Editing Bell OH-58 Kiowa (section)

===Operation Prime Chance===
During early 1988, it was decided that armed OH-58D (AHIP) helicopters from the 118th Aviation Task Force would be phased in to replace the SEABAT ([[MH-6 Little Bird|AH-6/MH-6]]) teams of [[160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment|Task Force 160th]] to carry out [[Operation Prime Chance]], the escort of oil tankers during the [[Iran–Iraq War]]. On 24 February 1988, two AHIP helicopters reported to the Mobile Sea Base Wimbrown VII, and the helicopter team ("SEABAT" team after their callsign) stationed on the barge returned to the United States. For the next few months, the AHIP helicopters on the Wimbrown VII shared patrol duties with the SEABAT team on the Hercules. Coordination proved difficult, despite frequent requests from TF-160, the SEABAT team on the Hercules was not replaced by an AHIP detachment until June 1988.<ref name="160-1">{{cite web |url= http://www.nightstalkers.com/history/4.html |archive-url= https://archive.today/20020615003730/http://www.nightstalkers.com/history/4.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 15 June 2002 |title= Operations EARNEST WILL and PRIME CHANCE |access-date= 25 March 2007 |work= Night Stalker History}}</ref> The OH-58D helicopter crews involved in the operation received deck landing and underwater survival training from the Navy.

In November 1988, the number of OH-58D helicopters that supported Task Force 118 was reduced. However, the rotorcraft continued to operate from the Navy's Mobile Sea Base ''Hercules'', the frigate ''[[USS Underwood (FFG-36)|Underwood]]'', and the destroyer ''[[USS Conolly (DD-979)|Conolly]]''. OH-58D operations primarily entailed reconnaissance flights at night, and depending on maintenance requirements and ship scheduling, Army helicopters usually rotated from the mobile sea base and other combatant ships to a land base every seven to fourteen days. On 18 September 1989, an OH-58D crashed during night gunnery practice and sank, but with no loss of personnel. When the Mobile Sea Base Hercules was deactivated in September 1989, all but five OH-58D helicopters redeployed to the continental United States.<ref name="cmh-1">{{cite book |chapter-url= http://www.history.army.mil/books/DAHSUM/1989/CH6.htm |chapter= 6. Operations |title= Department of the Army Historical Summary, 1989 |url= http://www.history.army.mil/books/DAHSUM/1989/Index.htm#TOC |publisher= [[United States Army Center of Military History]] |year= 1998 |first= Vincent H. |last= Demma |access-date= 25 March 2007 |id= CMH Pub 101-21 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071214152047/http://www.history.army.mil/books/DAHSUM/1989/Index.htm#TOC |archive-date= 14 December 2007 |url-status= dead}}</ref>