Crew That Downed Iran Airliner Returns : Back From Gulf Duty, Vincennes Gets Big Welcome in San Diego

The officers and crew of the Vincennes, the U.S. warship that mistakenly shot down an Iranian airliner in the Persian Gulf last July, got a boisterous, flag-waving welcome Monday from friends and family as the ship pulled into port after a six-month cruise.

Capt. Will C. Rogers III, who gave the orders to fire two missiles at the airplane July 3, said he and his men were “devastated” when they learned that they had fired on a civilian airliner and that all 290 people aboard Iran Air Flight 655 had been killed.

Facing the press for the first time since the incident, Rogers repeatedly defended his actions and those of his crew and said the Iranians bear most of the blame for the tragedy.

‘All Devastated’

“Of course we were all devastated. It goes without saying,” Rogers told reporters. “But I have to look at it--and my crew looks at it--that given the fact that the airliner made no indication that it was not a hostile threat, we had no other choice. So our grief and our despair over that is tempered by the knowledge that we did what we had to do when we had to do it.”

Rogers said the crucial decisions were made in a 189-second period during which the Vincennes was engaged in a battle with seven Iranian Revolutionary Guard patrol boats that had been firing on an American helicopter. The Vincennes sank two of the gunboats and damaged a third.

“I reviewed that few seconds 100 times, 1,000 times,” Rogers said. “My decisions were correct. I have absolute confidence in this vessel behind me and the systems that are in place on that vessel.”

In a report released last Aug. 19, the Pentagon said the crew of the Vincennes made crucial errors that led to the decision to shoot down the airliner but that it cannot be held responsible because Iran’s behavior in the incident was “unconscionable.” The Iranian plane, which took off from a civilian-military airfield in Bandar Abbas and began to cross the gulf, failed to respond to 12 radioed warnings from the Vincennes, the report said.

The ship’s crew misinterpreted computer data from its Aegis defense system on the airliner’s altitude, speed and bearing, the report said. Although the plane was flying slowly and climbing in a civilian air corridor, the crew concluded that it was flying at fighter-jet speed and descending for a possible attack on the ship. The mistaken readings prompted Rogers to judge the aircraft a threat and order the launch of two Standard missiles, which struck the plane.

Crewman’s Censure Urged

A panel of Navy investigators exonerated Rogers but recommended a letter of censure for Lt. Cmdr. Scott E. Lustig, 34, the officer who was coordinating the ship’s anti-aircraft systems at the time of the incident. That recommendation was overruled by Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci and Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., who decided to take no action against Lustig or anyone else on the Vincennes crew.

Rogers agreed Monday that his crew had made mistakes but that “there always are (mistakes) in a combat environment.” He added that “no particular mistake was critical” to his decision to fire on the plane. He said he disagreed with the Pentagon finding that the mistakes were the result of stress.

As the Vincennes pulled into a pier at the 32d Street Naval Station on Monday morning, its loudspeakers blared the theme from the movie “Chariots of Fire” and nearby Navy ships saluted with gunfire. The reception, complete with balloons and a Navy band playing upbeat songs, was organized by Navy officials, who did not want the the Vincennes to “sneak into port,” a public affairs officer said. Several hundred friends and relatives of the officers and crew waited on the pier, but the general public was not allowed on the base.

Rogers’ most difficult moment Monday appeared to come when a reporter for a radio show directed at the Iranian immigrant community in San Diego asked, “Can you tell us as a people and as a community how you really feel, because they really need to hear from you?”

Concern for Crew

Rogers responded: “Certainly the loss of innocent lives in any combat engagement is a tragedy . . . but my absolute responsibility was for the safety of my ship and my crew. It does not mean that we regret it any less and certainly we never considered the Iranians an enemy.”