Posted on 02/23/2007 5:31:04 PM PST by blam
American armada prepares to take on Iran
By Damien McElroy aboard USS Eisenhower
Last Updated: 1:09am GMT 24/02/2007
It is four and a half acres of US power in the middle of the Arabian Sea but the influence of USS Dwight D Eisenhower stretches hundreds of miles.
The aircraft carrier, backed by its sister vessel, a handful of destroyers and a shoal of support ships, has placed a ring of steel around an increasingly unstable region.
While the Eisenhower is ostensibly assisting US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is increasingly occupied by the looming threat of Iran.
Recent tensions between the US and Iran over Teheran's meddling in Iraq and attempts to build a nuclear bomb have raised the prospect of its third regional war in a decade.
The addition of a second aircraft carrier to its strike groups has fuelled the belief that the US is gearing up for a fight with Iran. Not since the Iraq war in 2003 has America amassed so much fire power around the Persian Gulf.
As flagship of the Fifth Fleet, the Eisenhower welcomed the arrival of the second Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS John C Stennis, and its accompanying destroyers on Tuesday.
Captain Dan Cloyd, the Eisenhower's commanding officer, compared the situation with the international tension of the Cold War.
"There was a time when we had two aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean," he told The Daily Telegraph. "The world changes and we adapt."
The quietly spoken Capt Cloyd embraced the suggestion that the dual deployment is at the forefront of efforts to stop Iran getting a nuclear bomb, pointing out that his maritime assets have been tasked to quash any challenge to global security.
"Our presence here is an affirmation of our resolve to engage with the nations of the region either where we share common goals or where we face challenges."
The Eisenhower has more than 5,000 people on board and its range of missions is virtually limitless.
As it patrols the shipping lanes of the Strait of Hormuz, the Eisenhower ensures the safe passage of oil tankers. It also prevents the trading routes being used to transport materials that would help rogue nations build a nuclear weapon.
Capt Cloyd said: "Our maritime security mission is about denying the use of the seas to any potential spread of weapons of mass destruction."
Iran's belligerent posture has increased the challenges facing the Eisenhower since it was deployed to the Middle East last October. Vice Admiral Patrick Walsh, the commander of the Fifth Fleet, issued a stark warning that Iran risks triggering an "accidental war" during aggressive military manoeuvres.
During the Great Prophet 2 missile test in November, the Islamic Republic fired a Shabab missile into the six-mile corridor of shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz. In such a constricted corridor, the results could have been disastrous.
With Teheran's real strategic intentions unclear, the US takes the threats made very seriously. "They threaten to use oil as a weapon. They threaten to close the Straits of Hormuz," Adml Walsh said. "It is the combination of the rhetoric, the tone, and the aggressive exercises in very constrained waters that gives us concern."
US commanders ascribe the increase in instability to increasingly deliberate aggressive actions by Teheran. For that reason the deployment of the carriers is designed to intensify pressure on Iran to step back from the brink.
No doubt the Telegraph is privy to our top secret war plans, as all the British press seems to be.
PS: I am watching the History Channel right and they are talking about the 79 F-14 that the US sold to the Shah of Iran before the islamic revolution there. They were saying that after Khumaeini took power the Iranians could not launch missiles from the F-14 for some very mysterious reasons. According to the History channel documentary, some people believe that the American technicians who were in charge of maintaining the F-14's in Iran took with them the electronics that are capable of firing the missiles form the F-14's before they left Iran :)
nancy pullhosie "goin command" now that is a scary thought.
she used to be able to pick up quarters, now with her new eyes, she can bend em
Personally, I'd like to kick Iran into 2007.
most of Iran wants to kick Iran into 2007......
So the carriers are physically patrolling the water in the Straits or are the jets doing it? Kinda ballsy, if they are!
bump
Yes, but is there room for nuke subs to maneuver?
But how would they feel about an invading army?
she would flash em and have their babies ( non union of course)
sorry wrong reply........we have insiders with long pointing fingers ..it will be more like was expected in Iraq
The CVs certainly do not enter the straits or the Persian Gulf.
The Gulf is a tight little wading pool, but given the very limited Iranian naval capabilities, once we get the carriers in there, it's alright. The danger is taking them through the Straits. A surprise attack there would essentially be a live test of the effectiveness of the close-in weapons systems. Not a pleasant prospect.
We should take out the Iranian capacity, but I don't think we will.
Thanks, I wouldn't have thought so.
Irrelevant since there's not going to be an invading army.
Regardless of what a majority of people think in Iran, it's a huge country and there are millions of people, particularly less educated ones in the sticks, that have the guns and support the regime and would actively fight any sort of ground invasion.
Actually, we have sent CVN's right into the Gulf itself.
It's alarming, frankly.
Once they're in, it's ok, but passing through is a moment of vulnerability.
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