Iranians feel froggy
On Tuesday, according to Fox News, four boats of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps harassed two US Navy ships.
The USS Nitze was accompanied by the guided missile destroyer USS Mason on what the official described as a “routine transit” in international waters at the time of the incident.
As the Iranian ships closed in, the official said the Nitze attempted to make radio contact 12 times with no response. As the Iranian ships continued their approach, the destroyer sounded five short blasts on its whistle, an international danger signal.
The official said the Nitze was ultimately forced to change its course to avoid the Iranian ships, despite coming close to offshore oil rigs.
Reuters reports that Wednesday, three more boats from Iran approached a US Navy ship, prompting the US Navy to fire warning shots;
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said three warning shots were fired from a .50 caliber gun after warning flares did not work.
The incident started with three Iranian vessels, but there was only one Iranian vessel around by the time the warning shots were fired, the official said.
The official added that at one point an Iranian vessel came within 200 yards (193 meters) of a U.S. ship.
Business Insider says that it was USS Squall, a coastal patrol ship, which fired on the Iranians.
Feeling froggy, the Iranians released a statement today, according to Townhall;
Iran is standing strong in its defense of the Persian Gulf, declaring on Thursday that “if any foreign vessel enters our waters, we warn them, and if it’s an invasion, we confront.”
Nothing that can’t be handled by a James Taylor concert, I’m sure.
Thanks to AW1Ed for the Reuters link.
Category: Terror War
They were probably just coming along side to see if the Navy had any “Grey Poupon”. You know because with that 1.3 billion that our oh so glorious leader just donated to their cause, they still can’t afford to buy their own, you know.
In 1996 we had a run-in my Battle Group had a run-in with the Iranians. In fact one of those bastards ran into one of our ships, I believe it was the Gettysburg. (it was, found article)
Damage was done to the deck edge safety netting, and some structure near the small flight deck.
You know one of the spookiest things is going through the Straits of Hormuz…knowing those Fire Control Radars for Silkworm missiles are painting your home (USS Enterprise).
http://www.cnn.com/US/9610/13/briefs.pm/ship.collision/index.html?_s=PM:US
USS Cole comes to mind. Closing to within 200 yards is fairly close.
Close enough for the .50 to rake the decks.
Sink a few of them and this shit will stop mosh skosh rikki tick.
We never learn from experience or death. This shit is easily remedied if we had leadership with some balls.
What ARE those chicken noises I hear coming from Foggy Bottom?
You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Ex!
Would somebody please blow a few of these SOBs out of the water. They’re like freakin’ mosquitoes. There is no reasoning with mosquitoes. They want your blood so you kill them dead. That’s all. No debate. No regret.
Perfect analogy!
How long before they try to shut down commercial traffic in the Persian Gulf?
Think it won’t happen? Hah! You children are so funny!
They may try, but it won’t happen. This isn’t news, and it isn’t new. The US Navy, who I love to hate, has been keeping the global commons open for trade since WWII, and a few Iranian patrol boats (Navy Crosses Waiting to Happen) won’t change that. The US Navy is more powerful than all of the worlds navies combined. That is not bragging.
This incident, much like the incidents in the Baltic, are staged for internal consumption. The Iranians know that if they launch a Zafar they are done, even if it connects. More importantly, the entire world knows this.
The Iranians are doing what’s called Operational Preparation- they are swarming our ships so they get used to it, so on the day they want to start the war they can get close enough to launch an ASM. Pretty smart.
In reality, that destroyer was tracking those boats long before they could launch a missile. Any attack radar or missile launch would have garnered a fairly significant amount of scunion from our warship.
Our ship could have reduced the Iranian boats to an oil slick and some floating cans of hummus in a few minutes if we wanted to. However, if we were to start a shooting war at sea with Iran we are the bad guys. The world will ask us to stop being bullies and we will back off.
If Iran starts it, the entire Iranian navy will be at the bottom of the Persian Gulf in about 30 minutes (45 if it goes down while the guys are watching ‘Top Gun’ on CCTV; they will want to wait for the part where Meg Ryan says ‘take me bed or lose me forever’)
Harry Houdini, the greatest showman ever to ply the trade, to the Iranian Navy…
Poof… You’re a pile of shit !!!
It’s a, “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” scenario.
We used to play tag with another Navy back 30-40 years ago. Action, reaction.
Problem is, back then we had leadership our enemies knew would only stand for so much of this bullshit before a few oil platforms went up in smoke.
Do they make a canister or beehive round for those 5-inch naval guns?
Seems that would make quite an impression on a bunch of assholes in a Boston whaler.
That’s overkill; just cut loose on ’em with a couple of those 25mm chain guns…
One little burst at the waterline and say g’night, Dick
There’s a couple of other options besides the .50 cal and the 25mm.
The 5 inch gun has the Variable Time (VT)frag rounds.
The Block 1B CIWS can be used against surface craft too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdp9llrBLnA
This sparring match has gone on for quite a while. Operation Prime Chance has continued in one form or another since the late 80’s.
The Arabs and Persians are very big on posturing for their population (interpret that as adult males).
They considering this fuck-fuck games as “counting coup” on the Great Satan.
Pretty sure that deep down the leaders of the military who has some professional knowledge of cababilities know how quick things can go South if they pole the bear.
They are smart enough to know not to say anything in public because their career would be over.
I’m sorry but we need to work out our issues with these people. They are the one currently taking it to terrorist factions.
200 yards and ROE must say, “No Threat. No Go.”. I say the Sea Wiz should have been deployed and never spoke about it again. “What boats? We never saw any boats.”
Fantastic. 9600 ton and 9200 ton displacement cruisers cowed by a dingy with a hard-point. Way to project force/presence. The Chihuahua owned the Rottweiler.
Go old-school.
Set up a tebuchet on the deck of each of our combatant vessels.
Load the day’s garbage and other foul stuff into a frangible but non-buoyant container. If approached, deploy the system. If not approached, target practice on some bit of flotsam.
Just a nearby splash should discourage close approaches. A hit would be…. Spectacular.
Range can be -huge- if the trebuchet is properly constructed. Roman ships used catapult systems to firebomb and bolder-ize enemy ships.
That sound like it would be fun to watch, but I have no patience so I’ll stick with dropping some HE in their lap.
The POS CinC is where I lay blame for us being the laughing stock of the world and looking like a bunch of pussies. He fundamentally changed us alright!
There is method to my suggestion.
Sinking an enemy warship with gunnery is naval combat.
Sinking (or just stinking) a tarted-up bass boat is about as far from an “honoroable combat” as you can get.
They understand humiliation as well as submission. Don’t give the pricks the satisfaction of treating them like peers or combatants.
Hard to call someone a “martyr” when they get sunk (or just splashed) by a 500 pound jug of semi-liquid plumbing waste, kitchen scraps, and assorted junk.
They are seeking -pride-. Attack -that-.
And make sure there’s a lot of pork fat in the kitchen scraps!