Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Iranian coup: A tale of two U.S. Navy vessels
Central View ^ | January 17, 2016 | William Hamilton, J.D., Ph.D.

Posted on 01/17/2016 1:57:49 PM PST by Taxman

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 201-220221-240241-260261 next last
To: ratzoe
My theory is he asked the Iranians for help and they agreed. ... the Iranians double-crossed him to use it for propaganda purposes.

I agree.......They were U.S. military forces in another country's territorial waters without permission and the Iranians had every right to board and seize but not to propagandize. And while our boats had the weaponry and firepower to fend off the Iranians, what would be the global ramifications of such an act be? You don't sail into another country's waters then get into a naval fire fight with them.

What would be the U.S.'s response to such boats manned by Chinese in US waters off the coast of San Diego?

221 posted on 01/18/2016 9:26:30 AM PST by Hot Tabasco (Dear Santa: Please find a home for every homeless and unwanted cat and dog that is suffering)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Hot Tabasco

I don’t see how they could have accidentally got into Iranian territory.

I have a refurbished Garmin in my car and it is never off, not even a hundred yards off. It even tells me if I turn and it tells me immediately.

I suspect the Navy has more than a $25 unit.


222 posted on 01/18/2016 9:40:17 AM PST by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 221 | View Replies]

To: Hot Tabasco
You don't sail into another country's waters then get into a naval fire fight with them.

Not so simple in the Middle East. How exactly did the US sailors know for sure that the guys in the speedboats weren't ISIS freelancers or Somali style pirates? Or some guys with a boat full of explosives like the terrorists that attacked the USS Cole.

I would say in many parts of the world you deny even close proximity to any vessel unless you know that it is either friendly, or you have agreed to allow it to approach.

In this instance, since the story about a disabled boat or boats seems to be fiction, any US sailors on those boats who suspected they were in Iranian waters could just drive away - pretty much any direction but North East in the case of Farsi Island. In a boat that can travel close to 50 mph they would have been in international waters in minutes, even if they could see the island.

Even if the Iranians were annoyed, just what would they have been able to do to a boat headed for international waters with a 50 caliber machine gun pointed at them? Their Boston Whalers would probably not be able to close the distance to the US boats anyway.

The more I learn the less of the story seems plausible.

223 posted on 01/18/2016 9:47:58 AM PST by freeandfreezing
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 221 | View Replies]

To: Taxman
how could two world-class weapons platforms be seized by the, arguably, inferior Iranian Navy?

Well the CIC could order them to stand down and allow themselves to be captured. Not only plausible but probable.

224 posted on 01/18/2016 9:48:59 AM PST by rawcatslyentist (Genesis 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yarddog
I don’t see how they could have accidentally got into Iranian territory.

Even in the navy stupid stuff happens.......Several years ago a female naval officer lost her command after running her ship aground.

225 posted on 01/18/2016 9:51:36 AM PST by Hot Tabasco (Dear Santa: Please find a home for every homeless and unwanted cat and dog that is suffering)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 222 | View Replies]

To: Carry_Okie; Travis McGee
I would think a boat with twin drives would have divorced fuel systems, if nothing else but for purposes of adjusting trim. Even if both sides were contaminated when fueling, they wouldn't both drop out simultaneously. If it was discovered to be a fuel problem (which is the first place anybody would look), the second filter could be drained and they could probably limp out of there on one engine. The story just doesn't make sense.

That would be the only shared thing that could possibly do it and a bad enough contamination no number of filters could fix. That or an issues with batteries I've seen before on other type small craft where the engine had to be shut down. But I agree with Travis. I've heard back in my day of 30-50 foot boats tied off to ships breaking away from their booms in the night and drifting off with it's crew onboard sleeping {which was normal and allowed in these cases those were liberty boats used to haul 175 men}. Worse case scenario they drifted a few miles off out to sea and when they woke up the crew radioed back to the ship their status for help.

To have done what is said those boats did a break down and drift into Iranian waters was way too far for that to happen and not a route the boats would take. And he is also right you don't drop or recover Special Teams in daylight and especially sit and wait. I didn't know how many it took to fully man the boats but he said 10 per boat and that sounds right for gunners, deck crew, etc. The crews onboard were simply to relocate it in what they considered a safe move.

