The Navy announced Friday that 15 crew members of the USS Vincennes, the cruiser that shot down an Iranian jetliner in the Persian Gulf last summer, will be disciplined for drug abuse. ``There is no connection now to the July 3 incident in the Persian Gulf to what has happened on board the Vincennes,'' said Navy Cmdr. David Dillon, spokesman for Pacific Fleet Surface Force headquarters. The Vincennes, meanwhile, will be shifted to Long Beach Naval Shipyard within five weeks for modifications to correct deficiencies in the Aegis electronic combat control system, The (San Diego) Tribune reported Friday. Aegis, which would enable a ship like the Vincennes to make computer-recommended battle decisions for entire fleets, was found flawed in the Persian Gulf confrontation. According to Pentagon analysts, split-second decisions were affected by the inability of radar-scope interpreters to immediately match the plane's ``blip'' with digital direction, altitude and speed information displayed on another screen. Those problems are one reason the Vincennes will undergo modernization, an unidentified source told The Tribune. None of the sailors involved in the drug sweep were in positions that may have influenced the decision by Capt. Will C. Rogers III to fire two anti-aircraft missiles at the jetliner, Dillon said. All 290 aboard the plane died. Of the 15 sailors, six are being processed for discharge from the Navy, while six others have been given warnings, Dillon said. ``Three are petty officers who are being investigated for possible court-martial in connection with drug sales,'' he said. Dillon noted that the 15 sailors represent 3.9 percent of the 384 sailors on board. ``That is less than the 5.4 percent average for the entire Navy,'' he said. The announcement came as preparations were under way at the Naval Station San Diego for Saturday's change of command aboard the Vincennes. Rogers will be rotated to a new assignment at the Navy's Tactical Training Group in San Diego. The new Vincennes commander is Capt. Robert B. Lynch, who had been stationed in Washington, D.C., and is assuming his fifth sea command. Rogers and his wife, Sharon, have been under guard by the Naval Investigative Service since a pipe bomb exploded under the family van Mrs. Rogers was driving to her teaching job March 10 in La Jolla. She escaped injury. The FBI is investigating the attack as possible terrorist retaliation for the airliner's destruction.
The Navy is preparing to discipline 290 members of the crew of Vincennes on drug abuse charges. None of the 15 was in a position to influence the decision of Rogers when he ordered the shootdown of an Vincennes airliner in Saturday . The Navy also announced that the Vincennes would be sent to the Long Beach Naval Shipyard so deficiencies in the Aegis Electronic Combat Control System could be corrected. The Aegis was designed to make computer driven decisions for an entire fleet, but its performance in the Persian Gulf did not meet expectations.