I was aboard the USS Independence at the time of the attack/bombing of the Marine barracks October 23rd 1983. We were 2 days from arriving off the coast of Grenada, heading south from Norfolk Virginia. I was part of Attack Squadron 87 (A-7E Corsair II's).
We had left port approx. a week earlier, and our destination was the Mediterranean Sea....what was know as bagel station. Most of the smarter sailors who understand basic navigation noticed after a few days the ship was heading more south than east. About 4-5 days into our journey south, the Captain Announce and confirmed we were heading south, and that orders from President Regan Had changed, and that we were to prepare the aircraft to support our troops invading Grenada. He told us the weather was expected to be very rough, and that we were using a tropical storm for cover, and would arrive the next morning.
The purpose was to secure an airfield, that was being used to fly guns into South America ( see Iran–Contra affair for more). During the strong storm, one of our hanger bay doors was damaged so bad that we could not get it opened, and had to maneuver the planes around the flight deck and hanger bay, which got frustrating at times.
We heard through the scuttle-butt network on the ship, about the Barracks Bombing the day we began bombing the Grenada Air field. For the most part, Grenada attack was more like bombing practice, then anything else. For the most part, it seemed routine until those planes came back with only wires hanging off the bomb racks. Then realization hit...we are at war!!! I believe the entire Island had one anti-aircraft gun, and it was never used. In less then a week, we were finish with Grenada, and for the next 2 weeks, we were steaming in an easterly direction. Some of the older sailors, who had experienced Vietnam, were drawing cartoons on some of the bombs, as they were being loaded.
A few days before we reached "The Rock of Gibraltar", to enter the Mediterranean Sea, we took on more supplies. Because we had diverted to Grenada, we had missed our underway replenishment, and had used much of what we had in bombs during the week in Grenada, this was necessary before arriving in the Mediterranean Sea. Once our Carrier (CV-62) had passed through Gibraltar, we were given our mission, "Prepare for Alpha Strike".
For the next 24 hours, any aircraft capable of flying, was configured with multiple bomb racks,. Every aircraft was loaded with maximum bomb loads, and light on the fuel. The idea was to get them off the flight deck with as much ordinance capable, without going over gross, and then refuel them in the air.
We launched before the sun was up, and recovering the aircraft got interesting. Some didn't make it back to our ship. Our aircraft made it back, some with bullet holes, giving you an instant weird feeling of fright. There was one aircraft that a Surface to Air Missile took off the tail cone. The poor pilot had to be the last aircraft we recovered on the flight deck, because we didn't know the integrity of the tail hook structure. We set up the arresting gear barrier, and watch the pilot catch a hook, and plow into a barrier stopping him, as if it was a textbook carrier landing.
The retaliation lasted one day. Not much of one at that. VP George Bush arrived at the barracks 3 days after the blast. This was VP George Bush's first political hand in middle east dealings, and surely had a lot to do with United States policy with Iran, Iraq, and Syria.
= new reply since forum marked as read