The USS Vincennes' destruction of an Iranian jetliner with 290 people aboard was a tragic result of its captain and crew doing their duty, members of the ship's namesake organization said Sunday. ``On the basis of what we can find out on news reports, the captain acted the best way he knew how,'' said William E. Brooks Jr., publisher of the Vincennes Sun-Commercial newspaper and a member of the USS Vincennes Association. The association is made up mostly of men who served on the two ships of that name during World War II. The current USS Vincennes is the fourth naval vessel to bear the name of this southwestern Indiana city. ``The other thing, in my opinon, this is the other side of the Stark incident,'' Brooks said, referring to the May 1987 Iraqi jet attack on the U.S. missile frigate Stark, which cost 37 American lives. ``If the captain had stayed there and not done anything, we might have been reading about loss of life on the Vincennes,'' Brroks said. The Islamic Republic News Agency said the Iran Air jet shot down was a commercial Airbus carrying 290 people from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to Dubai. The news agency said all aboard were presumed dead. The two U.S. missiles were fired by USS Vincennes, an Aegis class cruiser equipped with sophisticated radar and missiles. The current 9,600-ton Vincennes was the third in a new class of guided missile Aegis-type cruisers and was christened April 14, 1984, at Pascagoula, Miss., and commisioned on July 6, 1985. It was the fourth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name of Vincennes. The first was commissioned in 1826 and assigned to service in the Pacific. It was decommissioned in 1867. Association member Gene Thurmond, 65, of Evansville, served on the second USS Vincennes, a heavy cruiser commissioned in 1937 and sunk by Japanese cruisers in 1942. A light cruiser named for Vincennes was commissioned in 1944 and received six battle stars for service in World War II before it was decommissioned in September 1946. Thurmond said he met the captain of the newest ship, Capt. Will C. Rogers III, at an association meeting in Vincennes in August. ``I met the skipper last summer and he's a real captain and level-headed and I think he did the proper thing,'' he said. The association's 500 members meet annually in Vincennes to reminisce about their years of service and pay tribute to the dead, said Vincennes liaison officer and honorary member, Bill Toth, 64. Members of the association were considering a tribute to the 290 people who were killed. ``There's no way of rectifying this kind of situation, so all we can do is remember these people,'' Toth said. ``Our prayers and those of the commuity are with the ship's commander and crew members.'' ``From what I've heard about the ship, it's like everybody on it is family and they're trying to be the best in the Navy,'' Toth said. ``But, as this incident shows, that can be good and bad.'' ``It's a hard situation today. Until all the knews came in it was hard to really understand what happened over there,'' said Toth. ``We have such a close tie to the ship and its personnel, we regret the situation that happened as far as the civilians involved.'' ``But the captain defended the ship and did what he thought was best for the personnel,'' he added.
The Iranian Republic News Agency announced that an Iranian Air Airbus flying a scheduled flight from Bandar Abbas to Dubai had been shot down, and all 290 on board were presumed dead. The commercial airliner was destroyed by missiles fired from the USS Vincennes Aegis-type cruiser. The Vincennes is the fourth vessel to carry the name of the city of Indiana. The Vincennes Organization is made up of sailors who had served on earlier ships of that name. Members of the organization, speaking out only a day after the shootdown, voiced strong support for the crew of the Vincennes.