I’m not military so I have a question. If they took all the GPS and maps, etc. so there was no proof left on the boat, and they were under the supervision of a larger craft, wouldn’t the larger craft know exactly where the smaller craft were at all times. It seems the military would have proof where the boats were seized. But then again like I said I’m an old grandma without military experience.
As a former Surface Warfare Officer who operated in that area, albeit decades ago, I can make several observations.
1.) Some higher echelon in the US Navy knew where those boats were at all times.
2.) The Iranians knew where those boats were at all time.
3.) If a US craft violated the sovereign territory of Iran the Iranians are absolutely justified in seizing the craft and the crew.
4.) If the Iranians seized a US craft in International Waters it would be an act of war and responded to as such immediately.
Which leads me to conclude the small boats were in territorial waters and knew it.
Other observations:
The small boats had empty gun mounts. There were SAW’s mounted but no M2’s. This leads me to conclude the boats were in transit. As I recall SAW’s are small arms and stay with the vessel but in the USN 50’s are in a higher class of weapon and kept aboard whatever was tending the boats.
Allegedly one boat lost propulsion. It has two diesels so the most likely culprit would have been a fuel issue of some kind.
However, those craft have the gear and the crew has the training to take the other one in tow, which raises a host of questions, in my view, of why that was not done. So either that Lieutenant in charge is in a world of hurt, or this was an attempt at gauging Iranian capabilities and responses.