Posted on 08/11/2004 1:32:08 PM PDT by Robe
Looks like the explosives failed to detonate.
Will JFK get a purple heart for that?...
No one has contacted the Navy about a missing boat or mariners, Graybeal said.
Dry run.
It was probably unmanned, filled with heavy explosives that failed to detonate, and which subsequently sank.
Or, possibly, they were just testing to see if they could get one through before they wasted a ton of hard-to-get ordinance on a no-hope mission.
I wonder if this was a trial run for another Cole-type of attack on a bigger scale.
IMHO, anything unauthorized coming within a quarter mile from an aircraft carrier should be sunk on sight, as a SOP.
Boats just keep running into JFKennedy don't they?
The bomb didn't go off, that's all. This could have been a disaster.
Why in heavens name are we LETTING dhows get that close to our ships??????????????????
That's the crucial decision--I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it. If this had been an attack, and if the boat had been filled with explosives that detonated and damanged the JFK, everyone would be calling for this guy's head.
DHOW!
Because we do not own international waters.
I was OOD (Officer of the Deck) on the Independence operating in the Gulf in the early 90's. It was not uncommon for a Dhow to be unmanned or have the 'captain' of the vessel found to be asleep.
Note1 : "The Kennedy was steaming in international waters. A fighter was approaching to land. At some point, the dhow was detected. But the Kennedy's commander decided to maintain the ship's course while it finished the delicate operation of receiving a plane." This would have put the JFK in a Restricted Manuevering situation which would have required the Dhow to avoid the JFK and not the other way around.
This leaves two options: 1) it was deliberate - which some have already proposed - and was either a dry run or a dud. 2) It was adrift/unmanned or just suffering from poor seamanship.
Frankly, I would propose the latter due to the number of instances I saw.
Note2: "The Kennedy itself was unscathed, but two jet fighters on the deck were damaged when one slid into the other as the carrier made a hard turn to avoid the dhow, several Navy officials said." The Air Bos'n might get taken to task for not having these chained and chocked in a timely manner . . . depends on how sharp a turn and what the speed was.
Say it isn't so!
While damage could have been done to the carrier, it would take much more to knock the carrier out. Maybe some folks injured, in the area of the blast, but those babies are made to with stand a lot of damages and keep on operating.
Do you mean to tell me............we can't keep those little pieces of junk away from us because we are in international waters? They are allowed to come that close, is a "right"?
I'm sorry................I think defensively on just about everything!
Why couldn't we use bullhorns and tell them to get back, or BAM?!?! Is that against the international law too?
I don't know international law, I suppose.
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