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From: jtchew@csa2.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: WHat happened to USS Stark (was Re: Anti-Balistic Missiles Now)
Summary: Human error, definitely, plus questions about equipment
Message-ID: <1990Dec15.012050.13269@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 15 Dec 90 01:20:50 GMT
References: <1990Dec7.011307.474@cbnews.att.com> <1990Dec8.221641.27118@cbnews.att.com> <1990Dec12.030935.9815@cbnews.att.com> <1990Dec13.032943.18680@cbnews.att.com>
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From: jtchew@csa2.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW)
>We know that the USS Stark did not have CIWS. 

Actually, she did, and, contrary to widespread rumor, it was supposedly armed.
The question of how an Exocet got through all her electronic defenses is
complex.  Human error played at least one large role, and there are possibili-
ties of equipment dysfunction as well.  

As I understand it, there are basically three parts to this question:

* Why didn't the ship respond more aggressively to the first sign of
  threat -- an incoming aircraft?
* Why didn't the threat warning receiver acquire and warn of the missile?
* Why didn't the CIWS acquire and fire on the missile?

The September 1987 issue of IEEE Spectrum has a nice overview article that
extracts some answers from the murk.  The magazine (unclassified but not
readily available to the general public) is sent to all IEEE members and 
is probably archived by your local engineering-school library.  

BTW, Spectrum has thoughtful if unhurried coverage of all kinds of civil and 
military disasters, both real and potential, in which "electro-technology" 
plays a pivotal role -- Stark, Vincennes, EMP on the power grid, etc. Well
worth following if you can get hold of it.

--Joe
"Just another personal opinion from the People's Republic of Berkeley"