All language subtitles for Combat Ships - S03E04 - Gulf War Warriors WEBDL-1080p x265 EAC3 5.1 [EN] [EN] MrPanda_track3_[eng]

[rocket roaring]

[narrator]
This time on Combat Ships.

[man on radio]
This is a warning,

stop and abandon ship.

I intend to sink you.

[narrator]
Conflict in the Persian Gulf

triggers the biggest
sea battles in recent history.

[Craig] Praying Mantis was
the largest surface engagement

on the planet
since World War II.

This was a major
military undertaking.

[narrator]
Ships faced missiles...

-[mine explodes]
-...mines,

-[explosion]
-and terror attacks.

[Kirk] You could feel
all 505 feet

and 8,400 tons of
guided missile destroyer

suddenly and violently
thrust up and to the right.

[narrator] And the danger
of new conflict remains.

[Seyed] The whole region
is still volatile.

It's like a powder keg.
It can explode again.

[explosion]

[theme music]

[narrator] Combat Ships.

Fast...

Effective.

His orders were to find
the British and pick a fight.

[narrator] Going right to
the heart of the battle.

The Marines have always
thought of themselves

as the spear point of the
United States military power.

Their whole doctrine of
combat was to go fast,

hit hard, get it
over with in a hurry.

[narrator] Combat ships
have changed the world.

[Mary] She gained her freedom,

now she's going down
a river with an army.

She was like,
"We're about to show you

what we're working with!"

[narrator]
Thanks to clever design,

raw firepower and the heroism
of their crews.

The rule of thumb
on a frigate is,

You can lose two spaces
and stay afloat.

But if you lose a third,

you go to Davy Jones's
locker in a hurry.

[artillery blasting]

[ominous instrumental music]

[narrator] The Persian Gulf
in the Middle East.

A small body of water
the size of Oregon

but with global significance.

[Craig] The Persian Gulf had
been an important outlet,

for oil in particular,
ever since the large oil fields

were discovered in
the Middle East,

and it turned the Middle East
into an economic powerhouse.

[narrator] In the 1980's,

up to 40% of the world's oil
was exported through the Gulf.

A region with
century-old tensions...

Culminating in one of the
bloodiest wars in history,

the Iran-Iraq War.

It began in 1980.

[Craig] It was a war
in which Iraq,

seeking to expand its
very tiny coastline

in the Persian Gulf,
invaded its neighbor of Iran,

thinking it would be
an easy pushover,

and it was not.

It's the third bloodiest
war of the 20th century,

World War II, World War I
and the Iran-Iraq War.

In the West,
we tend to overlook that,

but more than half a million
people were killed in that war.

[heavy gunfire]

[narrator] The conflict
descended into brutal fighting

with World War I
trench warfare tactics.

By 1987 it was a stalemate.

Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein,
sought to tip the scales

in his favor by taking the war
into the Gulf itself.

The Iraqis started attacking
the oil infrastructure

as far as the export was
concerned on the Iranian side.

[narrator] Iraqi righter jets
attacked Iranian oil tankers,

hoping to cripple Iran's
main source of revenue.

But more importantly

to provoke Iran to retaliate

and, by doing so,

this could lead to
international intervention.

[dramatic instrumental music]

[narrator] Iran took the bait.

The war had cut off
Iraq's only access

to the Gulf at Al-Faw.

It relied on its neighbor
and ally, Kuwait,

to ship out its oil.

So Iran began attacking tankers

bound for or leaving Kuwait.

No merchant ship traveling
through the Gulf was safe.

Over 400 merchant sailors
lost their lives

during the conflict,
and ships were often

so severely damaged that
they had to be grounded.

[narrator]
The threat to shipping

began to affect the
entire Gulf region,

including Saudi Arabia
and Kuwait.

Persian Gulf states
became more desperate

and they requested help,

not only from United State
but from Soviet Union.

