TCG Muavenet ( DM 357 ) TCG " Muavenet " ( DM - 357 ) ( previously USS " Gwin " ( DM - 33 ) , transferred in 1971 ) was a destroyer minelayer of the Turkish Navy crippled by two Sea Sparrow missiles fired from the aircraft carrier USS " Saratoga " during a NATO exercise in Saros Bay , Turkey in 1992 , resulting in death and injury among its crew . Sea Sparrow incident . During the fall of 1992 , the United States , Turkey , and several other NATO members participated in " Exercise Display Determination 1992 " , a combined forces naval exercise under the overall command of Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda of the United States Navy . 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 . During the " enhanced tactical " phase of the training exercises , the Brown Forces were to attempt an amphibious landing at Saros Bay in the Aegean Sea 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 Sea Sparrow missiles . Sea Sparrow missiles , 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 was accepted by the Operations staff with the notation that the 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 asked whether the Sea Sparrows were ready to go for the exercise . He was told that the use of the missiles was going to be simulated for this exercise . Rear Admiral Dur then directed that the use of the Sea Sparrows was not to be simulated and that the missile team was to be on station for the exercise . 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 drill , rather than an actual 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 , it was 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 missiles struck in the bridge , destroying it and the Combat Information Center , killing five of the ship ' s officers and injuring 22 . 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 , an action that the New York Times stated would effectively end their US Navy careers . The was given to Turkey by the United States Navy as part of the restitution for the accident and it was renamed " TCG " Muavenet " ( F - 250 ) . Lawsuit . On 29 September 1994 , some of the Turkish Navy sailors serving aboard the " 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 affirmed a lower court ruling against them . Their conclusion was that : This case presents a nonjusticiable political question 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 .