Posted on 04/05/2010 9:50:27 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Iran's reported acquisition of a record-breaking British speedboat has raised fears it plans to arm it with high-speed Russian torpedoes to sink a U.S. aircraft carrier in hit-and-run raids if Iran is attacked because of its nuclear program. The Financial Times reported Sunday that Iran has got its hands on the 51-foot craft, the Bradstone Challenger, despite U.S. and British efforts to prevent it from obtaining the high-performance boat.
The boat was designed by Lorne Camopbell of Britain and is powered by U.S. Caterpillar engines. It was built by ICE Marine of Britain. The project was partly financed by Navatek, a Hawaii-based defense contractor which is developing a naval version.
The Iranians first sought to acquire the powerboat in 2005 after a team led by British adventurer Neil McGrigor set a new record for circumnavigating Britain - 27 hours and 10 minutes, at an average speed of 61.5 miles per hour. Only two of the boats have been built.
The following year the boat was advertised for sale through a broker. The FT said the Iranians tried to buy it, but Britain's Department of Trade and Industry blocked that.
However, the newspaper said, after the boat had passed through two other owners, U.S. authorities learned in January 2009 that the boat, known as the Bladerunner 51, was to be shipped to the South African port of Durban for loading aboard an Iranian-owned, Hong Kong-flagged freighter, the Diplomat, headed for the Gulf.
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Ping
This ‘Hit and Run’ strategy would be a suicide mission. They would have to get very lucky in the open sea. I imagine in the Strait of Hormuz they would have better chances, but it would still be next to impossible. It’s not like these carriers don’t have a defense perimeter.
Can you say stupid UK and stupid US? Geez...what can anyone say that could even elevate this kind of stupidity! Sometimes, I think that we are doomed to lose the next war due to this kind of stupidity.
If it can’t run faster than a .50 cal it is on the POTUS and ROG — Any intelligent leader would allow taking out a seagull if it gets too close.
After just a year, we will spend a generation undoing some of the crap the TOTUS-reader spewed onto all of us.
Is it a stealth boat?
One torpedo is probably heavier than the boat. I’d like to see them try and mount two torpedoes. Probably reduce the speed by half. Easy pickins.
An interesting possibility. I believe the torpedo they’re talking about is the VA-111 Shkval underwater rocket. It’s a pretty impressive device as far as speed is concerned. Literature on the subject mentions a speed of 230 mph, with ongoing variants pushing up to 250. It’s true, look it up.
This needs a 533mm tube which seems pretty big for a boat of this size. Not sure of the weight, but mounting such a weapon could be problematic. A 7,000 meter range seems respectable, but I’m told that this is paltry compared to others. I’d worry more about how quiet their electric subs are. The combination of these two could be formidable.
barry’ll talk to ‘em. He is hussein, you know?
Don’t we have frigates,destroyers ( original name torpedoe boat destroyers), and cruisers in a carrier battle group just to handle crap like this.
This strikes me as one of those things that is possible, but not very likely. I would think an awful lot of people would have to be “asleep at the switch” on board the carrier (not to mention her escorts) for something like this to have a practical probability of success.
Civilian shipping or a fixed target like an oil rig could be a very different matter, of course.
“This strikes me as one of those things that is possible, but not very likely. I would think an awful lot of people would have to be “asleep at the switch” on board the carrier (not to mention her escorts) for something like this to have a practical probability of success.”
This was my first thought as well.
I’m not all that knowledgeable on naval warfare, but given the choice I’d feel much safer aboard the carrier, defended by its battle group, than the speedboat.
Anyhow, the US Navy is obviously aware of the threat and I suspect they have the wherewithal to go out and destroy that boat long before it ever posed a threat to a carrier, if a shooting war broke out. I’ll bet it will be on the wrong end of a cruise missile or two long before a carrier sailed into its range.
Yes, but it might be good sport (like playing a 1980’s video game.
Seems to me that carriers have these new fangled things called airplanes that go a lot faster and can easily strafe something like this.
A carrier batle group usually consists of two missle frigates, three Arleigh Burke class destroyers, two Los Angeles class fast attack subs, and a fuleing ship for the air wing.
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