[narrator]
The United States didn't want

such an important trade route
to fall under Soviet influence.

They decided to intervene.

[intense instrumental music]

In July 1987 the U.S. launched
Operation Ernest Will.

the Navy would guarantee the
safe passage of Kuwaiti ships.

In total,
the United States committed

a pretty sizeable force,
30 ships,

including an aircraft carrier.

[narrator] The U.S. Navy
believed their presence

would deter attacks.

Iran would not risk
all-out conflict

with the United States.

But Iran shifted tactics.

They used mines,

a weapon that avoided direct
confrontation with U.S. forces.

A mine is an inexpensive way

for a small power

to attack a great power at sea.

For only a few thousand dollars,

a sea mine can take out a ship
that costs millions

or hundreds
of millions of dollars.

[narrator]
During the very first convoy,

the tanker Bridgeton
struck a mine.

It did not sink but
was severely damaged.

Unofficially, Iran's mine
laying tactics were well-known.

But the Americans couldn't
prove Iran was the culprit

and needed a measured response.

The Navy brought in
more mine-sweeping ships

but also wanted to target
the vessels laying them.

That meant that, in addition
to escorting the tankers,

the United States had
to find and suppress

those mine layers, who are
operating in very tiny craft,

almost always at night.

That meant not warships.
It meant Special Forces.

[dramatic instrumental music]

[narrator] They needed a boat

that could counter
these small, fast,

heavily armed
Iranian attack vessels.

One fitted the bill perfectly:
the Patrol Boat Mark III.

[energetic instrumental music]

[narrator] Six of these
special forces manned boats

were sent to the Gulf.

Their secret mission:

to interdict Iran's
mine laying efforts.

It was known as
Operation Prime Chance.

[Stephen]
The Mark III patrol boats

were perfect for this mission.

They're armed with
a 40-millimeter cannon

on the forecastle

and a 20-millimeter cannon aft,
two M60 machine guns,

two 50 caliber machine guns,
and two Mark 19 grenades.

As a result, you had a small,
fast patrol boat

but that was very heavily armed.

[narrator] The Mark III's
operated in coordination

with Little Bird helicopters.

On the night of
September 21st, 1987,

they discovered the Iranian
ship Ajr dropping mines.

The little birds
quickly disabled it.

The Mark III's then swooped
in to gather intelligence,

including the serial numbers
of the mines.

[Stephen] This provided proof
that the Iranians

were conducting
a mine-laying campaign.

They could no longer deny
that they were taking action

against the United States Navy.

[narrator] The U.S. hoped
being caught red-handed

would curtail
Iran's mine laying.

It did not.

[chatter on radio]

By April 1988,

nine months after the tanker
Bridgeton struck a mine,

Operation Earnest Will
was working well.

When Iranian warships
came too close

to the Kuwaiti tanker convoys,

the escorting US combat
ships reacted quickly...

but stuck to a strict
rule of engagement:

do not fire unless fired upon.

[Paul] If somebody was inbound
and he was 20, 18 miles away

and he was closing us,
we would move rapidly

to that side of the formation
and get between the convoy

and this intruder
who was coming in.

And my goal was to go out
and head him off and meet him

and make them know that
when he was coming in

that I wasn't standing there
with my finger in my ear.

I was standing there and saying,
"Hey, good morning, stay away."

[narrator] Kuwaiti ships now
moved freely through the Gulf.

But Tankers from other nations

did not enjoy this
sort of protection,

facing attacks from both sides,

either Iraqi fighter jets
or Iranian combat ships.

And Iran was not limited
to small, fast attack craft.

They also had bigger
combat ships: frigates.

One in particular
became notorious:

the Alvand-class
frigate Sabalan.

[narrator]
Sabalan had three sister ships.

These British-built vessels

were the most potent
in Iran's navy.

The commanding
officer of Sabalan

had a notorious reputation.

[narrator] Lieutenant Commander
Abdullah Manavi

ignored his superiors' orders
to let certain ships pass.

