Joint Special Operations in Support of Earnest Will
Abstract
On the night of July 23, 1987, there was news of an unusual amount of naval activity around the small Iranian island of Farsi in the northern Persian Gulf. Rear Admiral Harold Bernsen, commander of Middle East Force, found the reports disquieting. The first convoy of Operation Earnest Will was due to arrive in a few hours. It consisted of two oil tankers accompanied by three naval warships. The next morning, twenty miles west of Farsi, Captain Frank Seitz of SS Bridgetown heard a sound like "a 500-ton hammer hit us up forward. "The ship had struck one of nine contact mines laid by the Iranian vessel Sirjan on the previous night. It blew an eight-and-a-hall by ten-foot hole in the tanker halting activity in the northern Gulf to the embarrassment of Washington. The United States launched a unique effort in response forming a joint special operations task force based aboard two converted oil barges. For more than a year this force engaged in a daily struggle with Iranian small boats and mine layers for control of the sealanes in the channelized area north of Bahrain. In every respect this operation was a remarkable effort and a blue-print for crafting unconventional responses to unconventional threats.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA403506
Entities
People
- David B. Crist
Organizations
- National Defense University