Vincennes Too Aggressive in Downing Jet, Officer Writes

WASHINGTON — A Navy commander, engaging in unusually frank public criticism, said the U.S. warship Vincennes that shot down an Iranian airliner, killing 290 people, had been given the derogatory nickname “Robo Cruiser” for its aggressive behavior.

Cmdr. David R. Carlson of the frigate Sides, which was in the Persian Gulf at the time of the July 3, 1988, downing, wrote in the September issue of the U.S. Naval Institute magazine Proceedings that the aggressiveness of the Vincennes, commanded by Capt. Will Rogers III, was well known among naval officers in the area.

“Having watched the performance of the Vincennes for a month before the incident, my impression was clearly that an atmosphere of restraint was not her long suit,” Carlson wrote. “Her actions appeared to be consistently aggressive and had become a topic of wardroom conversation.

‘Unamusing Nickname’

“ ‘Robo Cruiser’ was the unamusing nickname that someone jokingly came up with for her, and it stuck,” Carlson wrote. “My guess was that the crew of the Vincennes felt a need to prove the viability of Aegis (the sophisticated anti-aircraft system on the cruiser) in the Persian Gulf and that they hankered for the opportunity to show their stuff.”

Carlson wrote that the Vincennes started a sea battle with Iranian gunboats earlier in the day in response to what may have been nothing more than warning shots from the boats feeling threatened by the cruiser’s helicopter.

When the Iranian airliner came along later, the crew of the Vincennes misidentified the plane as an Iranian F-14 fighter jet and shot it down, though the Sides’ radar showed the craft to be climbing and to be “a non-threat.”

“The Vincennes announced her intentions to take TN 4131 (Track No. 4131, the Iranian airliner) with missiles at 20 miles. I wondered aloud in disbelief, but I did not do the one thing that might have helped. I did not think to push for a reevaluation of IFF (identification of friend or foe),” Carlson wrote.