[James] He would go out
to a merchant ship,

pull up alongside at sea,

talk to them on the
bridge-to-bridge radio,

ask them who they were,
where they were going.

He would then pull
away from the ship

and fire rockets at the bridge,

knowing that the people
that he was talking to

were on the bridge.

And the last thing he would say
before firing the rockets was,

"Have a nice day."

As a result, he became
known as Captain Nasty.

[narrator] Such attacks prompted
the U.S. Navy leadership

to change tactics.

To deter the Iranians
from attacking

all merchant ships in
the Strait of Hormuz,

the narrowest and most
dangerous part of the gulf,

they sent in the frigate
USS Samuel B. Roberts.

[intense instrumental music]

The Samuel B. Roberts

was an Oliver Hazard
Perry class frigate,

tailor-made for
the Gulf mission.

[James] They're not
big ships, 4,100 tons,

and a lot of capability

packed into a small package.

They had an area
of missile system

with the standard missiles.

[missile whooshing]

They had harpoon
missile capability.

They had a 76 millimeter gun,
rapid fire gun.

[artillery blasting]

The ship was fast,
and when I say fast,

relatively speaking,
28 to 30 knots max speed,

and very, very maneuverable.

[narrator] When Roberts arrived
in the Strait of Hormuz,

they used this maneuverability

to harass the Iranian frigates,

like Sabalan and its skipper,
Captain Nasty,

distracting them
from the tankers.

We were in it and cutting
across each other's bows,

running behind them.

And the convoy got away, the
convoy headed on down the road.

And finally, he gave up,

and he started heading
back to Bandar Abbas.

[narrator]
But these aggressive tactics

made the Roberts a target.

On April 14th,
she was returning south.

As she sailed East of Qatar,

Captain Rinn received
a message he dreaded.

[ominous instrumental music]

Mines in the water.

[Paul] I literally looked out
ahead of us at 400 yards,

and there were two of them,

one on the port bow
and starboard bow.

[narrator]
The Roberts stopped moving.

Another mine was spotted 300
yards off the starboard side.

When one sees mines
on the surface,

they then must assume

that they are actually
inside a minefield.

The best reaction,
at that point,

is to back into
the one's own wake,

because that presents
the safest path out.

[narrator]
The Roberts came to a stop,

then slowly reversed.

But currents and wind
shifted her sideways.

And the biggest explosion
that I had experienced

in my Naval career happened
right in front of me.

[loud explosion]

The fireball was over the mast,

so it was over
a 100 feet in the sky.

[narrator] The mine tore
into the Roberts' hull.

Within minutes
1,500 tons of water

flooded into the
main engine room

and Auxiliary Machine Room 3,

the USS Samuel B. Roberts
began to sink.

And that was almost
impossible to believe

as a commanding officer,
that in 90 seconds

you had just lost
a major part of your ship.

And the rule of
thumb on a frigate

is you can lose two
spaces and stay afloat.

But if you lose a third,

you go to Davy Jones'
locker in a hurry.

[dramatic instrumental music]

[narrator] That was happening
to the Roberts.

A third space,
Auxiliary Machine Room 2,

was taking on water.

To make matters worse,

an old adversary
showed up on the radar.

Captain Nasty and the Sabalan
were heading their way.

Captain Rinn didn't know if he
was coming to finish them off

or simply have a front
row seat as they sank.

[Paul] I called
the engineers and said,

"Do we have enough power
to bring up a missile?"

The answer was yes.

I brought a missile
up on the rail

and I synced the radar
with the missile launcher,

and I call Sabalan and he
was at 8,300 yards I think.

And I said, "If you come
inside of 8,000 yards,

I will engage you."

And he babbled on something

about operating independently
in international waters

and I said, "Okay, 8,000 yards,
that's the line."

And after the second warning,

he turned and he started
maneuvering away.

