U.S. Aegis destroyer was operating around Iraq when refueled by SDF

   The U.S. Aegis destroyer Paul Hamilton was taking part in the “Operation Southern Watch (OSW)” mission in Iraq when it was refueled by Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force supply ship Tokiwa in February 2003, according to information found on U.S. Navy websites.

   The Defense Ministry on October 10 confirmed that the Tokiwa supplied the Paul Hamilton with fuel in the Gulf of Oman on February 25, 2003.

   The Paul Hamilton was operating in and around the Indian Ocean from August 2002 to April 2003 as part of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group.

   The carrier strike group was initially assigned to take part in the “war on terrorism” (Operation Enduring Freedom) and OSW until January 2003, but its mission was extended in order to continuously participate in OSW as well as to support the Iraq war (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and the subsequent U.S. occupation of Iraq.

   The Paul Hamilton took part in the Iraq war that began on March 20, 2003. The captain of the Aegis destroyer in a CNN interview on April 26 that year said that it fired about 60 tomahawk missiles into Iraq, acknowledging that it launched the largest number of missiles among warships taking part in the Iraq war.

- Akahata, October 13, 2007