Peoria (LST 1183) - Naval Cruise Book

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Four U.S. Navy vessels sail from Persian Gulf Associated Press MANAMA, Bahrain - Three U.S. mine sweepers and a support vessel steamed out of the Persian Gulfyesterday in the biggest pullout of American warships from the re- gion since the Iran-lraq cease-fire 7V2 months ago, The tank landing ship Peoria sailed through the Strait of Hormuz as escort for the mine sweepers Fearless, lnflict and lllusive, bound for U.S. East Coast ports. Navy sources said the 8,450-ton Peoria will escort the three depart- ing sweeps', back to the East Coast and will return to its port in San Diego. The departure of the four ships left I0 Navy ships in the gulf, in- cluding three mine sweepers. With a nine-ship carrier battle group in the north Arabian Sea, the U.S. fleet was reduced to fewer than 20 ships for the first time since the massive Western naval buildup of mid-1987. The Fearless and Illusive are based at Charleston, S.C., and the lnflict at Little Creek, Va. A Navy official said the with- drawal of the three mine sweepers was decided after consultations with our friends in the gulfw and is consistent with the reduced threat to shipping since the Aug. 20 cease- fire. The United States sharply ex- HOUR LITTLE BROTHERS panded its force in the gulf to pro- tect U.S.-flag shipping and to escort ll Kuwait-owned oil tankers that were re-registered under the Stars and Stripes. Kuwait's shipping was being targeted by lranian gunboats because of its support for Iraq. The 720-ton, wooden-hulled mine sweepers were built just after the Korean war in the early 1950s and are the oldest U.S. Navy ships on active duty. Derided by critics as too old and outmoded, the U.S. mine sweepers outstripped the more modern Euro- pean mine sweepers in disposing of mines.

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