YORKTOWN, Va. (AP) - In the early days of World War II, Ray Duley and his shipmates on the USS Vincennes didn’t think much about the future. “You took it day by day,” the Yorktown resident said.

On 3 July 1988, a sophisticated US Navy warship, the USS Vincennes, shot down an Iranian civilian airliner flying over the Persian Gulf. All 290 on board the aircraft were killed, among them 66 ...