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About the Ship's Coat of Arms

Accidents aboard USS Stark

Patch Gallery

About the Ship's Name

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USS Stark (FFG 31)

USS STARK was the last but one short hull version in the OLIVER HAZARD PERRY class of guided missile frigates. USS STARK was homeported in Mayport, Florida. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on May 7, 1999, the STARK spent the following years laid up at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF) in Philadelphia, PA, awaiting final disposal. On October 7, 2005, the STARK was sold for scrapping to Metro Machine Corp., Philadelphia, PA. Scrapping was completed in June 2006.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS STARK. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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• Click here to see which USS STARK memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:

Gold and blue are the colors associated with the Navy. The globe refers to Admiral Stark's global outlook of the U.S. Navy, which began early in his naval career when, after graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy, he sailed around the world with the U.S. "Great White Fleet." The globe further alludes to Admiral Stark's World War I experience as Commander of a Torpedo Flotilla, which he led from the Philippines to the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, which took an active part in the anti-submarine campaign.

The chain encircling the globe symbolizes the U.S. two-ocean concept foreseen by Admiral Stark while Chief of Naval Operations. The chain also alludes to the Admiral's service as Commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe where his diplomatic and tactical abilities proved that the Navy was the vital link, which ensured support for Allied Forces ashore by convoying supplies from the U.S., and transporting of Allied Troop Replacement Forces.

The anchor and the four blue stripes on the pentagon reflect Admiral Stark's forty-year Naval career, culminating as Chief of Naval Operations, and Commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe during World War II. The four stars reflect both his rank and the three Navy and one Army Distinguished Service Medals he earned during his illustrious career.

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Accidents aboard USS STARK:

Date	Where	Events
May 17, 1987	Persian Gulf	While deployed to the Arabian Gulf, the USS STARK is hit by two Iraqi Exocet missiles but only one of them detonates. Both missiles were accidentally fired by an Iraqi F-1 Mirage aircraft, killing 37 sailors and wounding 21 others. The pilot later claims that he had mistaken the STARK for an Iranian oil tanker. The STARK suffers heavy damage and could only be saved by the effective damage control efforts of the crew. After the incident a discussion about the efficiency of the Phalanx CIWS, the SLQ 32 and the Mk 92 Fire Control system started because none of the frigate's system detected the incoming missiles. An AWACS plane monitoring the area also did not detect the missiles but only the Iraqi fighter aircraft. After the accident, the STARK got a memorial engraving mounted in the midships' passageway, which listed the names of the lost shipmates. The Navy spent $142 Million to repair the USS STARK. The situation of the frigate shortly after the incident can be seen on the right image on the top of this page as well as on the photos below.

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USS STARK Patch Gallery:

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About the Ship's Name, about Admiral Harold R. Stark:

USS STARK is named for Admiral Harold R. Stark, who served his country with distinction for four decades. Born 12 November 1880 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, he attended public schools and the Harry Hillman Academy before receiving his appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. Following graduation in 1903, he served on many ships, including the battleship USS MINNESOTA, while she steamed with the "Great White Fleet" on the famous December 1907 to February 1909 cruise around the world.

In June 1917, he reported for duty at the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island. Shortly after the United States entered World War I, Stark assumed command of Torpedo Flotilla, Asiatic Fleet, but was soon transferred to the Staff of Commander, U.S. Naval Forces and operated in European waters for the remainder of the war. Stark earned a Distinguished Service Medal for boldly leading a squadron of small, old destroyers through monsoons from the Philippines to Gibraltar. The ships arrived ahead of schedule, and carried out an active role in the anti-submarine campaigns in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.

In the years following WW I, his service included assignment as Aide to two Navy Secretaries, command of battleship USS WEST VIRGINIA, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, and Commander of Cruiser Division Three, Battle Force. Stark attained the rank of Rear Admiral on 2 November 1934, and was promoted to Admiral on 1 August 1939 following his appointment as Chief of Naval Operations on 1 April 1939.

