Posted on 06/21/2007 5:16:59 AM PDT by jhpigott
According to DEBKAfile’s military sources, the US naval build-up off the shores of Iran marks rising military tensions in the region, accentuated by last week’s Hamas victory which has endowed Iran with a military foothold on Israel’s southwestern border.
The USS Enterprise CVN 65-Big E Strike Group, the US Navy’s largest air carrier, will join the USS Stennis and the USS Nimitz carriers, building up the largest sea, air, marine concentration the United States has ever deployed opposite Iran. This goes towards making good on the assurances of four carriers US Vice President Dick Cheney offered the Gulf and Middle East nations during his May tour of the region.
The “Big E” leads a strike group consisting of the guided-missile destroyers USS Arleigh Burke DDG 51, USS Stout DDG 55, Forrest Sherman DDG 98 and USS James E. Williams DDG 95, as well as the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg CG 64, the SS Philadelphia SSN 690 nuclear submarine and the USNS Supply T-AOE 6>
On its decks are the Carrier Air Wing CVW 1, whose pilots fought combat missions in the Gulf and Arabian Sea during 2006. The Air Wing is made up of F/Q-18 Super Hornet strike craft, the Sidewinders Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-86, the 251st Marine Fighter Attack Squadron MFA, and the Electronic Attack Squadron VAQ 137.
The 32nd Sea Control Squadron VS consists of S-3B Vikings. The Airborne Early Warning Squadron VAQ 3 flies E-2C Hawkeye craft. The Fleet Logistics Support Squadron VRC is based on C-2A Greyhounds.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report Washington is considering deploying the fourth US carrier for the region in the Red Sea opposite Saudi Arabian western coast to secure the three US carriers in the Gulf from the rear as well as the Gulf of Aqaba and Suez Canal.
No, they’re very different.
Long Beach was the only ship in her class. She was nuclear and designed to steam with Enterprise. I think she had a couple of 2 armed bandits. A fine ship, at the time.
Gettysburg is a Ticonderoga class CG. The bulk of those ships were built in the 80’s. They’re fitted with 4 LM2500 gas turbines. They’re the first AEGIS ships equipped with SPY-1 phased array radar. Early ships were fitted with 2 armed bandits then later upgraded to VLS MK-41.
The Arleigh Burke DDG’s are the latest AEGIS ships and they make up the bulk of our surface ships. Nice upgrades from the Tico’s and all steel hull and superstructure.
I checked Gettysburg’s webpage and saw that she was a gas turbine. I don’t know that the Long Beach was a one of a kind cruiser tho. Curious that the US would move away from nuke power to jetfuel... Probably cost or the reactor.
I’m sure Bush is sending them over there carrying really, really, really stern letters to Iran that we are getting mad!
A rather leading term, eh?
1 Carrier (CVN)
1 Air Wing (80 Aircraft or so)
1 Ticonderoga (CG)
4 Arleigh Burke (DDG)
1 Ammo Ship
2 Attack sub
Lots of Land Attack Tomahawks, if so equipped.
imagine how fast it will be when it gets underway!
That's part of a larger goal of politically subduing them. Should that fail, expect a full blockade of all Iranian ports and the destruction of all Iranian pipelines...and the destruction of any refining capacity.
Should the Iranians shoot in earnest or try to close the Gulf, they'll be decapitated while the blockade continues.
We have the ability to drive this to closure through blockade and regime decapitation...which includes the destruction of all Iranian military assets.
I was really wondering what “sustainment exercises” were?
Any additions will be in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea and/or Indian Ocean. We'll cover our backsides...just incase somebody with the ability to put a ship to sea gets any funny ideas.
Besides, it's important to DEMONSTRATE that we can project power anywhere in the world with impunity...not just that we were not opposed, but that we could not be opposed.
Good night! Time for the popcorn.
the Gettysburg is FAR superior in controlling the airspace around the battlegroup.
I had to laugh. Good question.
I thought that the Nimitz class were the biggest. I have read that the Big E is the fastest. Supposedly has four reactors and is a screaming meemee.
When Qaddafi drew the line, we regularly crossed it.
Iran imports 100 percent of its gasoline and other refined petroleum products. A few weeks of blockade would do wonders.
It is longer:
Navy fact File
http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=200&ct=4
General Characteristics, Enterprise Class
Displacement: 89,600 tons
Length: 1,101 feet 2 inches
General Characteristics, Nimitz Class
Approximately 97,000 tons
Length: 1,092 feet
USS Enterprise CVN-65
http://www.enterprise.navy.mil/
- Yes, I think Mubarek and other Middle Eastern despots recognize that Hamas is the tool of Iran in it’s attempt to radicalize the entire region. With Hamas now in Gaza, they are getting uncomfortably close to Egypt’s border and they could start to cause trouble for Mubarek at home. When Bush announced his plan to try and democratize the region, it’s obvious that Hamas was set up to try and resist the attempt.
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