USS Vincennes Shoots Down Iran Air 655 - What Really Went Wrong?

During ongoing tensions and surface engagements during the Tanker War, Operation Ernest Will, the USS Vincennes tragically accidentally shoots down Iran Air Flight 655, en route from Bandar Abbas to Dubai. All 290 souls on board are killed. In this video we look at what really happened, and what went wrong.

Correction - USS Coronado was of course an Austin-class amphibious transport dock!

[ticijevish]

You didn't mention the Post-Its.
The consoles of the Vincennes were littered with them, cause the crew didn't know how to operate the Aegis combat system.
Also, the officer didn't figure out how to fire the missile, another officer leaned over and fired it for him.
The CIC crew of the Vincennes were an embarrassment to all sailors everywhwre, particularly naval officers.

[rainman]

I've studied this incident a lot. That Dotterway report makes zero sense. If the track numbers between flight 655 and an A-6 had been swapped, it would have shown up in data recording. There is absolutely no way for the data recording to be different than what was seen at the consoles. The Vincennes crew simply mismanaged the information in front of them. No one will ever know why they were so convinced flight 655 was descending when it was absolutely ascending. The Vincennes is an infamous ship in the AEGIS community for a reason. The crew of the Vincennes failed. Though the top brass didn't do much to account for this tragedy, the AEGIS community has moved forward and learned the lessons from this.

There is pretty much zero chance this incident could happen today. The tools for viewing flight kinematics have become much more robust and sailors are better trained and more familiar with how the weapon system works. The crew of an AEGIS ship today in that same situation would identify flight 655 as a commercial airliner in very short order.

Edit: I'm aware of the incident with USS Gettysburg shooting down the F/A-18 from USS Harry S. Truman. Until we know the chain of events that led to the incident, there isn't much to talk about.

[TheOperationsRoom]

Correction - USS Coronado was of course an Austin-class amphibious transport dock!

[dx-ekvr]

There's no way this vid's getting monetized.

[Dean_AZN]

Tragic, not just the loss of life but the attempt to cover up the truth and save face.

[christoffermonikander]

The gave the ship a 1billion dollar radar and fire control system but settled for a ham-radio with fixed frequencies for communications. You'd think a modern warship would be able to broadcast and receive on all possible commercial, civilian and military radio frequencies.

[twiggledy]

"Oh hey a civilian airliner!"

[lazygameratn]

Correction: At 4:36 you call the USS Coronado an Independence-class LCS, but those ships did not exist at the time. You instead are referring to (and using the image of) AGF-11, which was also called the USS Coronado and was a converted Amphibious Transport Dock.

[bryonslatten]

The Navy rushed a brand new and poorly trained Aegis cruiser to the Gulf to prevent another USS Stark incident and caused an even bigger problem.

[StromBugSlayer]

The cover up report by the Navy is the most reprehensible part.

[neilwilson]

I get that the crew of Vincennes were poorly trained and muddled, and that the captain is ultimately responsible. But giving him a medal for that? Come on!

[kdaltex]

Should've been an apology immediately when it was found out it was our mistake and restitution made for the families of those killed. Shit happens, owning mistakes is important, even with an enemy. The government is the enemy but the people aren't.

[TheOperationsRoom]

My wife did the edit on the sponsor section and I feel like she stitched me up with one of the editing decisions 😅

[poggergen]

U.S Government: "We investigated ourselves and concluded we didn't do anything wrong"

[nomxj]

I had a coworker who was on the deck of the Elmer Montgomery manning a .50 Cal when the missiles were launched, said they knew immediately upon impact that it wasn't a military plane. It is interesting to hear that he wasn't just telling war stories. Thank you for all your efforts in bringing light to this and other events.

[chunkycornbread]

As an American and I’m sure the majority think this. The way the US military handled this situation is absurd. Sure no one believes the airliner was intentionally targeted and it’s obviously a mistake. That being said to be the one that shot the missile and deny any wrong doing is next level crazy. Like why? Claim responsibility and explain the factors. Sure 100% of the blame may not be on them but it’s not all or nothing. Honestly disgraceful. The unwillingness to claim any wrongdoing is worse than the incident in many ways.

[treyaldridge]

2:18 the nickname Boghammar comes from the name of their Swedish manufacturer, Boghammar Marin AB. Iran bought a bunch of them from Boghammar in the early 80s and the name Boghammar just kind of stuck with the boats

[PvtPartzz]

You guys truly provide an important service to viewers with these videos. Putting a spotlight on what actually happened in these situations reinforces how crucial it is to think critically about everything we see or are being told.

[gaffords]

Mistakes happen, but this was completely unexcusable. What a horrible waste of innocent lives.

[tmmht]

The investigation calling the Iran Air pilots negligent, but not the crew of the Vincennes is just so comically reprehensible.