The whole thing smells like a ‘setup’. Just another dirty trick.
I served for 22 months on a USCG patrol boat during WW2-—at one point we were assigned to anti-submarine patrols off the East Coast-—we always were 2 boat patrols to help if a sub was spotted and in case of mechanical problems so one boat could tow the other if needed——that was 70 odd years ago and I would think the same precautions would be part of modern Naval ops——it is my personal opinion that these boats were delivering something Obumbo and Kerry wanted to hide from media view-(note-couple of days later our prisoners are released, giving about4-5 for one)-—just my 02 cents and past experience