[narrator] But, still sinking

and in the middle
of a minefield,

USS Roberts was far from safe.

Captain Rinn called
for assistance,

but the nearest U.S. ship
was 125 miles away.

They're coming but they're
not gonna get to you

for five hours.
You're in this alone."

Trust me...

I felt pretty alone.

[narrator] If USS Roberts
was to survive,

her crew would have
to save her.

[somber instrumental music]

Around the ship the
lights flickered.

Roberts was losing power.

The blast had damaged two

of the ship's four
diesel generators.

The diesel generators were just
provide power to the ship,

every bit of power to the ship:

to run any combat systems,

to run any gun to
defend ourselves,

any radars, the lights,
down to the lights.

[narrator] After the blast,

only one remained in operation.

Another, diesel one, was
intact but had been offline.

[Paul] And we're not gonna
survive on one diesel.

You just can't operate on it.

If the diesels die,
we can't run pumps.

There's no way to dewater
the ship, we're gonna go down,

because they're pumping
thousands of gallons

of water off the ship.

[narrator] The hope was to
get the offline diesel one

up and running.

It stood idle in
Auxiliary Machine Room 1

where Mike Tilley
was stationed.

His only option
was a suicide start.

[Mike] It's known
as that suicide start

because you are literally
standing next to

or kneeling next to
that engine,

starting a 16
cylinder diesel engine

with your head next to it,
it was a daunting task.

[narrator] Blast damage
may have made it

dangerously unstable.

The engine itself could come
apart at any point in time,

and you would have no way to
get away from that fast enough.

[Paul] We needed
number one diesel.

If he doesn't start that diesel,
we're not gonna survive.

[narrator] At the same time,

AMR 2 was still
taking in water.

If this space flooded,
Roberts would sink.

Captain Rinn went to
assess the damage.

[Paul] The situation was pretty
grim on the lower level

when I was down there
the water was about,

I guess, four, five
inches below my knees.

[men yelling]

[narrator] The crew
battled the flooding,

strengthening the bulkhead
and to stop leaks,

stuffing clothes,
pillows, blankets

and mattresses
against the wall.

I gathered them all
together very quickly,

and I said,
"We're in your hands,

because if the bulkhead goes,
we're all going."

It was the most powerful moment

in that all of them
looked at me like,

"Hey, captain, you've got
other things to worry about.

We got this,
we'll save the space."

And I turned
to leave the space,

and a voice in my head say...

"You'll never see
them alive again."

And...

that was a difficult moment,

but I knew that they were
capable of doing this.

The question was,
is this too far gone?

[narrator]
The USS Roberts' crew

was doing all they could
to save their sinking ship.

[water gushing]

But they needed power.

They needed diesel
generator one to work.

In AMR 1 Mike Tilley
was in position

for the engine's suicide start.

Nervously, he reached
for the button.

[Mike] The relief came after
of course pushing the button,

and the engine came up to speed

and then kind of settled
itself back down.

At that point, we could take
that little sigh of relief

and saying,
"I think we did it."

[narrator]
With some power back on

and the water pumps working,

the team in AMR 2
were able to save the space

and keep the ship afloat.

Finally, Captain Rinn
could slowly steer out

of the mine field.

USS Roberts crawled
slowly to safety.

[Paul] We drove 23 miles
on that course

and after about an hour, I said,

"Unless this is the
world's largest minefield

we gotta be clear of this."

[narrator]
After seven tense hours,

and with the last fires
extinguished, Roberts was safe.

Ten of her crew were
severely injured,

but miraculously none had died.

The ship was towed to Dubai

where the extent of the
damage was discovered.

The keel was broken
and the mine had ripped

a 30-foot hole in the hull.

The Roberts nearly
broke in half.

[Paul] MIT modeled
the ship ten times.

Now, they're the foremost
Marine engineering guys

that studied damage, they
studied Titanic and Lusitania

and all the ships' damage
and why they sink,

and what caused them to sink

and should they have sunk.

