Posted on 07/16/2012 9:32:06 AM PDT by BenLurkin
A U.S. military supply ship fired Monday at a small boat in the Persian Gulf after it came too close, apparently killing one person on board, two U.S. officials said.
The USNS Rappahannock, a fuel resupply ship, fired on what the officials called a "small, white pleasure craft" 10 miles from the Dubai port of Jebel Ali.
The small boat appeared to be headed for that port, the officials said, adding that their information was preliminary. The U.S. ship verbally warned the smaller boat when it was 1,200 yards away and fired at least one warning shot before the decision was made to fire shots to disable the boat, the officials said.
"In accordance with Navy force protection procedures, the sailors on the USNS Rappahannock ... used a series of non-lethal, preplanned responses to warn the vessel before resorting to lethal force," the Navy said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
They got plenty of warning. If they don’t understand a warning shot they either have bad intentions or they’re Darwin Award candidates.
Remember the U.S.S. Cole!
Target practice.
He better not!
Looking for pictures of the “30 ft white pleasure craft,” anybody seen what it looks like now?
A big Shout Out to the sailors and captain! Great Shooting men.
One killed, 3 injured
A little more info here...
http://news.yahoo.com/official-us-ship-fires-boat-off-dubai-1-155101441.html
“The boat appeared to be a civilian vessel about 30 feet (9 meters) long and powered by three outboard motors. Similar boats are used for fishing in the region, though Iran’s Revolutionary Guard also employs relatively small, fast-moving craft in the Gulf.”
What I do not understand is with what did they use to fire?
USNS ships are owned by the US Navy but are civilian manned vessels. Can anybody explain this? They are not armed vessels, unless you want to count the pistol in the Master’s safe.
If that story holds up, we will be OK.
We can't risk another "Cole" incident where a small boat drilled one of our ships and killed 17 of our service people and injured many more. - Tom
A gray submarine?
"the security team on the Rappahannock fired rounds from a .50-caliber machine gun."
Comment on my post above: Either this is a USS ship or the Navy has started to put Navy armed guards aboard its USNS ships. Something of which I would whole heartedly approve. But it is highly unlikely the the civilian crews on USNS vessels would be allowed to man 50 cal machine guns. I admit I have been out of the loop for a few years.
Probably civilians out fishing, who didn’t get the .50 cal. message.
Gearing up for the Oct surprise.
It’s all the POS in the WH has.
Oh geez, you really beat me to this. I came looking for this thread when I heard the news and there my reply was at No. 2. (getting old and slow)
In that part of the world, to approach a naval vessel the boat operator is either stunningly stupid, or a terr perp.
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