U.S. Navy Surveillance Ship Harassed by Iranian Attack Boat

USNI News ^ | March 6, 2017 | :Sam LaGrone

[Retain Mike]

A U.S. Navy surveillance ship was harassed by an Iranian fast attack craft while entering the Persian Gulf on Saturday, a defense official confirmed to USNI News on Monday.

USNS Invincible (T-AGM-24) was transiting the Strait of Hormuz in the early morning on March 4 with three other coalition ships when the ships were approached by several Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy fast attack craft, the official told USNI News.

One of the IRGCN craft maneuvered 600 yards in front of the 2,300-ton Invincible and “went dead in the water,” the official said.

[GreyHoundSailor]

The Russian Krivaks and Sovremennys certainly did play games with our carrier during deployments in the 1980’s. During flight ops we’d have the RAM (restricted in ability to maneuver) day shape (or lights) displayed and they’d cross our bow at 6-7kyds and put up NUC (not under command) shapes (or lights). NUC trumps RAM in the Nautical Rules of the Road, forcing us to go ‘Red Deck’ to maneuver. They didn’t do it often - but they did it. We’d play with them too though, usually leaving them DIW and smoking black.

[Tucker39]

Were there any survivors after we sank the raghead boat?

[Retain Mike]

My ship spent about a month in the Tonkin Gulf cruising with an amphibious ready group. After the stress of being an officer of the deck for formation steaming, I looked forward to having the first watch when we left the other ships.

Well, we were right in the middle of the carrier and escorts launching planes for strikes that day. The carrier and escorts raced down my port side to the horizon. Then the ships turned 180 degrees and came right at me. By international rules of the road the passage should have been port to port, but that meant I had to cross in front of that 30-knot carrier with my 12-knot LST. Instead I ran off to port as far as I could go. Still the ship passed about 3,000 yards off the starboard quarter as it launched its strike.

[BuffaloJack]

... USS Pueblo. My dad was an acquaintance of CDR Bucher ...
When I was in Vietnam, our cook had been a photographer’s mate on USS Pueblo when it was taken.

[Bull Snipe]

not merchant marine crew. Her crew are civil service mariners. The officers and crew are employed by USNS and licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard.
She is not a “navy” ship. She is the property of USNS. Since she is a missile tracking ship with U.S. Air Force tracking radar on her, she may have a mil det. of Air Force radar operators or AF contract personnel.

[Bull Snipe]

she was unarmed. However she was in company with 3 warships of the Royal Navy. She may have been under the tactical command of a Brit Commodore at the time.

[rlmorel]

Not reservists, I believe they are civilian (I think the USNS ships are manned by civilians for the most part)

But I would ask that same question: What are they doing in the Persian Gulf unaccompanied? To the external eye, most of these USNS ships resemble military ships (especially the pre-positioning ones) but this one, not so much:

Nice looking research vessel, but she screams "Spy Ship". And the Iranians, while generally a-holes (at least those in power) aren't stupid-they have ship recognition stuff too, and likely knew this was an unarmed (or lightly armed) USNS ship.

OTOH, for all they knew, there could be a security detachment on board with some shoulder fired AT-4s or something like that, which could make short work of them if they suddenly appeared on deck.

So they were likely just being dickheads, something they are good at. I agree, though...in this climate, we shouldn't leave it up to the Iranians to decide. That is what we did with the USS Pueblo. We just assumed they wouldn't attack her.

I still harbor a grudge against the Korcoms about the USS Pueblo, but we did put her in a dangerous situation. I see this could be the same thing if they snatched the ship.

Except for one thing...LBJ isn't in charge.

[rlmorel]

Good God. That is how people get killed. Sitting on the flight deck of the Kennedy docked at pier 12 in Norfolk, the guy who would teach me how to be a plane captain (Delgado-great guy!) was telling me about the collision with the Belknap as we sat on the flight deck before we pulled out the next morning.

She turned into the Kennedy, and got crushed head on by the angled deck. The guy teaching me said we were sitting in the exact place where he was when the collision occurred. and he saw the dancing red mast light on the Belknap. He said he couldn’t see the vessel, but he saw the light, and was wondering what the Hell it was, when there was a massive screeching, grinding, thumping noise and a bright plume of orange flame leaped straight up high above the flight deck.

As they watched her burn, he thought they would have hundreds of casualties. He didn’t see how anyone could live through that, but...they only had eight men killed. Amazing.

[Retain Mike]

I’ll maintain that hitting bow on is probably what saved them. That is where the frames are closest together, so a collision may rupture a lot of voids and compartments, but a ship should stay afloat. I remember in a course I took you were supposed to turn away in certain cases, but I had decided that in extremis I would always point my bow at the ship.

That day in the Tonkin Gulf I may have been just a 24 year old Ltjg, but I knew Yankee Station belonged to the airdales and I was trespassing.

[rlmorel]

I have always been interested in the process people like you had to go through to become a qualified OOD.

For a 24 year old man, that is a huge responsibility! And a lot to know...

One of my favorite stories involve Admiral Nimitz when he was Captain of the
USS Augusta, and as the ship was docking (no tugs) he relieved the young OOD so he could bring the ship in himself. He came in far too fast, and only an emergency All Back saved them from smashing into the dock.

After they were safely tied up and everyone exhaled, he turned abruptly to the young OOD he had relieved and said sternly: “Lieutenant...what did I do wrong there?” The young Lieutenant gulped, and identified the key mistake of approaching too fast, followed by a couple of less egregious errors.

Captain Nimitz looked steadily at him and said “That’s right. Don’t forget it.”

LOL, you can bet that young Lieutenant never did!

[Oztrich Boy]

unarmed?. Tempting fate to call it USNS Invincible (T-AGM-24)

[Retain Mike]

Our CO never let a boring watch go by that was not an opportunity to hammer some piece of vital information into our heads. He was a great man, and I would place him right alongside Chester Nimitz.

It was probably twenty years after I left active duty before I could not reconstruct from memory the layout of our engine rooms and locate the ballast, fuel, lub oil, and fresh water tanks. Even now after 46 years I am surprised at the stream of consciousness I can relate about the many evolutions of our ship.

[oh8eleven]

I still harbor a grudge against the Korcoms about the USS Pueblo
Yeah, I'm still pissed too. Another LBJ failure.
Many think Obama was the worst president ever, but I've got LBJ as numero uno.