[oh8eleven]

they obviously aren’t regular navy and probably aren’t armed.
So you're saying the crew is what, all reservists? And why wouldn't they be armed?
If they are unarmed reservists, WTH are they doing in the Persian Gulf?

[Mariner]

They are merchant marines and CIA.

[iowamark]

Unarmed surveillance vessel. Mostly civilian crew.

[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.