The World - News from May 29, 1988
The most powerful U.S. warship ever seen in the Persian Gulf passed through the Strait of Hormuz on its first mission in the embattled waterway. The guided-missile cruiser Vincennes, with 385 officers and crew, entered the gulf to begin the first deployment in the region by any of the Navy’s 10 Aegis cruisers. The 9,400-ton warship was commissioned in 1985 and is equipped with sophisticated radar and weapons systems. Tensions rose during the ship’s nighttime run up the narrow strait as it passed a Panamanian-flag tanker, still on fire 20 hours after being attacked by Iranian speedboats. However, the warship made it through without incident.
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