To: Jeff Head
Well, what do we really know?
At this point we know a missile was fired. The ship sustained some damage (at least a temporary mission kill), and four sailors appear to be dead.
So what happened? In all likelihood, this ship did not sustain a serious hit. I say this because of the low loss of life and no serious fire damage. Even a dud would produce more if it entered the superstructure.
A substantial blow to the hull (hammer blow or explosive) can lead to a mission kill. Electronic systems get knocked offline.
If the hit was in the stern, it may have detonated external after a glancing blow. The bow or stern are least sensitive areas of even a small ship. Or if oblique enough for a CIWS engagement, the missile may have detonated close in, or come apart and hit the ship as a grab bag of components.
A ship of this size does not take an ASCM into its bowels and return under its own power.
So I postulate that the missile did not penetrate the main structure of the ship.
To: SampleMan
Reports said it was towed back to Haifa and was still smoldering when it got there. I think these pictures are not strike pictures at all. If I can confim this, I will ask the mods to remove the thread...although, perhaps not because there ahs been some really good discussion on this thread. Maybe retitle it accordingly.
150 posted on
07/15/2006 7:10:34 PM PDT by
Jeff Head
(God, family, country)
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