The swaggering bravado of Iran’s ‘Gunboat Admiral ‘ Ali Fadavi
Once again the world is being treated to an outburst of swaggering bravado by another Muslim military leader, this time an Iranian admiral who seems naïve in the extreme when it comes to the realities of modern combat. According to Military Times:
Fadavi was quoted Tuesday by the semi-official Fars news agency as saying the immense size of the U.S. carriers makes them an “easy target.” He said contingency plans to target American carriers are a priority for the Guard’s naval forces.
Fadavi is Revolutionary Guards admiral, Ali Fadavi, and we can probably forgive him for his foolish braggadocio which arose out of an explanation of the huge, mock-up carrier the Iranians have been busily constructing at Bandar Abbas, apparently for target practice. Less forgivable is Military Times’ gullibility in describing the Admiral’s Guard as “powerful Revolutionary Guard,” and “hard-line guard’s naval forces,” reminding us of how the breathless Western media predicted that coalition forces might meet their match in Iraq in Saddam Hussein’s “powerful” and ‘elite” Republican Guards. Yeah well, if memory fails you, do what the Admiral seriously needs to do and Google, “What happened to Republican Guards?” Here’s but one example.
This gunboat admiral should spend some time reviewing Web images of Iraq’s elite forces after a few days of being the primary targets of the coalition air forces. Before the ground war even commenced, the Air Force was claiming that it had destroyed or degraded beyond fighting capability all but a couple dozen of the Guard’s 800 plus tanks. It’s seriously doubtful that the admiral has anywhere near 800 gunboats and even if he should, gunboats on the water can’t be hidden in towns, under bridges or parked among innocent civilians the way Saddam’s Republican Guards so futilely tried to save their tanks. Those gunboats are hanging out there fully exposed.
Should they pose the slightest threat to the heart of a carrier strike group, the Hornets’ nest, so to speak, Admiral Fadavi and his “elite fleet” are going to learn the bitter lesson that the admiral’s characterization of U.S. carriers as “easy targets” might be a bit off-target and that they themselves have become the easy targets of the thousands of lethal stingers pouring into them from not only the dozens of angry Hornets but also the bristling, protective firepower of the other naval vessels securing the carrier’s perimeter. Even the smallest of these ships carry lethal arrays of missiles and mount computerized weapons like Phalanx Close-In Weapons System, a 20 millimeter Gatling gun which can chop a gunboat to pieces at a rate of 4500 explosive shells per minute. Phalanx is also a tested defense against any anti-ship missiles the soon-to-be-gone gunboats might launch before they’re obliterated.
The overly optimistic admiral might want to consult one of Saddam’s Republican Guards’ generals about such public preening and posturing before the battle:
If he can find one still around…
Crossposted at American Thinker
Category: Terror War
Aww… Aren’t they so cute when they try to act all big and tough?
Sit down kid. They grownups are busy.
The Jacques Clouseau of Iraq.
Admiral Fadavi, you might find these helpful should your naval forces take up battle with ours:
http://www.workboatsinternational.com/glass-bottom-boats-for-sale.html
It would make a review of your fleet much easier in the aftermath.
All you need do is look at their engagements if you could call them that with the Navy in the 80’s. The one thing they do have going for them is sea mines and the ability to make shipping a mess while mines are cleared.
Nah, I saw it all in a movie once. Carriers are only equipped to defend themselves against other big ships, and to compound that weakness they always sail entirely alone. One tiny gunboat could easily slip past its defenses, sail down its long undefended trench, and drop a proton torpedo into its nuclear exhaust port.
Excellent! 😀
Don’t forget, the Navy is also starting to deploy lasers.
Yep, freaking ships with lasers.
http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=80172
high speed rail guns, too.
Iran is dumping a great deal of sewge into the Persian Gulf near Bandar Abbas, and probably a lot of other, more toxic wastes as well. I’m sure they think they can do whatever because ain’t nobody gonna stop ’em.
Yeah, well, when you build a mockup out of plywood and it tilts (lists) to one side while you’re looking at it, it’s not particularaly impressive.
I have stuff to do, but I can take a few minutes to survey the gunships and troop choppers at the Isfahan airfields. I think that’s where they build them.
They also have worse dumps for trash than ours every place you go, and it is not a pretty sight when you can see that stuff from space.
