MV ''Bridgeton'', ex-''al-Rekkah'', was a

Kuwait Oil Company The Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), an oil company headquartered in Al Ahmadi - Kuwait, is a subsidiary of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, a government-owned holding company. Kuwait was the world's 10th largest petroleum and other liquids producer ...

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crud ...

that was reflagged to a U.S flag and renamed during

Operation Earnest Will Operation Earnest Will (24 July 1987 – 26 September 1988) was the American military protection of Kuwaiti-owned tankers from Iranian attacks in 1987 and 1988, three years into the Tanker War phase of the Iran–Iraq War. It was the largest nav ...

. The ship was built by

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Mo ...

in its

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

shipyard and launched August 14, 1976. ''Bridgeton'' was part of the first Earnest Will convoy when it struck an Iranian mine near

Farsi Island Farsi Island ( fa, جزیره فارسی, translit=jazīreye fârsī) is a tiny, barren Iranian island ( Bushehr province) in the Persian Gulf. There is an IRGC Navy base on this island. The island has an area of about and is restricted from the ...

resulting in a major

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

victory for the Iranians. In the late 1990s, ''Bridgeton'' transferred to Panamanian registry and was renamed ''Pacific Blue''. It was scrapped in 2002 at Haryana Ship Demolition in

Alang Alang is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Because it is home to the Alang Ship Breaking Yard, Alang beaches are considered the world's largest ship graveyard. Demographics As of the 2001 Indian census, Alan ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Ship history

Ordered and built as ''al-Rekkah'', the ship was built by

in its

shipyard and launched August 14, 1976. In 1987, the United States agreed to Kuwaiti requests to provide naval escorts for its tankers on the condition that the civilian ships be reflagged under U.S. flag and ''al-Rekkah'' was perforce renamed ''Bridgeton''. On July 24, 1987, ''Bridgeton'' was part of the first Earnest Will convoy when it struck an Iranian mine near

. The explosion breached the outer hull and the forward cargo tanks, spilling oily residue. The ship sailed to Dubai Drydock Shipyard for repairs. The mining prompted

Operation Prime Chance Operation Prime Chance (August 1987 – June 1989) was a United States Special Operations Command operation intended to protect U.S.-flagged oil tankers from Iranian attack during the Iran–Iraq War. The operation took place roughly at the sa ...

, a secret effort to stop more minelaying. In September 1987, ''

Iran Ajr ''Iran Ajr'', formerly known as the ''Arya Rakhsh'', was a Japanese-built landing craft used by Iran to lay naval mines during the Iran–Iraq War. Built in 1978, the 614-ton, 54-meter ship was powered by two diesel engines and featured a bow ramp ...

'' was discovered laying mines, captured and scuttled by U.S. forces. Some of the reflagged tankers returned to Kuwaiti flags in January 1989, but ''Bridgeton'' and several others remained U.S.-flagged. In the late 1990s, ''Bridgeton'' transferred to Panamanian registry and was renamed ''Pacific Blue''. It was scrapped in 2002 at Haryana Ship Demolition in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridgeton Bridgeton 1976 ships Tankers of Japan Tankers of Kuwait Tankers of the United States Maritime incidents in 1987 Tankers of Panama