And they modeled Roberts
ten times and every model,

the ship never stays afloat
more than 70 minutes.

[narrator]
Against incredible odds,

the crew of the Roberts
had saved their ship.

The attack on the
USS Roberts was a warning.

The much smaller Iranian force

had nearly sunk a ship
of the mighty U.S. Navy.

The weaker naval power
tends to try to find a way

to conduct asymmetric warfare.

That is, using smaller platforms
to attack larger platforms

because they really
can't compete

against the larger platforms.

[Stephen] In the case of
USS Samuel B. Roberts then,

a mine of a World War I
design that cost $2,000

did $93 million worth of damage

and led to a ship being
taken out of the fight.

[narrator] U.S. divers
confirmed these mines

had the same serial numbers
as those found on the Ajr.

The Americans saw the
attack on the Roberts

as an act of
aggression by Iran.

"Just days after USS Samuel B.
Roberts hit the mine,

President Reagan orders
U.S. forces to strike back."

[narrator] On April 18th, 1988

the U.S. Navy launched
Operation Praying Mantis

with nine Navy ships supported
by an aircraft carrier.

James McTigue was
captain of USS Simpson.

The plan was we would
take two oil platforms

that were being used
for surveillance

and targeting by the Iranians,

and we would attack
those two platforms.

We would send three
ships to one platform,

three ships to
the other platform,

and then we'd have a
roving group of three ships

down in the Straits of Hormuz.

[intense instrumental music]

[Stephen]
Each surface action group

approached the oil platform

and provided warning on
bridge-to-bridge radio

to the crew that they
were going to attack.

[man on radio] Evacuate the
platform immediately.

I repeat, evacuate immediately.

They gave them a
few moments to leave,

and then they began to
engage with surface guns,

five inch and 76 millimeter.

[artillery blasting]

[narrator] Both oil platforms
were quickly destroyed.

[Craig] This is where
it really gets interesting.

In the middle of these
attacks on the platforms,

ships of the Iranian Navy
sortied from their home ports.

[narrator] The Iranians sent
a fast attack craft,

the Joshan.

The cruiser USS Wainwright
issued numerous warnings.

[man on radio]
This is a warning.

Stop and abandon ship.

I intend to sink you. Over.

[narrator] Undeterred,

the Joshan fired a missile
at USS Wainwright.

It missed.

Instantly USS Simpson
fired back.

A direct hit.

Only after it had
been blown to pieces

did the Iranians then send out
another larger warship,

the Sahand.

[narrator] The Sahand
fired at a scouting U.S. A-6.

The jet returned fire,

as did the U.S. ships,

destroying the Iranian vessel.

Finally, Iran sent
another ship, the Sabalan,

skippered by the
notorious Captain Nasty.

It, too, fired a missile at
a scouting U.S. jet but missed.

[James] You don't
fire at aviators you know

without them
getting aggravated.

So they were aggravated
and they proceeded

to bomb the Sabalan.

She was, again, still afloat
but had been hit several times.

[narrator]
At this crucial moment

the U.S. leadership
called a halt.

They'd achieved their goal,

retribution for USS Roberts,

and wanted to avoid
an escalation.

The Americans allowed
Sabalan to be towed home.

President Reagan
sent a clear message.

They must know that
we will protect our ships

and if they threaten us
they'll pay a price.

[missile roaring]

[narrator]
Operation Praying Mantis

was the biggest surface
naval engagement since WWII.

Operation Praying Mantis
actually demonstrated

that U.S. is ready

and is ready to get more
aggressive in the Persian Gulf

and to be more operational

and to directly strike Iran.

And that point it was,

it was something that
Iran didn't expect that.

[narrator] This aggression
also brought tragedy.

Three months later,
in July 1988,

the U.S. cruiser Vincennes

mistook an Iranian passenger
plane for a fighter jet

and shot it down,

killing all
290 civilians on board.