Iran saw a blip on their scopes and an obvious opportunity and snatched them in International Waters likely less than ten miles out at sea. Remember how the Somalia pirates operated? They used high speed small craft that looked civilian.

Now my question would be since the Navy knew the boats were ordered to new port why wasn't a larger ship or three standing close by or air support alerted? Why? Because Obama administration has our ships sitting in port with minimal numbers deployed.

226 posted on 01/18/2016 10:05:13 AM PST by cva66snipe ((Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 168 | View Replies]

To: Covenantor
The lack of tow line/s with two boats is pure BS.

True. Your mooring lines can be used for this. That's how we towed. The only thing greatly compromised in towing is speed. Even if you have the power for speed you are pulling the other boats bow. The higher the speed the more prone the towed boats bow would dig in seems to me. Propulsion is from the stern so the bow raises up & not pulls down.

227 posted on 01/18/2016 10:23:36 AM PST by cva66snipe ((Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 212 | View Replies]

To: ronnie raygun
They were told to stand down and get captured to elevate the iranian state to Americas level

Obama finally made his foreign-policy ukase public in his statement about the release of the ethnic-Iranian U.S. citizens the Iranian mullahs have been holding hostage.

This incident appears to be of a part with that Obama policy of craven diplomacy and making nice with third-world thugocrats as our moral equals.

This ain't gonna play, Barry, with people raised on Stephen Decatur and John Paul Jones and -- grit your teeth, boy, you're gonna hate it -- American exceptionalism.

228 posted on 01/18/2016 10:28:21 AM PST by lentulusgracchus ("If America was a house , the Lebft would root for the termites." - Greg Gutierrez)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: cva66snipe
I've only messed about in small boats but know that to be true. This video shows 2 RCB's in the Arabian Gulf during a towing excercise. Given that the USN only has six RCB's the probality is very high that these are the same boats that were captured. Assume the odds favor them being the same crew as well. They have the towing hook up down pat, easy as pie. BAHRAIN! Riverine Command Boat Training in the Arabian Gulf!
229 posted on 01/18/2016 10:36:10 AM PST by Covenantor (Men are ruled..e.by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern - Chesterton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 227 | View Replies]

To: freeandfreezing; Travis McGee; gaijin; All
The woman in this youtube video appears to be the same one that was captured, no?

Coastal Riverine Force Cape Fear Final Skills Assessment - Interview

Given there are only six RCB's in service, odds seem good.

230 posted on 01/18/2016 10:47:04 AM PST by Covenantor (Men are ruled..e.by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern - Chesterton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 209 | View Replies]

To: NormsRevenge

were they instructed to drift into enemy territory just so bozo could then have us “apologize” suffer humiliation, slip some more Iranian prisoners to them under the guise of “friendship” and pay them a billion bucks just for fun?....


231 posted on 01/18/2016 10:48:41 AM PST by cherry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Covenantor

I’m on Slow dial up and can’t view it. But yeah rigging a tow is basic seamanship an E-2 can do. It should never take more than a few minutes tops even when not under the gun. I don’t know the Rating or M.O.S. of crew members but one {driver} is likely a Bosuns Mate or cross trained BM NCO and they can rig skyhooks LOL rigging is the speciality.


232 posted on 01/18/2016 10:55:43 AM PST by cva66snipe ((Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 229 | View Replies]

To: cva66snipe
That would be the only shared thing that could possibly do it and a bad enough contamination no number of filters could fix.

Usually that stuff is either at the top or the bottom of the tank. One can play gravity games with valves to titrate off the good stuff to make enough clean fuel for at least one engine out of four to run. That's good enough for me on the high seas.

As to filters, it depends upon whether they are primary or secondary, the former usually being a trap and screen. I had one on a military motor made in the fifties that was a series of stacked disks with every other ganged to either a shaft down the middle or one on the outside. To clean it one merely turned the handle.

The big problem with modern engines is that they run with the latest and "greatest" enviro-hooey modifications that make them much more susceptible to contamination. The idiot designers are still using high pressure direct orifices instead of something a little more tolerant, such as swirl nozzles. It's what the manufacturers are accustomed to making.

