TCG ''Muavenet'' (DM-357) (previously , transferred in 1971) was a
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
minelayer
A minelayer is any warship, submarine or military aircraft deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for installing controll ...
of the
Turkish Navy
The Turkish Naval Forces ( tr, ), or Turkish Navy ( tr, ) is the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces.
The modern naval traditions and customs of the Turkish Navy can be traced back to 10 July 1920, when it was establi ...
crippled by two
Sea Sparrow
RIM-7 Sea Sparrow is a U.S. ship-borne short-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon system, primarily intended for defense against anti-ship missiles. The system was developed in the early 1960s from the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile as a ...
missiles fired from the
aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
during a
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
exercise in
Saros Bay
Saros Bay or Gulf of Saros ( tr, Saros Körfezi; el, κόλπος του Σάρρου) is a gulf in the Dardanelles, Turkey. Ancient Greeks called it the Gulf of Melas (), before it was renamed.
The bay is long and wide. Far from industrial ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
in 1992, resulting in death and injury among its crew.
Sea Sparrow incident
During the autumn of 1992, the United States, Turkey, and several other
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
members participated in "Exercise Display Determination 1992", a
combined forces naval exercise under the overall command of Admiral
Jeremy Michael Boorda
Jeremy Michael Boorda (November 26, 1939 – May 16, 1996) was a United States Navy admiral who served as the 25th Chief of Naval Operations. Boorda is notable as the first person to have risen from the enlisted ranks to become Chief of Naval Ope ...
of the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. The forces of participating nations were assigned to either of two multinational teams. Vice Admiral
T. Joseph Lopez of the United States Navy led the "Brown Forces," which included ''Saratoga''. The opposing "Green Forces," including ''Muavenet'' were under the direct control of Admiral Kroon of the
Netherlands
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, image_map =
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, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
.
During the "enhanced tactical" phase of the training exercises, the Brown Forces were to attempt an amphibious landing at
Saros Bay
Saros Bay or Gulf of Saros ( tr, Saros Körfezi; el, κόλπος του Σάρρου) is a gulf in the Dardanelles, Turkey. Ancient Greeks called it the Gulf of Melas (), before it was renamed.
The bay is long and wide. Far from industrial ...
in the
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek language, Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish language, Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It ...
against the resistance offered by the Green Forces. Admiral Boorda ordered the units comprising each force to actively seek and "destroy" each other. Both task force commanders had full authority to engage the simulated enemy when and where they deemed appropriate and to use all warfare assets at their disposal to achieve victory.
During an exercise planning session on 1 October 1992, the battle group commander, Rear Admiral Philip Dur, ordered that a simulated attack on nearby opposition forces use Standard Missiles and Harpoon missiles. Sea Sparrow missiles aboard the USS ''Saratoga'', an anti-aircraft defensive system, was not part of existing doctrine for fighting surface targets and had not been used before, either in exercises or in live combat operations against surface targets. The order to exercise simulated Sea Sparrow missiles was issued by the carrier's operations staff with the concurrence of the Admiral, who assumed these simulated engagements were to provide training to ''Saratoga'' watch standers. ''Saratoga''
's missiles were not required to engage opposition forces. The battle group commander's staff assumed that Sea Sparrow missile system would be "simulated" (meaning the missile stations would be unmanned). Just prior to midnight on 2 October 1992, when the exercise was scheduled to begin, Rear Admiral Dur ordered the USS ''Thomas S Gate'' (CG-51) to simulate engagement of ''Muavenet'' and other “hostile” ships with her missiles. Admiral Dur did not order ''Saratoga'' to conduct any simulated attacks.
(see statement of Admiral Boorda (CINCSOUTH) of 1 December 1992). Without providing prior notice of the exercise, officers on ''Saratoga'' woke the enlisted Sea Sparrow missile team and directed them to conduct the simulated attack. According to U.S. Navy, certain members of the missile firing team were not told that the exercise was a simulation drill, rather than an actual firing event.
As the drill progressed, the missile system operator used language to indicate he was preparing to fire a live missile, but due to the absence of standard terminology, the supervisors failed to appreciate the significance of the terms used and the requests made. Specifically, the target acquisition system operator issued the command "arm and tune", terminology the console operators understood to require arming of the missiles in preparation for actual firing. The officers supervising the drill did not realize that "arm and tune" signified a live firing and ignored two separate requests from the missile system operator to clarify whether the launch order was an exercise. As a result, shortly after midnight on the morning of 2 October, ''Saratoga'' fired two Sea Sparrow missiles at ''Muavenet''. The first missile struck in the bridge, destroying it and the combat information center. The second missile struck in the aft magazine but did not detonate. The explosion and resulting fires killed five of the ship's officers and injured 22. Nearby US Navy ships responded in aid to the Turkish ship, which was now without leadership. Fire and rescue teams boarded the ship and put out the fires in the bridge and the aft magazine, preventing any secondary explosions.
The sailors who actually fired the missiles were not punished, but the ship's commanding officer, Captain James M. Drager, four officers and three enlisted men received admiral's
non-judicial punishment
Non-judicial punishment (or NJP) is any form of punishment that may be applied to individual military personnel, without a need for a court martial or similar proceedings.
United States
In the United States Armed Forces, non-judicial punishment ...
, an action which effectively ended their US Navy careers.
[The New York Times. Navy Will Forgo Courts-Martial In Missile Firing That Killed Turks. By ERIC SCHMITT, Published: December 2, 1992.]
was given to Turkey by the United States Navy as part of the restitution for the accident, and the vessel was renamed .
Lawsuit
On 29 September 1994, some of the Turkish Navy sailors serving aboard ''Muavenet'' instituted legal action against the United States government. The action encompassed two wrongful death claims and 299 personal injury claims. On 20 February 1997, the
U.S. Court of Appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal judiciary. The courts of appeals are divided into 11 numbered circuits that cover geographic areas of the United States and hear appeals fr ...
affirmed a lower court ruling against them. Their conclusion was that:
This case presents a nonjusticiable
Justiciability concerns the limits upon legal issues over which a court can exercise its judicial authority. It includes, but is not limited to, the legal concept of standing, which is used to determine if the party bringing the suit is a party ...
political question
In United States constitutional law, the political question doctrine holds that a constitutional dispute that requires knowledge of a non-legal character or the use of techniques not suitable for a court or explicitly assigned by the Constitution ...
because it would require a court to interject itself into military decision making and foreign policy, areas the Constitution has committed to coordinate branches of government.
References
20 February 1997 decision of US Court of Appeals on action instituted by Turkish Navy sailors and relatives*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muavenet (DM 357)
Destroyers of the Turkish Navy
Maritime incidents in 1992
Maritime may refer to:
Geography
* Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps
* Maritime Region, a region in Togo
* Maritime Southeast Asia
* The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prin ...
Maritime incidents in Turkey
1971 ships
Turkey–United States relations