USS Jarrett (FFG-33) - Operation Desert Storm

Operation Desert Storm

During Desert Storm in 1991, Jarrett was involved in a friendly fire incident with the Iowa-class battleship Missouri. Allegedly, Jarrett’s Phalanx engaged the chaff fired by Missouri as a countermeasure against two incoming Iraqi Silkworm missiles (also known as a Seersucker). Some stray Phalanx rounds struck Missouri, one of which penetrated a bulkhead and embedded in an interior passageway of the ship. Another round struck the ship on the forward funnel passing completely through it. One sailor aboard Missouri was struck in the neck by some flying shrapnel and suffered minor injuries. Some are skeptical of this account, however, as Jarrett was reportedly over two miles away at the time and the characteristics of chaff are such that a Phalanx normally would not regard it as a threat and engage it. There is no dispute that the rounds that struck Missouri were fired by the Jarrett and that it was an accident. It is possible that a Phalanx operator on Jarrett may have accidentally fired some rounds manually. However, no evidence to support this theory has ever been discovered.

One of the Iraqi Silkworm missiles crashed into the sea without being intercepted. The other - heading towards USS Missouri - was successfully intercepted by a British Sea Dart missile fired by HMS Gloucester.