation that will crush its bones.”

Late Tuesday, Iraq said its jets raided a “large naval target,” its usual reference to an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf. There was no immediate confirmation of the attack.

Also in the gulf, a Cypriot vessel, the Shining Star, was burning out of control Tuesday off Iran. Iraqi warplanes set it ablaze Monday during raids on two Iranian oil terminals in which four other tankers were damaged.

Baghdad newspapers said Iraq would make the first use of a new type of Iraqi-manufactured missile to attack Iranian cities, indicating that Tehran would be the main target.

They said the missile’s range was just over 400 miles, which means it could reach the Iranian capital from Iraqi territory.