Six Aboard Damaged Navy Ship Are Cited for Valor : Heroism: They helped save the amphibious assault ship Tripoli after it hit a mine during the Gulf War.

Six sailors were decorated for bravery Monday for their roles in saving the amphibious assault ship Tripoli, badly damaged after hitting an Iraqi mine on the eve of the ground war in the Persian Gulf War.

Three of the crewmen were awarded Bronze Stars for valor and three were awarded Silver Stars by Rear Adm. S.S. Clarey in a ceremony aboard the Tripoli in San Diego Bay.

The Tripoli hit a 320-pound mine about 4:30 a.m. Feb. 18 while on a mine-clearing mission for the battleship Missouri, which pounded the Kuwaiti coast with fire support for ground troops.

The submerged mine blasted a 20-by-30-foot hole in the starboard side of the 25-year-old Tripoli.

The explosion knocked out power on the vessel for about two hours, leaving the Tripoli, with 1,100 sailors and Marines aboard, dead in the water.

Chief Petty Officer Joe A. Carter, a damage controlman who was awarded the Silver Star, said the ship began taking on water, which flooded some areas up to the third deck. Carter was cited for directing crew members to control the flooding and for entering the damaged area to look for injured men.

Lt. Cmdr. Stephen M. Senk, chief engineer, was also awarded the Silver Star for his role in relighting the ship’s boilers and directing damage control efforts.

Chief Warrant Officer Van C. Cavin was also awarded the Silver Star for his role in directing repairs below deck.

Chief Petty Officer Robert W. Murphy, Petty Officer 2nd Class David J. Witt and Chief Petty Officer William A. Werley were decorated with Bronze Stars for valor in their successful efforts in helping to save the ship. The citations credited the men for minimizing battle damage.

As the sailors battled to save their ship, Carter, 34, and other crew members went below to assess the damage. The explosion occurred near a paint locker, and deadly fumes were released below deck.

“Most of the spaces flooded immediately, except for one. . . . I tore some insulation away from the wall and saw a big crack. I saw some fluid coming out and took my oxygen mask off to take a better look. . . . That’s when I smelled the paint fumes and ordered everybody out,” said Carter, a 12-year veteran.

After using blowers to ventilate the fumes, Carter, of Graceville, Fla., and other crew members returned below decks. The sailors used timbers and steel shoring to reinforce the ship’s bulkheads, which were threatening to collapse under pressure from the flooding.

“It took us about 13 hours to shore up the ship enough so it wouldn’t suffer further damage,” Carter said. “We had to tear through the deck and had to dig through 12 inches of concrete on the deck so we could get the steel shoring through and weld them to the deck.”

Remarkably, the Tripoli continued minesweeping operations for five more days, until it ran out of fuel for its helicopters. However, the sea served as a constant reminder of the fragility of the repairs.

“The first night of the repairs, the seas started getting a little rough,” Carter said. “The front end of the ship would rise as it plowed along. The ship would take a big breath of air through the hole. As it settled back in the water, the air would push through the hatches. It sounded like a hurricane was blowing through the ship.”

After running out of fuel for its helicopters, the Tripoli steamed to Bahrain, where permanent repairs were made. After the repairs were completed, the ship returned to the Persian Gulf, eventually departing for San Diego on June 23. It arrived back at its home port Aug. 8.