Duty Calls Again : Mixed Emotions Grip Sailors, Family and Friends as WWII Battleship Missouri Departs for Mideast
The battleship Missouri cruised out of the Long Beach Naval Station on Tuesday en route to the Persian Gulf and the massive U.S. military buildup for Operation Desert Shield.
The mammoth, recommissioned World War II warship--a virtual fortress equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of striking targets 600 miles away, famed 16-inch artillery guns and other weaponry--left in a tearful send-off from families and friends of the Missouri’s 1,500-member crew.
Exactly what role the so-called “Mighty Mo” would play in combat is unclear, but its offensive capabilities include long-range Tomahawk strikes, Harpoon missile attacks against enemy ships and the bombardment of coastal positions in support of amphibious assaults by Marines. The Missouri’s nine 16-inch guns can send shells the weight of a Volkswagen a distance of 23 miles, and its 12 five-inch guns can send 55-pound shells up to nine miles.
Officers and sailors expressed both excitement and nervousness, eagerness and regret, about the prospect of combat. “You really don’t know how it’s going to play out, so the apprehension is there,” said Lt. Cmdr. T. McCreary, the ship’s public affairs officer.
“It’s a little scarier this time,” said Tim Garcia, a boiler technician, comparing his present duty to that of 1987, when he served aboard a ship that escorted U.S.-flagged Kuwaiti tankers during the height of the Iraq-Iran war.
If war breaks out, it would be the Missouri’s first combat since its shore bombardment of North Korean positions from 1950 to 1953. The ship, commissioned in 1944, participated in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa before the Japanese signed terms of surrender on its deck on Sept. 2, 1945, ending World War II.
Decommissioned in 1955, the Missouri was retrofitted and recommissioned in 1986. Reforms in Eastern Europe prompted a movement to put the Missouri in mothballs, but the upheaval in the Persian Gulf has changed that agenda, at least for now. The guided missile frigate Ford and fast combat supply ship Sacramento are escorting the Missouri to the Mideast.
A few hours before the ship’s 2 p.m. departure, families joined the sailors and Marines aboard ship for adieus. Sailors and their girlfriends locked lips in what seemed a kind of marathon competition.
Ens. Steve Woodcock was seen off by his parents, John and Barbara, who had traveled out from Devon, Pa., for the occasion. The 26-year-old had embarked on a career as an investment counselor when he abruptly decided to join the Navy. “I wanted more excitement in life,” Woodcock said. “I think I’m going to get it.”
Sailors sought to allay the fears of loved ones by discussing the Missouri’s thick steel hull and sophisticated anti-aircraft and anti-missile guns. “It’s like a big bulldog. Who’s going to mess with a bulldog?” said Warrick Woodard, a 50-year-old boatswain mate.
Several sailors spoke hawkishly of the prospect of battle. One ex-Marine-turned-sailor who served in Lebanon in 1983, when a truck bomb delivered by a kamikaze terrorist killed 241 Marines, spoke of vengeance.
“I want revenge,” said gunner mate John Scott, 26, who is expected to fly out to join his shipmates after a broken ankle heals.
Reminded that U.S. officials blamed the 1983 bombing on terrorists backed by Iran, not Iraq, Scott shrugged his shoulders. Whoever was at fault, Scott said, Iraq is due the pay-back.