Posted on 07/31/2004 5:10:20 AM PDT by csvset
Carrier’s run-in with dhow raises red flags
Officials seek answers after ship struck, sank small boat
BY MATTHEW DOLAN THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT reported.
How could a small boat designed for fishing in the Persian Gulf get so close to a multibilliondollar American carrier equipped with state-ofthe-art radar and armed with its own air force?
That’s the question Navy investigators are still asking after the carrier John F. Kennedy struck and sank the mysterious boat in the Persian Gulf on July 22.
No survivors or remains from the small boat, known as a dhow, have been recovered. The crew of the Mayport, Fla.-based carrier and its Virginia Beach-based air wing did not sustain any injuries from the collision, Navy officials said. No structural dam age to the carrier was
But the little noticed accident, now under review by an admiral sent from the Pentagon, could raise serious questions about the Navy’s ability to protect its own ships. Small suicide boats have already attacked larger Navy ships or their crews in the region on at least two occasions in recent years.
In 2000, a bomb-laden skiff blew a 40-by-20-foot hole in the Norfolk-based Cole while the destroyer was refueling in Yemen. The explosion killed 17
In April, three crew members from the Virginia Beach-based Firebolt died after a dhow exploded near the coastal patrol boat’s boarding team in the Persian Gulf. Other reports indicate that terrorists have attempted to strike Navy ships close to shore or while transiting maritime chokepoints such as the Straits of Gibraltar.
But a spokesman for the Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain said that it was too early to speculate on the cause of the accident, much less the intentions of the dhow.
“It’s a bit premature,” Cmdr. James Graybeal said by telephone Friday. “We need to let the investigation run its course.” Other Navy officials said that they did not worry in general whether ships such as aircraft carriers were able to protect themselves adequately.
“There is an ongoing investigation, but I don’t have any overall concerns about ship self-defense,” said Rear Adm. John D. Stufflebeem, assistant deputy chief of naval operations who previously led the Harry S. Truman carrier strike group.
But Paul K. Van Riper proved recently that the “4½ acres of American floating sovereignty,” as deployed aircraft carriers are sometimes called, are not completely impenetrable.
Van Riper, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general, commanded an enemy force “Red Team” during the $250 million war game known as Millennium Challenge in 2002. He was able to sink an American carrier using a salvo of surface-to-surface missiles, but his overall naval strategy also employed swarming small boats.
“The Navy took that part seriously,” he said in an interview this week.
Traditionally, carriers post sailors standing watch 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Graybeal said. Flattops are also protected by an air wing packed with surveillance aircraft and usually ringed by an armada of destroyers, cruisers and other ships.
The Kennedy had only been in the gulf for 12 days when it struck the dhow at about 10:20 p.m. during night flight operations.
Evidently, someone on the Kennedy’s crew spotted the dhow. Graybeal would only say that “it’s my understanding that the ship was maneuvering to avoid contact with the dhow.” After the sinking, the mine countermeasures ship Dextrous joined the British multi-role hydrographic and oceanographic survey vessel Echo in an effort to locate any survivors.
Navy officials said they know little about the sunken dhow. They do not know the boat’s nationality or its purpose, Graybeal said.
Although the Navy has asked for any information about the boat in neighboring countries through its embassies, no one has come forward to say where the boat came from or whether it was manned at the time.
A debris field has been located, but Graybeal said he did not have details about what it contained.
In the gulf, dhows are often made with wood and sometimes outfitted with sails. They are used for fishing, trade and transportation. But it is not uncommon for dhows to be used as smuggler’s boats, which could be why no one has come forward so far.
Rear Adm. Evan M. Chanik, who works as director of the programming division for the chief of naval operations, flew from the United States to the region to lead the investigation and report back to 5th Fleet.
Chanik formerly commanded a carrier air wing and two warships, including the Norfolk-based carrier Enterprise. He remains aboard the Kennedy, Graybeal said Friday. There was no time line for the completion of his probe.
In the meantime, operations for the Kennedy, whose air wing has dropped bombs in support of American troops fighting in Iraq, continue without change.
“There is nothing to indicate that this was anything more than a maritime accident,” Graybeal said.
A fishing boat couldnt see this floating city in front of it?
That was my thought too. Especially during flight operations?
Of course, this thought coming from an Army guy.
How many in a typical crew? Could they all have been sleeping?
Small wooden boat? I'm not surprised at all that it didn't show up on radar, and they don't typically post lookouts. Especially at night.
Umm, stupid here, but what's a "dhow"?
Its a wooden boat that is common in Middle Eastern waters, and looks like the photo in post #4.
Thanks. I didn't go down that far because I didn't get what it was. I thought it was an abbreviation for a "double hull."
There's around three thousand on the Kennedy. Many of those sailors never see daylight unless they make a point to. Night operations make it much more difficult to spot other surface craft especially something like a dhow which didn't show up on radar.
Keep in mind the other surface ships that were working with the Kennedy didn't see the dhow either. The takeoffs and landings probably contributed to the difficulty of spotting the wood boat.
FWIW, I was on a destroyer, 300' long, that "disappeared" under the overhang of the flight deck of the Kennedy during a refueling. The warrant officer who had the conn was one our best shiphandlers. Someone looking straight down from the edge of the flight deck could see us, but no one on the Kennedy's bridge could.
The John F. Kennedy rams and sinks a small craft at night?
The escort boat security details were fishing? Were fumbling through their tackle boxes? Given that they were there, weren't they?
A genuine situation FUBAR.
Yet another Al Quieda practice run?
Could be. I'd bet they don't have any sort of communication/signaling gear or lights for that matter.
I'd imagine that even if they did see it bearing down on them, they were ill equipped to do anything about it.
Thanks. I should have been more specific. I was wondering how many would have been aboard the wooden craft and could they have all been asleep? It just seems strange that they allowed themselves to drift into the JFK with all the activity on the big ship. Maybe no one was aboard and it was loaded with some kind of bomb that didn't go off?
Maybe no wind? I'm sure the investigation will look at the existing weather.
Obviously this was Bush's fault.
The Kennedy collided with the Belknap in '76 during night air ops. Both ships were alert, had radar going, knew what was going on, and still collided. Running over a dhow would be nothing surprising.
In addition, they were probably operating in shallow waters so the OD was sweating not hitting the bottom.
Depending on the operation, the ship had probably gone as close to shore as they could to shorten the range to the target for the aircraft.
Small, dark, wooden ships do not show up on surface search radar (unless they have really been improved since I last looked at a PPI scope. The wooden boat was probably lost in the interference on the scope.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.