In October 1983 USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) was diverted to Beirut, Lebanon from her planned Indian Ocean deployment, after the Beirut barracks bombing killed 241 US Military personnel taking part in the Multinational Force in Lebanon, and spent the rest of that year and early 1984 patrolling the region. On 4 December, in response to two US F-14 aircraft havng been fired upon the previous day, ten A-6 Intruders of VA-85 "Black Falcons" along with A-6 and A-7 Corsair aircraft from USS Independence (CV-62) took part in a bombing raid over Beirut.