US Sends Aircraft Carrier Into The Strait Of Hormuz, As Iran Beats Its Chest

TBI ^ | 12-28-2011 | Robert Johnson

[blam]

US Sends Aircraft Carrier Into The Strait Of Hormuz, As Iran Beats Its Chest

Robert Johnson
Dec. 29, 2011, 7:56 AM

USS John C. Stennis

Iran has announced it located a U.S. aircraft carrier moving into the Strait of Hormuz during Iranian wargame exercises.

The AFP reports Commodore Mahmoud Mousavi, spokesman for the exercises, says the carrier was spotted by an Iranian reconnaissance plane that took photos and video.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Fifth Fleet confirmed the carrier is the USS John C. Stennis, a nearly 1,100 foot nuclear powered craft with unlimited range and 3 million gallons of onboard fuel for its aircraft.

USS Mobile Bay

In addition to its planes and the ships that sail in the group, the Stennis is armed with NATO RIM-7 Sea Sparrow and Rolling Air Missile (RAM) surface-to-air missile systems, the Phalanx Close-in Weapons System for cruise missile defense, and the AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System.

U.S. officials said Wednesday that the Stennis and the guided missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay slipped into the strait Tuesday after a stop at Dubai's Jebel Ali port.

The USS Mobile bay is a 570 foot Ticonderoga class cruiser that carries the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, two Seahawk LAMPS multi-purpose helicopters, and is used for anti-submarine warfare, anti-air, and anti-surface warfare.

The Associated Press reports Iran is playing up the sighting of the carrier and boasting of the strength of its navy in the region.

Iranian naval chief Adm. Habibollah Sayyari says Iran has "control over the moves by foreign forces" and that the "foreign fleet will be warned by Iranian forces if it enters the area of the drill."

Iranian state TV showed the supposed video but details of the carrier couldn't be made

(snip)

[elcid1970]

A much more humane and liberating strategy than killing 75 million people would be to decapitate the Tehran regime, thoroughly degrade not only their military C&C but their civilian ruling hierarchy as well, and let loose the Iranian masses against their own government. The abortive uprising in 2009 (ignored by POTUS and allowed to die on the vine) proved that most Iranians do not support the mullacracy and would rise in revolt.

Chaos in Iran could be our biggest ally in the region. Iranians are not Arabs and their society is abuzz with talk of the pre-Islamic roots of their own Persian civilization.

Thoughts?

[VanDeKoik]

“Iran has announced it located a U.S. aircraft carrier moving into the Strait of Hormuz during Iranian wargame exercises.

The AFP reports Commodore Mahmoud Mousavi, spokesman for the exercises, says the carrier was spotted by an Iranian reconnaissance plane that took photos and video.”

Dont pat yourself on the back too hard.

We weren’t trying to hide it from you. We just want you to get a glimpse of a ship that can turn your entire navy into toothpicks.

[thackney]

Not sure what it proves that our carriers have transited the Hormuz for years.

I was responding to post that we shouldn't put carriers into that area because it was too confining.

Given that we had been doing it for years during times of war, I didn't agree with that point.

[tarheelswamprat]

Thanks for posting your analyses in posts 49 & 50. I had read them in another thread and believe the threat you described is very plausible. If the Stennis is indeed exiting the Gulf, as another poster stated, then that is a wise move.

BTW, I had a friend from another state visit yesterday who was showing me his new Kindle. I showed him my hard copies of your books and he’s going to try the Kindle versions! I may have to break down and get a Kindle myself. I’m a techie and am impressed with the Kindle, but my problem is finding time to read... /g

Thanks for all your hard work on the books and the many hours of entertaining and thought-provoking reading you’ve provided.

[USS Alaska]

My thought is that it doesn't take much courage to press a button an kill 75 million people.

Hopefully it would be a troubling decision for our President.

It obviously takes more courage than you have.

Use of our nukes are not to be taken lightly, but do you support Truman's order to demolish two jap cities and burn and kill hundreds of thousands of civilians?

My father in law was on a ship that was to be used in the invasion of japan, and I guarantee you that every American at the time favored the use of nukes and if we had them earlier we would have used them and saved more American lives.

My reason is simple, one American life is worth more than 75,000,000 mooselimbs. Period.

If it takes {and it probably will} the end of all islamists, to win the war on terror, then we should do it.

Read my tag line, it's there because I believe that since they want us dead without exception, then their death is our only salvation.

If you, like ron paul, believe that the reason that they are building nukes is because we have them, you are delusional.

War sucks, losing a war sucks more.

Imagine they win and you are wearing a head scarf and body covering so the the only thing that we could see, would be your "Doe Eyes".

[grey_whiskers]

Will Ahmadinejad play by those rules or will he think outside the box?

I guess that depends on whether or not he or a top advisor is reading this thread...

And I hope he gets the ZOT. ;-)

Cheers!

[RitchieAprile]

We get a minute amount of oil from the Gulf. This is
more about the principle of free passage on the high seas.

[Erik Latranyi]

The worst scenario is blocking the Strait of Hormuz that could be done by sinking several ships......not just a few, the SOH is 56 km wide at its narrowest.

The US Navy has been preparing for such a scenario for decades and is confident that they could get it open in a few weeks.

