From: TEX5HAD@CMS1.LEEDS.AC.UK (Haluk DEMIRBAG)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: HUMAN ERROR BLAMED FOR US FRIENDLY FIRE TRAGEDY
Date: 4 Oct 1992 20:25:41 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Reply-To: Turkish Cultural Program List <TRKNWS-L%USCVM.BitNet@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
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HUMAN ERROR BLAMED FOR US FRIENDLY FIRE TRAGEDY

By Phil Davison

A routine computer check during a change of watch appears to have
led to  the latest  "friendly fire" tragedy  in which  the United
States aircraft carrier Saratoga fired  two missiles at a Turkish
destroyer. The  destroyer's commanding  officer and  four crewmen
were  killed and  15  badly  hurt when  one  of  the Sea  Sparrow
missiles slammed into the bridge  of the destroyer Muavenet at 11
minutes past midnight on Thursday in the Aegean Sea.

The ships were  involved in Nato's Display  Determination '92 war
games, along  with the Royal  Navy frigate HMS Andromeda,  but no
missile firing had been planned until next week.

US officials have apologised,  three admirals have been appointed
to investigate and the Turkish  government has accepted it was an
accident.  But  a retired  Turkish  naval  officer, Nihat  Topuz,
voiced the suspicions  of many compatriots when  he suggested the
Muavenet  may  have been  targeted  by  an anti-Turkish  US  crew
member. "The ethnic background of  those in the fire control room
of the  US carrier should  be carefully checked," Mr  Topuz said.
"They might be Armenians or Greeks."

Turkey is in  dispute with Greece over  Aegean territorial waters
and Cyprus, while Armenian  nationalists have previously launched
attacks on Turks.

British defence experts, however, believe  a human error during a
shift change led  to the launching of the two  12ft Sea Sparrows,
relatively unsophisticated  weapons that  cannot be  stopped once
fired.  They  are meant  to  shoot  down attacking  planes.  Once
launched, it  was "sheer bad  luck" one  of the missiles  hit the
Muavenet, steaming three miles away, the experts say.

"The  Saratoga  had  previously  been  on  war  stations  in  the
Adriatic, at tip-top readines for any  air or sea attack from the
Serbs. So all  the missiles on board would have  been live," said
Paul Beaver of Jane's Defence  Weekly. "Just after midnight, they
would just  have changed  the watch. That  means a  routine 'user
systems check' of weapons systems.

"The check is to ensure the  surveillance radar is talking to the
fire control  computer, and along  the chain to the  launcher and
seeker-head. But you should have  the manual disabling systems in
place, to prevent launching. It's a matter of pressing a button."

Most British  defence experts gave  the Americans the  benefit of
the doubt.  "Because of the size  of the US Navy,  such accidents
are  statistically more  likely," said  Richard Sharp,  Editor of
Jane's Fighting  Ships. But one  expert, who preferred not  to be
named, was  less  generous.  "The  Royal Navy  is  very  wary  of
exercising with the Americans. They  have a knack of doing this,"
he said.

THE INDEPENDENT, 4 October 1992
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