The United States Navy has had a presence in the Persian Gulf for over 50 years, and global conditions demand that the U.S. Navy continue the watch in one of the most vital and unstable regions. Therefore, it is important to pause and learn from shipmates who were subject to assaults in the Middle East from the USS Cole (DDG-67) in October 2000 and from Sailors on the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58). Both warships were attacked on opposite ends of the Arabian Peninsula and both warships were saved by the officers and crew, living to fight another day. Managing editor of Defense News Bradley Peniston has written a detailed account of the USS Samuel B. Roberts and the day April 14, 1988, she struck an Iranian mine causing the crew to fight fires and keep her afloat for four hours after the mine went off.

The book highlights the frame of mind and the tense environment of those in the Persian Gulf during the Tanker Wars of the late 1980s. The USS Samuel B. Roberts entered an environment in which Iran and Iraq, two major powers at the time, were in their eighth year of a long and violent war. The USS Stark had been hit by Iraqi missiles, and the tanker Bainbirdge had struck a mine. The Persian Gulf saw the shadowing of Iranian forces and included a maneuvering between the Commanding Officer of the Roberts Cmdr. Paul Rinn and the Iranian frigate Alvand that prevented an outright assault on a tanker. It was then the Roberts was ordered to Abu Musa where the Roberts would encounter the Iranian tanker Bushehr, a 5,000 ton oiler serving as a mother ship to Pasdaran (Iranian irregular infantry) powerboats.

But the book is chiefly about Sailors, the pride they had after exhausting picket duty in the Gulf that included physical prevention of attacks on American re-flagged tankers. Focus is placed on the damage control and team work that enabled the Roberts afloat. Several dozen were wounded, and Hospital Corpsman 1st Class James Lambert kept himself going and hydrated treating the blast wounds by chewing ice chips. Hull Technician First Class Gary Gawor suffered a bloody knee injury, was ordered to evacuate and refused going back to direct the Damage Control Team.

The names and ranks are too many to mention in a review. But the reader will sense the importance of how a crew comes together in adversity and in war. Take time to read this book and learn about the crew of the Samuel B. Roberts before deploying to the Persian Gulf.

Editor’s Note: LCDR Aboul-Enein writes a regular book column in the Naval District Washington Newspaper Waterline and the Naval Training Center Great Lakes Bulletin. He spent a few hours visiting the Samuel B. Roberts in 1998 when his ship the USS Guam tied pier side in Manama, Bahrain. The Sailor giving the tour took LCDR Aboul-Enein to the area astern where the mine hit.