The tragedy shook the Iranians.

[Seyed] Pressure was
piling up on Iran in 1988.

The Iraqi chemical campaign

against Iranian soldiers
in the border

combined with the American
operation all come together,

piled up that Iranian generals

and Iranian policy makers
noticed that

they should accept
the ceasefire.

[intense instrumental music]

[narrator] By August 1988,

the war was over.

But it would not be long

till the region
would flare up again.

Operation Earnest Will
was only the beginning

of American military
and naval operations

in the Persian Gulf.

[cannon blasting]

To pay for the war
against Iran,

Iraq had borrowed money
from its neighbor, Kuwait.

Now that the war was over,

the Iraqi leader,
Saddam Hussein,

wanted Kuwait
to cancel the debt.

They refused.

So in August 1990,

Iraq attacked.

Saddam believed
the West would allow him

to swallow his
smaller neighbor.

His calculation was that

his campaign against Iran

went without any punish.

So he can continue
the same policy.

He can continue to
invade other states.

But the Kuwait was different.

Kuwait is a small Arab state

which is a very
traditional ally

of the United States
and the West.

[dramatic instrumental music]

Saddam Hussein started this
cruel war against Kuwait.

Tonight, the battle
has been joined.

[narrator] The U.S. lead
a coalition of 39 countries,

although 73% of the
troops were American.

By January 1991,
in preparation for the assault,

a huge allied naval fleet
amassed in the Persian Gulf.

[Karl] It eventually involved
the largest deployment

of Naval strength
seen since 1945.

[narrator] In fact,
two of the ships

were from World War II:

the battleships USS Wisconsin

and USS Missouri.

[impressive orchestral music]

[James] It's a huge battleship.

It's three football
fields long.

It weighs 58,000 tons.

It's just a massive ship.
It's beautiful.

It's unforgiving.

If you bump into the Missouri,
the Missouri lets you know.

It's solid steel,

it's made to withstand
enemy guns in World War II,

it's hard, it's bad, it's tough.

[narrator] But Missouri
needed a weapons upgrade.

This came in the form of
Tomahawk cruise missiles,

at the time
a relatively new weapon,

untested in combat.

They had a range
of 1,500 miles,

traveling at 550 mph

and striking within
a few feet of the target.

This deadly accuracy
came at a price.

Each fired missile
cost $1.3 million dollars.

The Navy installed launchers
on Missouri's superstructure,

but to fire them

the ship needed modern tech.

So in the 1940s,
when the ship was built,

this was the Admiral's cabin
for himself and his flagstaff

whenever he was aboard
the USS Missouri.

During the 1980's refit,
this space was modernized.

Out went all of that 1940's
luxurious bedding and tables,

and in came all of this
fantastic new digital equipment.

The majority of the ship stayed
1940's in its configuration,

but it was really the addition
of the modern weapon system

that brought Missouri
into a new age of warfare.

[narrator] The Tomahawks
complimented Missouri's

original primary weapons,

her nine 16-inch guns.

These had a shorter range
of only 23 miles

but could rain down
a barrage of destruction.

Operation Desert Storm
began on January 17th, 1991,

with a volley of
Tomahawk missiles

fired at key Iraqi targets.

USS Missouri was among
the first to fire.

[James] They would just
burst out of these...

they'd call 'em
armored box launchers,

and they were so powerful

that they would
initially tilt a little

and then they'd
level out and take off.

You would hear them with
crackling in the distance

and then they were gone.

You really felt like,
"Here it is. It's starting."

[narrator]
Over the next four days,

the battleship fired
a total of 28 missiles

targeting key Iraqi positions.

They were timed to coincide

with 100,000
coalition air sorties,

crippling Iraq's
military infrastructure.

[explosion]

As coalition forces mobilized
on the Saudi border,

Missouri's and Wisconsin's
16-inch guns took aim.

