Dust Everywhere, Says Fox Skipper About the 77 Days in Persian Gulf

Capt. William W. Mathis--a skipper who recently spent 77 days in the middle of the world’s newest flash point, the Persian Gulf--Tuesday likened the experience to a long stay on a “lake in the desert,” where temperatures reached 110 and the humidity was an oppressive 90%.

“It was dusty,” Mathis said Friday aboard the guided missile cruiser Fox, now docked at the 32nd Street Naval Station. “A lot and a lot of dust. It was corrosive to our electronic parts. It was corrosive to our machinery. It was corrosive to our crew. We were in an extraordinary environment.”

He also likened the Persian Gulf to a scene “out of Miami Vice.” Iranian and Iraqi fighter aircraft made daily passes. Hundreds of tankers and oil freighters, along with their military escorts, steamed through the Strait of Hormuz. In the gulf waters, hundreds of other small military speedboats cut across the surface. Merchant ships hauled their wares. Mines were hidden below the water. Oil platforms dotted the horizon.

‘Crowded Out There’

“It’s a very confusing picture,” said Mathis, recounting his experience for reporters at a news conference. “The air picture sometimes looks like LAX at night. And all the freighter and speedboat traffic looks like one massive traffic jam. It’s very crowded out there.”

Mathis and his 500-man crew left San Diego on April 13, spent 77 days escorting reflagged oil tankers in and out of the Persian Gulf and returned to port here on Oct. 13.

While in the turbulent gulf waters, scene of much of the fighting in the Iran-Iraq war, the Fox was a mere 1,100 yards away when the tanker Bridgeton struck a mine on July 24.

The mine, less than 15 feet below the surface, blew a 30-foot hole in the port side of the 401,000-ton Kuwaiti vessel. “We looked like a little toy next to it,” Mathis said.

Had the smaller Fox struck the mine, Mathis added, “It would have done a real number on us.”

“It’s a long laborious process to hunt for mines,” Mathis said, noting that while the Persian Gulf is only 450 feet deep, the water is opaque. “It’s hard to see below the surface,” he said.

What seemed to worry the Fox crew more than anything was the prospect of their vessel being hit by a terrorist boat or aircraft sent on a suicide mission.

Red Flares

He said the Fox fired its guns on two occasions, when it appeared the cruiser was in danger of being attacked. But instead of firing shells, the Fox fired only red warning flares.

The first encounter occurred when a helicopter delivering supplies to an oil platform came within six or seven miles of the Fox without the pilot identifying himself. “He didn’t answer up and we fired a red flare at him,” Mathis said. “He came up real quick after that.”

The second incident took place when a group of Middle East tourists in a speedboat let their curiosity get out of hand and attempted to sneak a close look at the Navy cruiser. The Fox sent up a flare and, Mathis said, “he got the message.”

As it was, Mathis said, “I never fired my guns in anger.”

One other time, though, the Fox did come dangerously close to gunplay. This happened when a small boat came within 50 feet of the Fox, despite numerous attempts by Mathis to persuade the skipper to turn back. As the small boat neared, it appeared the boat belonged to some kind of Middle Eastern rug merchant.

But then it was noticed that the skipper was standing at the bow and waving some kind of blue object in his hand. In addition, there appeared to be numerous white packages stored around his feet. Mathis feared the boat was on a suicide mission loaded with dynamite.

It turned out, however, that the white packages were goats and the blue object was an empty gas tank. The small boat’s skipper was running out of gas and wanted to refuel.

The man realized a bit belatedly that he had almost inadvertently caused his own destruction at the hands of the Fox, where all guns were trained upon his little boat.

“He got the picture,” Mathis said. “He turned and went off in the distance.”