Iran Takes Control of Cargo Ship; U.S. Sends Destroyer to Persian Gulf

New York Times ^ | 4/28/15 | HELENE COOPER

[Enlightened1]

After being fired upon, the ship issued a distress call, prompting the United States Navy to direct the destroyer, the Farragut, to the area. The Farragut, the defense official said, is now about 60 miles away. He said that so far there has been no communication between the United States Navy and Iran, but added that American aircraft are standing by to monitor the situation.

[Kozak]

Oooh a whole destroyer?
A veritable Armada.

[Enlightened1]

[Edgar3]

What better way to transfer arms, cash, or anything else to the Iranian regime than to have a cargo ship “taken”. Accident? Coincidence? I think not.

[al baby]

General Information

Builder: General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
Hull Length (Overall): 509.5 ft
Beam: 66 ft
Draft (Navigation): 31 ft
Displacement: 9,300 Tons
Speed: 30+ Knots

So less than 3 hours away

[Terry L Smith]

Hey!
You can’t do that!!!
We gotta deal, with rainbows and butterflies, with Iran!!!

Actually, I would rather think that a single destroyer surface ship is seen .... but i would hope that ‘an attack boat’ at the correct depth is also on the way.

[manc]

There to observe no doubt.

[Dagnabitt]

Serious now - The destroyer has taken their hastags off safe.

[Red Badger]

Farragut?

Dann the torpedoes! Full Speed Ahead!..........

[Netz]

All of America's enemies know Obama won't do a thing, no matter what so it's a time of testing and probing for Iran and other hostile nations. Lenin wrote about probing and dealing with a mushy resistence which meant continue to probe with the bayonet. If steel was met, retract and probe later. This is what they all do to Obama's America but not to Putin's Russia...

[Genoa]

Wikipedia: “The Compact of Free Association with the United States gives the U.S. sole responsibility for international defense of the Marshall Islands.”

[navyguy]

I too wish we would send more than a single vessel, but I would not under estimate this ship. Here's the list of goodies: Armament: Missiles: Flight I: 90 cell Mk 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) Flights II and IIA: 96 cell Mk 41 VLS Tomahawk (missile) RIM-66M Standard medium range SAM (has an ASuW mode)[citation needed] RIM-161 Standard Ballistic missile defense missile for Aegis BMD (15 ships as of March 2009[6]) RIM-162 ESSM (4 per cell) SAM (DDG-79 onward) RUM-139 Vertical Launch ASROC RIM-174A Standard ERAM added in 2011 2 x Mk 141 Harpoon Missile Launcher SSM (not in Flight IIA units)[7] Guns: 1 or 2 × 5-inch (127-mm)/54 Mk-45 Mod 1/2 (lightweight gun) (DDG-51 through −80); or 1 × 5-inch (127-mm)/62 Mk-45 mod 4 (lightweight gun) (DDG-81 onwards) 2 × (DDG-51 through −84); or 1 × (DDG-85 onwards) 20 mm Phalanx CIWS 2 × 25 mm M242 Bushmaster cannons Torpedoes: 2 × Mark 32 triple torpedo tubes (six Mk-46 or Mk-50 torpedoes, Mk-54 in the near future)

[arielguard]

Let the monitoring begin! Monitor away boys...

[drypowder]

if the US gets into another war, the first and most prudent thing we the people need to do is to remove the entire Obozo regime and put someone in the WH who is loyal to this country and puts our best interests first.

[blackdog]

Baltimore sells better with the networks. Nobody will care.

[Dagnabitt]

Another chance for Obama to betray an ally.

And the MI isn't really even an "ally" it's more of a mostly-independent protectorate.

[Riley]

Agree- she’s far from being a skiff with a ma deuce on it.

Once again here, as with Baltimore et. al, it’s not the firepower on scene. It’s the leadership making a wise and decisive choice to use it appropriately and in accordance with US national interest.

We have a leadership issue.

In other words, we could have a CVN group offshore, and the hostages would still be screwed, I’m sorry to say.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for posting this. The fire power of our modern DDS's is incredible. "I would not under estimate this ship. Here's the list of goodies: Armament: Missiles: Flight I: 90 cell Mk 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) Flights II and IIA: 96 cell Mk 41 VLS Tomahawk (missile) RIM-66M Standard medium range SAM (has an ASuW mode)[citation needed] RIM-161 Standard Ballistic missile defense missile for Aegis BMD (15 ships as of March 2009[6]) RIM-162 ESSM (4 per cell) SAM (DDG-79 onward) RUM-139 Vertical Launch ASROC RIM-174A Standard ERAM added in 2011 2 x Mk 141 Harpoon Missile Launcher SSM (not in Flight IIA units)[7] Guns: 1 or 2 × 5-inch (127-mm)/54 Mk-45 Mod 1/2 (lightweight gun) (DDG-51 through −80); or 1 × 5-inch (127-mm)/62 Mk-45 mod 4 (lightweight gun) (DDG-81 onwards) 2 × (DDG-51 through −84); or 1 × (DDG-85 onwards) 20 mm Phalanx CIWS 2 × 25 mm M242 Bushmaster cannons Torpedoes: 2 × Mark 32 triple torpedo tubes (six Mk-46 or Mk-50 torpedoes, Mk-54 in the near future)." Of course if Obozo, Kerry and the Muslim Brotherhood in charge of the Outhouse limit what our sailors can use in a battle, none of this counts:

[Gideon300]

“I too wish we would send more than a single vessel...”

You can take it to the bank that there is at least one attack sub, probably two, on semi-permanent station in the area. They just rotate them out occasionally. And I seriously doubt Buckwheat even knows it.

[EQAndyBuzz]

There is an aircraft carrier there. Why do you need a destroyer?