On July 24, 1987 — seven years into the Iran-Iraq war and during what is generally called the Tanker War phase of the maritime conflict — the Kuwaiti supertanker Bridgeton, recently reflagged under U.S. registry as part of Operation Earnest Will, struck an Iranian-laid sea mine near Farsi Island during the first U.

S.-escorted convoy. The mine punched a hole in her starboard bow but the vessel did not sink — Bridgeton was a very large crude carrier of nearly a quarter million deadweight tons, and her bulk absorbed the explosion.

She continued to Kuwait under her own power. The U.S.

Navy escort vessels accompanying her had no minesweeping capability and were forced to follow Bridgeton's wake on the gamble that her bulk had cleared the immediate route ahead. The Tanker War (Iraqi attacks on Iranian shipping began in 1981-82; large-scale two-sided maritime conflict intensified in 1984-88, peaking in 1986-88) eventually saw approximately 540 commercial vessels damaged per Lloyd's of London tabulation, with roughly 430 civilian sailors killed — by Iraqi air-launched anti-ship missiles, Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy small-boat raids, mines from both sides, and occasional submarine actions.