As long as we dont hamstring our Captains with ROEs that make us die before we can fight back…
I second that, remember the USS Cole? I heard they weren’t even allowed to have weapons on deck there and then, and a M2 .50 cal MG being manned by a Gunner that knew what to do could have smoked that turkey at 700-1500 meters, and 17 more Sailors would be alive today. But alas, when Politicians like B. Hussein 0bama & Company can grandstand on the coffins of dead Servicemen and Women, they will, and without a second thought.
I’ve got two words for this sucker: Damage Control.
Not to sound defeatist or anything but some years ago a wargame was held regarding a similar scenario. A Marine Corps general was commanding the Iranian side and he wreaked havoc on the American fleet until the leaders of the game called a halt to it. They then imposed rules which took away much of the general’s power. I believe the game leaders said something to the effect that the Iranians would never fight like that and when they restarted the game, the American fleet prevailed. My point is, that we really don’t know what the Iranians would do and we may take some terrible losses before we win.
You must be referring to LtGen Paul Van Riper during “Millennium Challenge 2002”.
That sounds right. I seem to remember everyone at the exercise was pretty shocked at what he did to the fleet in the Persian Gulf in such a short time and they reset the exercise to the beginning and gave him rules of engagement from then on.
The real problem is our current administration is perceived (and rightly so) as so weak and ineffectual that tin pot dictators the world over are feeling their oats. After Obozo draws “red lines” and then does nothing, scolds Russia but does nothing and continues to dismantle our military, I can see why Iran feels like saber rattling.
The Iranians can only fantasize about hitting our carriers. The Chinese, on the other hand…. They want a blue water, force projection navy and are well on the way to it. Give them 20 years. We won’t be the only ones with carrier battle groups roaming around. Sadly, by then the lack of strategic foresight now (canceling naval construction left and right and cutting the number of active carriers) will quickly become a huge problem. Not a navy man, just a army medical type who pays attention.
I would have reenlisted if we went to war with Iran. I can’t think of a more deserving gaggle of scumfuck that needs a lead diet.
“gaggle of scumfuck that needs a lead diet”
You win, sir. You win all the internets today.
Hmm… I bet our fearless leaders are worried about hurting these guy’s feelings, so they’d probably let them destroy a few of our carriers so that they can feel good about themselves. They sure as shit don’t care how us Americans feel.
Is this the same navy that set sail for the east coast and had to turn around?
I think it was just a widely announced propaganda move on their part, they never left their teritorial waters.
I said this elsewhere yesterday but, it bears repeating. Since most of the people alive on August 8, 1945 are either dead or too young to remember, perhaps the world needs another demonstration of the power of an atomic bomb. Just to reiterate what can happen when you attack the United States of America. If anyone in the world today deserves a dose of Atomic whoopass it is the Iranians. Absolutely nobody would miss them. Nobody who counts that is.
Just make it the right target(s).
Mecca or Medina, either one.
If you’re gonna go, go BIG!!
For admiral whatshisnuts. You don’t know what you don’t know until you find out you don’t know it.
The US Navy hasnt been fully unleashed on an enemy since WW2. Given enough supplies A single US Carrier group could pound Iran indefinately from The Med or Indian Ocean. The only thing that would draw it out would be the limits on the ammount of ordinance the aircrat could carry.
If it was unleashed, the US Navy by itself could compltetely destroy the ofensive military capability and infrastructure of Iran.
The Iranian Military reminds me of the Bullies in MTV’s old show “Bully Beatdown”.
In Show after show they would bring in some punk who thought they were the toughest guy in the world because they were able to get away with bluffing and picking on smaller weaker guys in their nieghborhood.
Even when told they would have to face a professional MMA fighter they bluffed and blustered. They had seen MMA fights and knew perfectly what MMA fighters could do. Somehow, they were so egotistical they could not phathom they were getting in way over their head.
Within seconds of the match beginning they would be made aware of just how inept they were. The MMA fighter would toy with them, inflicting pain and humiliation and beating them badly.
BLUF:
I have 3 Persian Gulf tours from 1981 – 1989. We can do it all over again Iran if you want us to …
The only thing that might concern me (besides the mines) would be those three Kilo boats they have.
Hell, it might take a 688 or Virginia class a few hours to find them and send them to a (albeit shallow) watery grave.
I suspect (speaking from a position of semi-ignorance) they would be easier to spot from the air or by satellite.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/LE13Ad01.html
I’m envisioning the action between the Iranian Navy and the US Navy to go something like this:
Kickboxer meets former Marine.