[Bill] There was
a strategy in place

to draw the Iraqi
forces to the coast.

We were to look
like an invasion,

a Marine amphibious
invasion was coming,

so we opened up and just
fired everything we had

as quick as we could
and as long as we could,

just to make a lot of noise

and to seem like the
Marines were coming.

[narrator]
Missouri and Wisconsin

blanketed the coastline
with 16-inch shells.

[James] And when you fire
those guns, there's so much...

it goes whoom and just pulls
the oxygen out of your lungs

through your nostrils
and your mouth.

It's quite the sensation.

It's not only sound,

but it slams you in the chest

and it knocks you back.

My earphones push
back on your head,

you feel a wave
of heat over you

because this is a big fireball.

[narrator] The deception worked.

Iraq moved forces
to defend the coast,

weakening their southern flank.

On February 24th,
coalition forces

began the ground war
from Saudi Arabia.

They stormed across the desert,
outflanking the Iraqis.

[dramatic instrumental music]

At sea, Missouri moved
closer to shore

to put her in range
of Iraq's defenses.

Then, on February 25th,

they became the target.

[indistinct shouting]

[man on radio]

[man 1] Brace for shock.
Missile inbound.

-Brace for shock!

[man 2] Brace for shock!
Missile inbound, starboard side!

That would be the...

Probably the...

One of the scariest moments
of my life I would say.

I'm four decks down,
five decks down,

I'm not getting out of
here if we do get hit.

There's no way I can
get out of where I'm at.

So, you're thinking
about things like that.

[James] I think that's when
the emotion of it came in.

I started thinking of
back home that moment,

of my mom and my dad and
my brothers and sisters

and my girlfriend.

[narrator]
An Iraqi Silkworm missile

was headed for Missouri.

Quickly she fired metal chaff

to throw off the
missile's targeting.

It missed by a hair.

Then you have to shake
out of that emotion

and get back to being
in the battle stations

and remain cool,
calm and collected.

[cannons blasting]

[narrator]
Missouri's 16-inch guns

took out the Iraqi
missile battery.

[cannons blast]

[intense rock music]

The land forces
were victorious.

In four days they
marched through Kuwait

and Southern Iraq
driving out the Iraqi forces.

President Bush
declared a ceasefire

on February 28th 1991.

It would be Missouri's
final mission.

The last ever U.S. battleship

was finally retired in 1992.

There will never
ever be any creature

like us battleship sailors,
never again.

I mean, we were the last ones
to ever get to do it.

And so, yeah,
there's a lot of pride

associated with doing that job.

[narrator]
But the end of the Gulf War

did not spell the end of
naval warfare in the region.

A new decade would
bring new conflict.

[calm instrumental music]

[narrator] In 2000,

nine years after Desert Storm,

Iraq was still
considered a threat

and the US Navy remained
in the Persian Gulf.

In October a destroyer
was on route to take station

off the coast of Iraq.

She was the USS Cole.

[intense rock music]

Arleigh Burke destroyers

are the backbone of
the modern U.S. Navy,

fulfilling a
multitude of roles.

USS Cole's mission would be
to enforce sanctions on Iraq

introduced after their
invasion of Kuwait.

After passing through
the Suez Canal,

the Cole needed to
stop to take on fuel

on her way to the Gulf.

On the October 12th

she pulled into the
port of Aden in Yemen.

[Karl] She pulled into
Aden that morning

and had taken her
assigned berth

and arrange to have
alongside refueling,

and it takes time to set that up

and to conduct
the transfer of fuel.

[narrator]
As the refueling began,

small ships moved around Cole.

Kirk Lippold was her
commanding officer.

When Navy ships pull into port,

there's normally a lot of
routine harbor activity

that's going on.

In the case of Aden,

there were a number of ships
that were anchored out

and tied to mooring buoys,

but you'll routinely
have boats coming out

that are supplying
all those other ships,

taking sailors ashore
to go do logistics runs,

or they might be
coming out themselves,

bringing out fresh fruits and
vegetables, doing trash runs.

