One ship of the class , , became infamous in 1988 when , in the midst of a running gun battle with Iranian Revolutionary Guard gunboats , she shot down Iran Air Flight 655 , resulting in 290 civilian deaths . The commanding officer of USS '' Vincennes '' , William C. Rogers III , believed the airliner to be an Iranian Air Force F-14 Tomcat fighter jet on an attack vector , based on mis-reported radar returns . The investigation report recommended that the AEGIS large screen display be changed to allow the display of altitude information on plots , and that stress factors on personnel using AEGIS be studied
Iran Air Flight 655
Iran Air Flight 655
Ticonderoga-class cruiser