USS Missouri at War in the Gulf
At 0140 (1:40 a.m.) on January 17, 1991, USS Missouri was first battleship to fire Tomahawk cruise missile at Iraqi targets as Operation Desert Storm commenced.
USS Missouri successfully launched 27 Tomahawk cruise missiles, bombarded Iraqi defenses in occupied Kuwait with 112 16-inch rounds and then fired another 60 rounds off Khafji before steaming north to near Faylaka Island where the Missouri fired another 133 16-inch rounds as part of an amphibious landing feint. Iraqi forces responded by firing a Silkworm missile at the Battleship, shot down by the HMS Gloucester. The USS Missouri then conducted patrol and armistice enforcement operations in the northern Persian Gulf before sailing for home on March 21, 1991.
