Крейсер «Винсеннес» — трагедия в Персидском заливе.

Ticonderoga class cruiser

USS Vincennes (CG 49) was a guided missile cruiser outfitted with the Aegis combat system that was in service with the United States Navy from July 1985 to June 2005. She was one of 27 ships of the Ticonderoga class constructed for the United States Navy and one of five equipped with the Mark 26 Guided Missile Launching System. Vincennes was commissioned in 1985. She saw service in the Pacific before being dispatched to the Persian Gulf in 1988 in support of Operation Earnest Will during the Iran–Iraq War, which was led by Saddam Hussein and backed by the U. S. On July 3, 1988, during the Iran–Iraq War, Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655, a civilian passenger plane with 290 people on board, all of whom were killed. The incident followed a catalog of errors. Vincennes was decommissioned in 2005 after attempts to retrofit the cruiser with the Mark 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) failed. She was initially laid up in a reserve fleet at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington. In 2010 the vessel was towed to Texas for scrapping, which was completed in 2011.

Vincennes was launched on 14 April 1984 and sponsored by Marilyn Quayle, wife of Indiana Senator Dan Quayle. Vincennes was named for the Battle of Vincennes during the American Revolutionary War; the previous Vincennes heavy cruiser and Vincennes light cruiser were named for the city of Vincennes, Indiana. The cruiser was commissioned at Pascagoula on 6 July 1985, with Captain George N. Gee in command. The ship normally carried guided missiles, rapid fire cannons, and two Seahawk LAMPS helicopters for anti submarine and anti ship warfare, personnel transfers, and other purposes. Vincennes was the first of the Ticonderoga class cruisers to enter the Pacific Fleet. Upon commissioning in 1985, Vincennes helped test the SM 2 Block II surface to air missile. In May 1986, Vincennes participated in the multinational exercise RIMPAC 86, coordinating the anti aircraft warfare efforts of two aircraft carriers and more than 40 ships from five nations. Vincennes was deployed in August 1986 to the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans. The ship served as anti air warfare commander with the Carl Vinson and New Jersey battle groups, operated with the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force and the Royal Australian Navy, and steamed more than in waters from the Bering Sea to the Indian Ocean.

During the Iran–Iraq War, the United States took active measures in the Persian Gulf to protect shipping, mainly oil tankers, that were being threatened by both countries.

On 14 April 1988, the guided missile frigate Samuel B. Roberts hit a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will. Six days later, Vincennes was redeployed from Fleet Exercise 88–2, sent back to San Diego, California, and told to prepare for a six month deployment. The reason for the haste: Navy leaders decided that an Aegis ship was needed to protect the exit of the damaged Samuel B. Roberts through the Strait of Hormuz. One month later, the cruiser entered the Persian Gulf, and in early July, stood guard in the Strait as the damaged frigate was borne out on the heavy lift ship Mighty Servant 2. The ship made 14 Hormuz transits during its Earnest Will operations.

On 3 July 1988, Vincennes, under the command of Captain Will Rogers III, was on patrol when it was reported that Iranian Revolutionary Guard gunboats had attacked a Pakistani merchant vessel. Vincennes deployed one of her helicopters to investigate. Shortly thereafter, Rogers ordered his ship to move off station 50 mile (80 km) to the north. The destroyer flotilla commander ordered Vincennes to return to her original station. Vincenness helicopter had followed the Revolutionary Guard gunboats into Iranian waters, and while maintaining contact with the boats, came under gunfire from the Iranians. The helicopter crew reported that they had come under fire. With that report, Rogers turned his ship around and, with the frigate Elmer Montgomery, moved to intercept the gunboats. In doing so, Vincennes crossed into Iranian waters herself. As the U. S. ships approached, the Iranian gunboats maneuvered in what Rogers claimed was a threatening fashion. Rogers requested permission to fire. Command, not knowing that Vincennes had crossed into Iranian waters, granted permission. While Vincennes was firing on the Iranian gunboats, confusion reigned aboard the ship—the tracking of aircraft in the area had become muddled between Vincennes and other U. S. ships. Crucially, Vincennes misidentified an Iran Air Airbus A300 civilian airliner, Iran Air Flight 655 (IR655), as an attacking F 14 Tomcat fighter aircraft. IR655 was climbing at the time, and her IFF transponder was on the Mode III civilian code rather than on the purely military Mode II, as recorded by Vincenness own shipboard Aegis Combat System. After issuing multiple radio challenges and receiving no response from the aircraft, Vincennes's crew commenced the process to engage it. The naval officer responsible for authorizing a missile launch, the watch's Anti Air Warfare Coordinator (AAWC), pushed wrong buttons no fewer than five times in response to a system message to select a weapon. In the meantime, the officer in charge of firing missiles, the watch's Missile System Supervisor (MSS), pushed "REQUEST RADIATION ASSIGN" no fewer than 22 times, all without effect due to the AAWC not completing the appropriate process at his console. The AAWC finally selected the correct input at his console, allowing the MSS to again push "REQUEST RADIATION ASSIGN" and continue the process. At 10:24 a. m, Vincennes fired two SM 2MR surface to air missiles, shooting down the Iranian civilian airliner over Iranian airspace in the Strait of Hormuz. All 290 passengers and crew on board were killed. The victims included 66 children and a family of 16 who were on their way to a wedding in Dubai. The U. S. media backed up the official line, with The New York Times apportioning blame to the pilot, Mohsen Rezaian, and Iran. The U. S. military then claimed that the Vincennes was rushing to defend a merchant vessel under attack from Iran when an aircraft outside the commercial air corridor was descending in "attack mode" towards the ship, which was false on all three counts. They also tried to claim the ship was in international waters, and naval officials even deleted an Iranian island from the map they showed to Congress. In reality, it was in Iranian waters, in clear violation of international law. The Iranian government has maintained that Vincennes knowingly shot down the civilian aircraft. IR655 flew every day out of Bandar Abbas—a civil and military airport—on a scheduled passenger flight to Dubai using established air lanes. The Italian navy and another U. S. warship, the frigate Sides, confirmed that the plane was climbing—not diving to attack—at the time of the missile strike. The U. S. radio warnings were only broadcast on "guard" (121.5 MHz) and not air traffic control frequencies. The Vincennes crew also misidentified the altitude and position of the plane; the Airbus crew, if monitoring guard, could have interpreted the warnings as intended for another aircraft. Captain David Carlson of Sides later said that the airliner's destruction "marked the horrifying climax to Rogers' aggressiveness".

In February 1990, Vincennes was deployed on a third six month tour of the western Pacific and Indian oceans with SH 60 helicopters from HSL 45 Detachment 13. The ship coordinated all battle group air events and served as the command and control flagship during Harpoon Ex 90. In July 1990, Vincennes returned home after steaming nearly .

While there had been several proposals through the 1990s to retrofit the Mark 41 VLS into Vincennes and her four sister ships to extend their service life, none were funded, and all five ships were instead decommissioned; Vincennes herself was decommissioned and later stricken on 29 June 2005 at San Diego, California. She was mothballed at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Naval Base Kitsap, in Bremerton, Washington. In 2008, Vincennes was slated for scrapping within the next five years along with her sister ships Thomas S. Gates and Yorktown. On 9 July 2010, a contract to scrap Vincennes was issued to International Shipbreaking, Brownsville, Texas. On 21 November 2010, Vincennes arrived via the Panama Canal to International Shipbreaking in Brownsville, Texas, and she was completely scrapped by 23 November 2011.