day, A-6s hit the mark again, disabling an Iraqi been used as an early warning post by the tanker used to gather intelligence, an enemy enemy, the Marines raised the Kuwaiti flag hovercraft and another Iraqi patrol boat. over the second parcel of reclaimed territory. Navy air power struck again on 24 Janu- Later that day, 20 Iraqi small craft fired ary, when A-6s destroyed an enemy mine- upon Navy helos investigating reports of sur- layer, a minesweeper and another patrol boat. rendering Iraqis on neighboring islands. The A second enemy minesweeper sunk after hit- helos returned fire, sinking four boats and ting one of its own mines while attempting to damaging twelve others. By 2 February all evade the A-6. Near Qurah Island, embarked Iraqi craft capable of delivering missiles had Army helicopters from USS CURTS (FFG 38) been destroyed, and the Iraqi naval force was pulled 22 EPWs from the sea. As the helicop- considered combat ineffective. ters assisted the survivors, Iraqi forces on Qurah fired at the airborne rescuers. CURTS, using advanced mine-avoid- ance sonar, led MISSOURI northward. MIS- As CURTS' helicopters returned the SOURI gun crews sent 2,700-pound shells enemy fire, the ship maneuvered doser to the crashing into an Iraqi command and control island and trained its guns ashore, commenc- bunker near the Saudi border. It marked the ing an intense six-hour struggle to retake the first time her 16-inch guns had been fired in first parcel of Kuwaiti territory. When the combat since March 1953 off Korea. enemy gunfire ceased, three Iraqis lay dead MISSOURI's gun crews returned to action 5 and 29 others knelt in surrender. Navy SEALs February, silencing an Iraqi artillery battery from Naval Special Warfare Group 1 landed with another 10 rounds. Over a three-day on Qurah aboard helicopters from USS period, MISSOURI bombarded Iraqi strong- LEFTWICH (DDG 984). With NICHOLAS holds with 11216-inch shells. and CURTS keeping watch close by, the island was redaimed, and 51 EPWs were taken into WISCONSIN, escorted byNICHOLAS, custody. relieved MISSOURI on the 6th, answering her first combat call for gunfire support since March On 29 january, in the northern Persian 1952. Themostrecentlyrecommissionedbattle- Gulf, the five ships of Amphibious Ready ship sent 11 shells across 19 miles of space to Group (ARG) ALFA - USS OKINAWA (LPH destroy an Iraqi artillery battery in southern 3), USS OGDEN (LPD 5), USS FORT Kuwait. Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehide MCHENRY (LSD 43), USS CAYUGA (LST (UAV) as a spotter in combat for the first time, 1186) and USS DURHAM (LKA 114) - with WISCONSIN pounded Iraqi targets and Iraqi embarked Marines from the 13th Marine Ex- boats that had been used during raids along peditionary Unit (special operations capable) theSaudicoast. WISCONSIN'sturretsboomed - steamed near the Kuwaiti island Umm al again on 8 February, blasting bunkers and Maradim. The Marines assaulted the 300- artillery sites near Khafji after the Iraqis were meter by 400-meter island 12 miles off the ousted from the city by Saudi and Qatari ar- Kuwaiti coast using embarked Marine heli- mor. The two battleships alternated positions copters, liberating the second Kuwaiti island. on the gun line, using their 16-inch guns to After destroying Iraqi anti-aircraft weapons destroy enemy targets and soften defenses and artillery stored on the island, which had along the Kuwait coastline for a possible am- -41 -
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