Admiral Stark's second Distinguished Service Medal was for his resolute decision to hasten the capital ship construction for the "Two Ocean Navy," which proved a key to victory in WW II. In cooperation with Great Britain, he instituted effective trans-Atlantic convoy protection, as well as anti-submarine warfare measures which bridged the Atlantic from both North and South America. In March 1942, he took command of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe, thereafter providing the primary liaison between the British Navy and U.S. Navy for logistics for the British Isles. This included the massive staging, training, and logistics for the 2,904 U.S. Naval ships and craft, and the 124,000 naval personnel participating in the Normandy Invasion. Although he did not participate in the actual amphibious assaults on the Normandy Coast in June 1944, his personal contributions resulted in the award of a third Distinguished Service Medal. General Eisenhower additionally presented Admiral Stark with the Army's Distinguished Service Medal for rendering brilliant and distinguished service, not only as a naval administrator, but as a skillful diplomatic emissary in relations with Allied authorities, directly contributing to the liberation of Europe. In Autumn 1945, Admiral Stark was assigned to the Office of Naval Operations, Navy Department, Washington, D.C. He served there until he retired 1 April 1946. His many U.S. awards and decorations were supplemented by numerous honors from foreign governments, including Britain, France, Brazil, Norway, Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Admiral Stark settled in Washington, D.C., where he remained active in a variety of Navy organizations and clubs. He died 20 August 1972 at the age of 91. His wife, the former Katherine Rhodes, also of Wilkes- Barre, predeceased him.

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USS STARK History:

USS STARK was ordered on January 23, 1978 and built by Todd Pacific Shipyards at Seattle. Her keel was laid on August 24, 1979, she was launched on May 30, 1980, and she was commissioned on October 23, 1982. She was one of the short-hull units of the OLIVER HAZARD PERRY-class and was homeported at Mayport, Florida. In her first full year in service, 1983, she logged 14,870 nautical miles as she entered the normal Atlantic Fleet cycle of training, readiness work, and deployment preparation. A documented early overseas deployment followed with the Middle East Force from June 4, 1984 to December 3, 1984, placing her in the Arabian Gulf during the early Tanker War phase of the Iran-Iraq War, when attacks on merchant shipping and oil traffic were already making the region a regular operating area for U.S. warships. In 1985 she undertook a very different and unusually visible peacetime assignment, a Great Lakes cruise from June 13 to August 26, 1985, with public port visits that included Montreal, Toronto, Oswego, Cleveland, Duluth, and Chicago. Contemporary local reporting and later Navy summaries show that she spent four days at Oswego before continuing westward.

A second Middle East Force deployment began on February 5, 1987. On May 17, 1987, while on patrol in the Persian Gulf during the Tanker War phase of the Iran-Iraq conflict, USS STARK was struck by two Iraqi-fired Exocet missiles. Thirty-seven sailors were killed and twenty-one were wounded. The damaged frigate reached Bahrain on May 18, 1987, where temporary repairs were carried out with the assistance of USS ACADIA (AD 42). President Ronald Reagan attended the memorial service for the dead at Mayport on May 22, 1987. By July 2, 1987, forty-four crew members had already been flown home to reunite with their families while the ship continued her slow return, and permanent repairs were then undertaken at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She returned to service in August 1988, meaning that the missile attack, though the defining event of her career, did not end her operational life.

After repairs and reactivation, USS STARK resumed the more routine but still strategically important pattern of alliance service, regional presence, and multinational exercises. She served with Standing Naval Force Atlantic from January 12 to July 11, 1990. In 1991, she returned to Middle East Force duty as the United States maintained a continuing naval presence in the Gulf after the liberation of Kuwait. In 1992 she was involved in missile and readiness work in the Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, area, where a VC-6 command history records BQM-74C Missilex support aboard USS STARK. From July 17 to November 26, 1993 she took part in UNITAS XXXIV-93, the long-running multinational exercise series with Latin American navies. In 1994 her employment shifted again, this time to the Caribbean contingency environment created by the Haitian crisis and the Cuban migration emergency. Navy summaries credit her with participation in Operation Uphold Democracy and Operation Able Vigil, and another official command report places USS STARK directly in the migrant-operations picture through a personnel highline transfer with USS KLAKRING (FFG 42) while that operation was underway.

The record becomes thinner for the middle and later 1990s, but it again becomes firm in 1997, when USS STARK deployed from January to July with NATO Standing Naval Force Atlantic and operated in the Caribbean, Canada, and Western Europe. In 1998, she remained active in Atlantic Fleet service. Navy historical summary material places her at nearby Jacksonville for New Year's 1998, followed by winter and spring training and participation in IndEx 98-2 off Puerto Rico. USS STARK was decommissioned and stricken on May 7, 1999 at Mayport. After several years laid up at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia, she was sold for scrapping to Metro Machine Corp. on October 7, 2005, and scrapping was completed in June 2006. Her stern plate was preserved and later donated to Naval Station Mayport, linking the end of the ship's material existence to the place most closely associated with her service and with the remembrance of the 1987 attack.

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USS STARK Image Gallery:

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