Now my question would be since the Navy knew the boats were ordered to new port why wasn't a larger ship or three standing close by or air support alerted? Why? Because Obama administration has our ships sitting in port with minimal numbers deployed.

Commander Xero would hold them off if they were a few hundred yards away if the Iranians were already on the scene.

233 posted on 01/18/2016 10:55:59 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 226 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee; gaijin; freeandfreezing; cva66snipe
Listen to another female Riverine force trainee talk about Final Skills Assessment.

Coastal Riverine Force "Cape Fear Final Skills Assessment" - Interview

She speaks of ambush test, high, low machine gun...

Proof they were trained for just such a situation as the encountered.

These people, as you said Trav, are going to be hidden in far, remote, and nasty posts after NDA signing.

234 posted on 01/18/2016 10:57:24 AM PST by Covenantor (Men are ruled..e.by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern - Chesterton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 230 | View Replies]

To: vpintheak

I’m beyond pathetic and on to treason.


235 posted on 01/18/2016 11:10:13 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Taxman; All
Kuwait for Bahrain

One can get from Kuwait to Bahrain by dead reckoning
following the western shore of the Persian Gulf following
the shore line. No need to go East or out to sea.

There must have been classified equipment on board
requested by Iran and offered by Valerie.

As you know Valerie is Iranian born Salafist Muslim
and a Red Diaper Baby.

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
236 posted on 01/18/2016 12:55:29 PM PST by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 119:174 I long for Your salvation, YHvH, Your teaching is my delight.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DuncanWaring

237 posted on 01/18/2016 1:19:47 PM PST by KeyLargo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Taxman

Here is what REALLY happened!

The comment by Matt Bracken on the linked article at the bottom:

“I rarely pull out my dusty old trident, but in this case, here goes. I was a Navy SEAL officer in the 1980s, and this kind of operation (transiting small boats in foreign waters) was our bread and butter. Today, these boats both not only had radar, but multiple GPS devices, including chart plotters that place your boat’s icon right on the chart. The claim by Iran that the USN boats “strayed into Iranian waters” is complete bull$#it.

For an open-water transit between nations, the course is studied and planned in advance by the leaders of the Riverine Squadron, with specific attention given to staying wide and clear of any hostile nation’s claimed territorial waters. The boats are given a complete mechanical check before departure, and they have sufficient fuel to accomplish their mission plus extra. If, for some unexplainable and rare circumstance one boat broke down, the other would tow it, that’s why two boats go on these trips and not one! It’s called “self-rescue” and it’s SOP.

This entire situation is in my area of expertise. I can state with complete confidence that both Iran and our own State Department are lying. The boats did not enter Iranian waters. They were overtaken in international waters by Iranian patrol boats that were so superior in both speed and firepower that it became a “hands up!” situation, with automatic cannons in the 40mm to 76mm range pointed at them point-blank. Surrender, hands up, or be blown out of the water. I assume that the Iranians had an English speaker on a loudspeaker to make the demand. This takedown was no accident or coincidence, it was a planned slap across America’s face.

Just watch. The released sailors will be ordered not to say a word about the incident, and the Iranians will have taken every GPS device, chart-plotter etc off the boats, so that we will not be able to prove where our boats were taken.

The “strayed into Iranian waters” story being put out by Iran and our groveling and appeasing State Dept. is utter and complete BS from one end to the other.”

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/01/10_us_sailors_held_by_iran_confirmed_freed.html


238 posted on 01/18/2016 2:18:38 PM PST by 2harddrive
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sport
What in the world do they have on them to control them like this? Must make Hillary's files look like Mother Goose. Regardless, self-serving ‘public representatives’ not worth their weight. And every day the county is weakened even more under their watch by allowing this impostor to continue on without any accountability. SHAME!
239 posted on 01/18/2016 2:32:47 PM PST by 444Flyer (How long O LORD?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 198 | View Replies]

To: 2harddrive

Thanks.

Matt has been all over this sorry event for two days.

Check the original threas out at:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3384432/posts


240 posted on 01/18/2016 3:28:32 PM PST by Taxman (H. L. Mencken correctly observed: Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 238 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 201-220221-240241-260261 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson