DATE: Sunday, July 27, 1997                 TAG: 9707270091

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                      LENGTH:   57 lines

NAVY PROBES SHOTS FIRED NEAR SCALLOP BOAT OFF EASTERN SHORE TRAWLER CREWMEN KNOCKED OFF THEIR FEET BY BLAST FROM DESTROYER'S SHELLS.

The Navy is investigating the firing of four artillery shells that exploded near a scallop boat, engulfing it in smoke and knocking crewmen off their feet.

The shots were fired from the guided-missile destroyer Laboon during a routine training exercise July 15, the Navy said. It is unclear why the ship fired so near the fishing boat.

``By definition, if boats are in the area, we don't fire,'' Chief Petty Officer Paul Brown, spokesman for the Navy's Atlantic Surface Force, told the Daily Press of Newport News.

Brown said that before firing can begin, the target area is scanned by radar and by shipboard personnel using binoculars.

However, any such precautions taken July 15 failed to prevent the Laboon's shells from landing near the 86-foot scallop trawler Divine Mercy. Another trawler, the Miss Amanda, also was in the area.

Both trawler skippers said they knew they were in an area commonly used for firing exercises, about 62 miles from land near Virginia's Eastern Shore. But they said in the past, the Navy has warned them when an exercise was to begin.

This time, there was no warning, they said. ``Those people were using me for a target,'' said Albert Mendiola, 61, the Divine Mercy's captain.

The Coast Guard's weekly listing of planned Navy firing exercises does not include the area where the trawlers were fishing. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Raymond Massey said the nearest ``hot zones'' on the list were three to four miles west and south of where the scallopers say they were fishing.

Mendiola said he was in the galley when the first shell exploded in the water to the left of his boat. He stepped out to investigate and saw gray smoke.

Another explosion occurred within seconds, he said. This one was in the water about 50 feet from the right side of the Divine Mercy. It knocked Mendiola and two crew members off their feet, he said, and smoke engulfed the boat.

Mendiola got on his radio and broadcast a ``mayday.''

Another blast erupted behind the boat, and a fourth one in the front. ``I'm thanking the good Lord that I'm still alive. I thought we were goners,'' Mendiola said.

The Miss Amanda, responding to the mayday call, was headed toward the Divine Mercy when skipper Irving Peed saw the second shot hit. The last shot exploded between the trawlers' bows.

Brown said that as soon as the Laboon's crew heard the mayday broadcast, it stopped firing and headed toward the scallopers.

Peed and Mendiola said the destroyer and a helicopter arrived shortly after the shooting stopped. They said someone aboard the Laboon questioned them, but didn't indicate that the Laboon had done the shooting.

Mendiola blames the blast for shaking rust loose in oil-cooling pipes underneath the boat, clogging filters and causing the engine to overheat. He returned to Newport News on July 18 to have the filters cleaned and the boat inspected at a cost of about $8,000.

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