Stennis, Nimitz and Bonhomme Richard Enter the Persian Gulf

Navy Newsstand ^ | 5/23/2007 | U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

070522-N-8157C-240 ARABIAN SEA (May 22, 2007) - (from foreground) USS Nimitz (CVN 68), USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) and USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) transit the Gulf of Oman. The three ships are flagships for three different strike groups; the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group, and the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group, which are on regularly, scheduled deployments in support of Maritime Operations. Maritime Operations help set the conditions for security and stability, as well as complement counter-terrorism and security efforts to regional nations. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Denny Cantrell (RELEASED)

[RedRover]

3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment

God bless 'em all.

[gate2wire]

I’ll bet the nuts of all iranians shriveled up. LOL.

[FremontLives]

That’s the sexiest thing I’ve seen in a long time.

[wbill]

That’s some serious striking power. Guess we’re showing the world that we mean business.

[roaddog727]

what they did not indicate in the ship count was how many SSN’s are patrolling around the ESG and CSG. (Good thing - thet the Iranians guess)

[BwanaNdege]

“The timing of this exercise is determined by the availability of forces, and is not connected to events in the region. The exercise is not directed against any nation. “ (wink, wink...nod, nod)

Yeah, right...

[mewzilla]

Eternal Father — The "Navy Hymn"

[brothers4thID]

Gorgeous

[Badeye]

Thats a very busy piece of airspace today....(chuckle)

[Brownie63]

Give ‘em hell, Navy!
...you too Marines!

from former Army paratrooper.

[Diogenesis]

and then some.

[epluribus_2]

Sphincter pressure forcasts for the week range from 9.2 to an all time high of 9.99 in Tehran, on accuweather’s new Sphinctometer 3000.

[rednesss]

Unfortunately in the relatively claustrophobic Persian Gulf, they make a pretty enticing target for some Sunburn anti-ship missiles.

[epluribus_2]

There’s a plan for that. And a plan for anything that goes sideways with the first plan.

[rednesss]

For the price of considerably less than a fighter plane, the Iranians could send a $5 billion dollar aircraft carrier to the bottom of the gulf with these Russian made Sunburn missiles. Industry analysts say that the Navy has no defense for these small Mach 2+ missiles. Scary stuff.

[alarm rider]

Yeah, I thought of that also. However, should that happen some nasty stuff would be coming down the pike one would imagine. As an AF type, I don’t know much about defenses against anti-ship missiles, but I would bet my garrison cap there are plenty.

God’s speed sailors and Marines.

[Badeye]

(chuckle)

Makes me want to pull out my old cruise book seeing these pics.

[gridlock]

In a confined space like the Persian Gulf, it’s about one minute from launch-to-target for the Sunburn.

These sailors are going to have to be on hair-trigger alert 24/7.

[rednesss]

The problem is that these missiles travel so fast that they estimate a ship to have between 25-30 seconds in order to respond to it. It’s only 56 kilometers wide at the Strait of Hormuz. At Mach 3, which they say the “Mosquito” can travel at, it would take it approximately 1 minute to cross that distance. And they probably have to travel through a shipping channel deep enough somewhere toward the middle.