Kuwaiti Tanker Bridgeton
For a decade, the Kuwaiti supertanker had gone by the name al-Rekkah, and had reigned as the largest vessel in Kuwait's fleet — indeed, the biggest under any Middle Eastern flag. In the summer of 1987, the 413,000-ton ship was reflagged under U.S. authority and renamed Bridgeton.
On 24 July, the supertanker hit a mine on the first convoy undertaken as part of Operation Earnest Will. The doublehulled vessel remained afloat, and the convoy continued to Kuwait—with three thin-skinned U.S. Navy warships following in the behemoth's wake for safety.
The Bridgeton was soon patched up and returned to service.
A starboard bow view of the reflagged Kuwaiti supertanker Bridgeton underway on 22 Aug 1987. U.S. Navy photo by PH3 Henry Cleveland
About The Book
No Higher Honor is the first book to detail the extraordinary tale of the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG 58) and the crew's heroic efforts to save the ship after it hit an Iranian mine in 1988. Drawing on years of research and scores of interviews, Bradley Peniston chronicles the origins of the Perry-class frigate; the crew's training; its operations in the Persian Gulf; the U.S. retaliation against Iran, which became the biggest surface battle since World War II; and the complex repairs that returned the ship to duty.
Published by Naval Institute Press, the 275-page book contains 20 photos, several diagrams of the damage, and a muster list of the shipmates aboard the Roberts during its fight for survival.