[narrator] Two barges
had already taken waste

from USS Cole.

Then a third approached.

One of the men on board
waved to Cole's crew

as it pulled alongside.

Then suddenly...

[explosion]

[Kirk] At 11:18 a.m.,

there was
a thunderous explosion.

[shouting]

You could feel all
505 feet and 8,400 tons

of guided missile destroyer

suddenly and violently
thrust up and to the right.

[narrator]
The suicide bombers had loaded

their small barge with over
400 pounds of C4 explosives.

The detonation tore a massive
hole in the Cole's steel hull.

We could literally feel our
ship sinking beneath our feet.

[narrator] Lippold quickly
went to inspect the damage.

[Kirk] The level of devastation,
it's almost incomprehensible.

What used to be the deck
has now been blown up

and into the left
side passageway there,

and as I look down
into what's left

of the main engine
room number one,

the hole in the
side of the ship,

I can see the sunlight
glistening in.

[narrator] The Americans
had not anticipated

this kind of attack.

[Carl] You do have
a presumption that,

by virtue of the fact that this
is a United States warship,

that it would give
pause to anyone

who would've
any consideration

for launching an attack.

Part of the problem was,

is that no one was
really expecting that

such an overt
act would occur,

even if there were
tensions in the region.

[narrator] The terrorist group
Al-Qaida was responsible.

The USS Cole
was the perfect target

to help recruit people
to their cause.

[Seyed] For them,

American military presence
in the Gulf

was something that they used
in the propaganda machinery

for recruiting
and for mobilizing

their followers.

They targeted specifically

the U.S. combat ships
in the Gulf,

because that was symbolic,

symbolic in a sense
that they're targeting

a sophisticated machine

that actually
symbolizes aggression.

[narrator] The terrorist attack
on Cole killed 17 sailors.

The crew were determined not
to lose their ship as well.

[intense rock music]

[Kirk] They were getting
the equipment they need,

they were going out
and investigating,

where's the primary damage,
what is the secondary damage,

and what do we need
to do to save the ship?

[narrator] They fought
for 96 grueling hours,

isolating the damaged section

and preventing
catastrophic fires.

They did whatever it
took to save their ship,

to save their shipmates.

And as we were
towed out of port,

towed down the coast of Yemen,

put up on that heavy lift ship,

to know that we
had saved that ship

was going to be
the real testament

that my crew were true
heroes that morning,

and I will always be proud
of what they did.

[narrator] The attack
was a grim foreshadowing

of September 11th, 2001.

[shouting]

These terrorist attacks would
again turn the Gulf region

into a war zone,

as the U.S.
invaded Iraq in 2003.

[intense rock music]

Today the tensions in
the region remain high.

Every day, around
20 million barrels of oil

still pass through
the Persian Gulf,

and U.S.-Iranian relations
are still tense.

Both sides are considering

what a new naval conflict
would look like.

Although, in a future conflict,

Iran can't match the
U.S. Navy ship for ship,

they just have to
be dangerous enough.

The first strategy
of Iran is to avoid

any direct confrontation
with the United States.

Since 1990's

until present day,

Iran is trying to
showcase its power;

in other words, exhibit
that it's ready to defend

and is ready to make it very
costly for U.S. to attack Iran.

[explosion]

[narrator] But it is not
just the U.S.-Iranian tensions

that threaten the
fragile situation.

[group shouting]

[Seyed] The whole region
is still volatile.

We have Yemen war and also war
in Iraq is not fully ended,

so the region is quite volatile,

and it's like a powder keg.

It can explode again.

[intense instrumental music]

[narrator] The Persian Gulf
has been the stage

for some the biggest naval
engagements in recent history.

Until tensions subside,

combat ships will
remain a key feature

in this small body of water

in the heart
of the Middle East.

[theme music]