[CodeToad]

I am torn as to Iran’s ability to have and launch anti-ship missiles of any sort and be effective. I know they have some older and newer missiles and I know we have some counter measures, but between Iran’s desire to actually sink a ship, and the sh*tstorm that would bring them, and our ability to swat a missile out of the air I am torn as to that actual event taking place and the results being effective.

I have no doubt that if they have significant numbers of effective missiles and they have the coastline to operate from with impunity without our taking complete control of the terrain. We cannot possibly control that many caves and land mass without actually taking possession of it and that would mean at least 350,000 troops. We are talking about 100 miles of coastline to defend and at least 10 miles inland. It would be nearly impossible without the full force of our military being present.

As far as finding and destroying SCUD type missiles. No problem. Things, both inter-departmentally and technologically, have changed since GW1 in finding, launch detection, and interception. We had the technology even then but politics and rivalry made the technology ineffective. However, politically we would be hesitant and, as you know, he who hesitates loses. A ship or two will go down before we get off our political ass and make effective military moves. However, even then I suspect we will not act militarily with enough force to stop the attacks, much less ever.

We have a military of nation building and have forgotten what it is like to actually punish and control another nation. We can do it militarily, but we politically prefer to ask permission to blow our own noses and not bother anyone else or make them feel bad. Control an entire 100 mile range of Iranian territory and perhaps risk war with many Islamic nations? Unlikely with a Muslim in the Whitehouse or with someone like Jimmy Carter.

If Iran wanted to do themselves damage by sinking some ships they know they will suffer some damage, but they also know we gave Iraq back and would do the same for them. They risk nothing but martyrdom. So, I am torn. Will they? Can they? Can we? Will we?

[Mariner]

In the olden day we would simply sail through the middle of the foreign exercise, turn around and sail through again.

We'd repeat the move for the duration...daring anyone to say or do anything.

[mk2000]

In recent years, the United States has imported approximately 200 million barrels of crude oil annually from Canada.

Oil imports into the United States from Saudi Arabia come in at second place with about 160 million barrels of crude oil annually from the Kingdom. The United States imports about the same amount of oil from Mexico as it does from Saudi Arabia on an annual basis. Other countries from which the United States imports oil are: Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq, the United Kingdom, Norway, Angola, Algeria and Colombia.

If The Straits were closed or a war erupted prices would skyrocket. Fact.

[CodeToad]

” In my scenario, all the Iranians have to do is manage to launch a few ASCMs every few days, to keep the tankers from sailing. Hitting targets would only be a bonus.
“

Exactly. Regardless of the sinking of any ships, missiles fired into the water would be enough to keep the ships in port and for Iran to claim victory. We can huff and puff all day with the world’s greates military but if those ships stay home Iran has acheived their goal.

[ataDude]

"Also, I don't believe that much of the oil for the USA goes through this strait anymore." 17% of all oil, according to what I've read.

[RitchieAprile]

HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk by level bombers
(Betty, Sally) not Zeros.

[Doe Eyes]

It obviously takes more courage than you have.

I wouldn't have much of a problem with it, given the right circumstances, but I don't think of the action as being courageous.

[thackney]

We get a minute amount of oil from the Gulf

We get about 2 million barrels per day from the Persian Gulf.

[meatloaf]

“The firing stopped.” What a surprise!

I realize the Iowa class battleships are dinosaurs. I wonder how they would stand up to today's anti-ship missiles. The little information I found on the DDG-23 Richard E. Byrd's sinking after the Greek Navy stripped her surprised me. The ship seemed to take a lot of missiles before sinking.

[Mariner]

"My point is, sometimes these paradigm shifts in the use of sea power don’t become evident until ships are aflame and sinking."

And that is why in a true SHTF scenario you'll see our Carriers head for Blue Water. They are unchallenged there.

With the Stennis transiting OUT of the Gulf it makes action more likely.

When you see Carriers on the news and hear of them in the littorals, it's all about showing the flag and daring the adversary.

The price of sinking a CVN is nuclear war in ALL scenarios.

[tanknetter]

I wonder how they would stand up to today's anti-ship missiles.

The criteria isn't so much "sinking" as it is being rendered combat ineffective. An Iowa can take as much punishment, perhaps even more, than a current-day CVN ... but if she ends up becoming a missile sponge it's very much game-over.

A few years back I had a good back and forth with a couple USN SWOs I know on whether a Perry-class FFG (back when they still had their one-armed-bandits and could fire SM1s and Harpoons) with a standard loadout (8 Harpoons, the rest SM1s) could take down the Bismark. Answer was an absolute "yes".

[tanknetter]

Funny, I don’t remember seeing them. I do remember briefings at which it was said that no carriers would be transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

That's correct. The first time the US put big-deck CV/CVNs through the Strait and into the PG was following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in the Summer of 1990, which was on the first President Bush's watch. I think that one was the USS Independence or maybe Ike. During Desert Storm we had four carrier groups (Theodore Roosevelt, Midway, Ranger and America) operating in the PG. Plus the two Battleships. Plus all the gators. With the Sovs on the sidelines at that point and the Iranians not being suicidal, we felt it was an acceptable risk to do so. There were, however, SIGNIFICANT problems with operating four carriers and airgroups within such a confined space.

Before that USN SOP was NOT to put the big decks into the PG. For Preying Mantis and Eagle Claw (the botched Iranian Hostage rescue mission) the carriers involved (Enterprise for Preying Mantis, Coral Sea and Nimitz for Eagle Claw) had stayed South of the Strait.