“Likewise, the Russians like to shift our GPS coords now and again, just for grins. “
Your compass swings while sailing. It’s never as precise as GPS, so it is frequently dissed when GPS is available.
GPS jamming of the small riverine craft would likely have been noticed by our nearby carrier task force, however, and would *certainly* have been in the SigInt haul of the NSA (even if a small local disturbance was in play).
Moreover, jamming the *communications* of the riverine craft would have been noticed. No question that the carrier task force on the one hand and the NSA with entirely different assets would have noticed com jammers.
In fact, if the GPS and communications jamming went unnoticed, then *we* have an even bigger problem than the capture of 2 craft and 10 servicemen.
Of course, there may not have been any jamming. The 2 craft may have gone where ordered.
Or the 2 craft may have been led by an idiot who didn’t know how to sail. Happens.
They managed to get close to Farsi Island (Iranian military base), however, so their path doesn’t *appear* to be a coincidental example of randomly poor navigation skills.
My best *guess* at this moment is that the 2 riverine craft were extraction units.
If we learn of some SpecOps who “died in training accidents” in the next month, then our guys didn’t make it out of Farsi Island.
And if we hear of no training accidents in the next month, then I’d expect that our guys got out...perhaps not with *that* extraction team, though.