Posted on 04/22/2020 9:40:46 AM PDT by USA Conservative
Nearly a dozen Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy vessels sailed out Wednesday to harass a collection of US Navy and Coast Guard vessels conducting operations in international waters, the US 5th Fleet said in a statement accompanied by a collection of photos.
At the time of the incident, the Navy expeditionary mobile base vessel USS Lewis B. Puller, the destroyer USS Paul Hamilton, and patrol ships USS Firebolt and USS Sirocco, together with the Coast Guard cutters USCGC Wrangell and USCGC Maui, were carrying out joint operations with Army AH-64E Apache attack helicopters in the Persian Gulf.
Trump decided to respond.
The President said he authorized the US Navy to “destroy” any Iranian gunboats if they hound American vessels.
“I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea,” the president said in a tweet on Wednesday, without providing more details.
Demonstrative video filmed during several military exercises shows how the US Navy would react to the famous Iranian fast-attack boats also known under the name fast attack crafts.
The reaction comes via the greetings of MK 38 M242 Bushmaster canons, M2 machine guns, and close-in weapon systems.
Video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFKGFHH2L6o&feature=emb_title
Another video that confirms the U.S. naval power:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-0sC3wSg-w&feature=emb_title
The US ships had been conducting military exercises in that section of the Persian Gulf.
Tensions have been elevated in the Persian Gulf region since last year after Iran attacked a Saudi oil installation, shot down a US surveillance drone, and boarded several international ships.
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They do exist but they are costly. Ammo for small cannons and machine guns is cheap.
One “smart” shell versus 10,000 dumb bullets? Where’s the economic cross-over point?
I can see the logic of giving sailors shooting practice with dumb bullets, though. That’s an area where you don’t want OJT to be the rule of the day.
Plywood gives a poor radar return. And there is no one in the pod to act as a backup when the target is a fuzzy blob on the screen, even if the targeting computer is working correctly, and an electrical connection hasn't been jarred loose by an RPG impact. Is there even such a thing as a visual target director, any more? Not for a Mach 4 incoming vampire, but a jihadi in a CrisCraft?
It would be sorta nice to have a FLIR system, hooked to a screen, and some gunner that can override the targeting to take out close in surface traffic. It might be worthy of a news story to watch a US Navy ship in harbor, and the CWIS pods are tracking passing pleasure craft... Just for practice...
After Pearl Harbor, it was apparent that the US Navy had blown off damage control as a vital training drill. With modern systems, does a captain unplug a vital component, and THEN have a Damage Control drill?
Better radar today & better signal processing but false positives are still a fact of life.
* The navy has also been developing laser weapons, which would be ideal for this application. *
There *might* be a pre-production model of the ODIN laser system in the Gulf right now, but until the Flight III Burke destroyers start appearing in commission only 1 or 2 destroyers coming out of refit will have them. I’ve seen reports that USS Dewey (DDG-105) is equipped with ODIN. But the Gulf is a big place and the Iranians will have the advantage of choosing their initial targets and the timing of the attack.
My battle station was first loader on a 5"-38 naval gun. While we never fired a shot in anger (I served 1961-64; my "war" was the Cuban Missile Crisis) we did drill from time to time. At sea when we drilled for battle our targets were 55 gallon steel drums with one end weighted and a sheet of radar reflective metal standing up on the other end. A tiny target from a half mile or more. Not a moving target, though. But most shots (radar directed or "seat of the pants") hit close enough that a small vessel would have been damaged.
Seems to me that what we should be using are cluster shells.
That one's above my pay grade!
Well, when the navy and general dynamics were developing this system, a phalanx sucessfully hit a drone at approx 2500 feet from the test platform, then proceded to vary its aim until all the pieces decending were broken down into about 6 inch chunks. so imagine an airplane that was just hit the gun keeps firing until there are small chunks and a pilot hanging from a parachute. major pucker factor. and, yes there are manual target designaters.
Is it capable of other uses? Can it depress enough to hit a small boat, close aboard, say within 100 yards, in a port? Can it's radar pick out a plywood or even rubber boat in heavy seas with spoofed returns? A visually aimed system can, and without spray-n-pray expending ammo.
And to ADVERTISE this, so that some Iranian sailor KNOWS that if he gets within range, he's going to be unidentified flaked fish food. One BRRT! and he's a greasy spreading slick on the ocean.
Knowing is a powerful deterrent. To KNOW that some 19 year old infidel gets all tickly in the nethers at the thought of minced Iranian. You don't tug on Superman's cape...
Can A-10 Warthogs be launched from a carrier? The Warthos would make them pay. Sink everyone of them. Go Navy.
Warthogs. I got big fingers.
Try searching youtube, “phalanx”.
Try searching youtube, “phalanx”.
****
And Naval Artillery such as the turreted 5” rapid fire guns.
I was wondering what everyone was talking about then watched the video.
Absolutely incredibly bad shooting.
Great version!
Sheesh, watch the vid.
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