Posted on 01/17/2016 1:57:49 PM PST by Taxman
CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, January 18, 2016
Iranian coup: A tale of two U.S. Navy vessels
Last week, the U.S. Navy dispatched two of its fearsomely armed Riverine Command Boats (RCBs) to patrol between Kuwait and Bahrain. Somehow, the RCBs were seized by the Iranian Navy; the crewmembers arrested, and -- even though the U.S. and Iran are not technically at war -- treated as Prisoners of War (POWs). How could this happen?
The Swedish-designed, U.S.- manufactured RCBs cost $2.8 million per copy. Each RCB carries six machine guns, to include a .50 caliber Gatling gun, plus grenade launchers. Covered with armor plating able to deflect AK-47 fire, the RCB’s 49.4 mile-per-hour top speed means RCBs can outrun every known surface warship.
To guard against surprise attack, RCBs carry the Sea FLIR III infrared sensor system, thermal imaging, a laser rangefinder, and long-range radar. Navigation is by a top-of-the line GPS and chart plotter system, along with traditional chart and compass back-up. The RCB’s world-wide communications gear nets with ships, aircraft, and ground forces.
Operating in pairs, the RCBs provide each other with mutual fire support. If one RCB is disabled, the other RCB can tow it to safety. Thus, the question arises: How could two RCBs lose their ability to navigate at the same time and stray into Iranian waters? And how could two world-class weapons platforms be seized by the, arguably, inferior Iranian Navy?
Apparently, one of the RCBs had a propulsion problem and radioed U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain for assistance. Congressman Louis Gohmert (R) of Texas claims the Obama White House intervened, asked the Iranian Navy to provide assistance, and ordered the U.S. 5th Fleet to stand down.
By long-standing naval custom, disabled boats found in territorial waters are rendered assistance, and simply escorted back into international waters. Their crews are not subjected to POW treatment or put on world-wide video display, looking like criminals.
But, instead of being treated as distressed vessels exercising the mariners’ right of innocent passage, the Iranians arrested the crew members, treated them as POWs, and, somehow, got the officer-in-charge to make filmed statements praising the Iranians and saying the treatment the crew received was: "Fantastic."
Absent Congressman Gohmert’s explanation -- citing White House intervention -- it appears Articles II and V of the U.S. military’s Code of Conduct were violated. Article II states: "I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist." Article V reads: "When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the best of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause."
Alternatively, could it be that the White House-imposed Rules of Engagement (ROE) robbed the RCBs of their "means to resist"? Were the RCB’s awesome weapons even permitted to be loaded? Congress should demand to see the Operations Order under which the two RCBs left Kuwait for Bahrain and demand copies of all the communications between the RCBs, U.S. 5th Fleet, and the White House. Meanwhile, the RCB crews are left twisting in the wind.
Nationally syndicated columnist, William Hamilton, is a laureate of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma University Army ROTC Wall of Fame, and is a recipient of the University of Nebraska 2015 Alumni Achievement Award. He was educated at the University of Oklahoma, the George Washington University, the Infantry School, the U.S Naval War College, the University of Nebraska, and Harvard University.
©2016. William Hamilton.
Roger that!
Check out post #158.
Matt put a very nice graphic together!
All the weapons are meaningless when those armed with them do not use them. They could have surrendered without such expensive armament.
I don’t know about these boats, but when possible, the welded towing-eye is placed on the stem or very bow, close to the waterline. A bridle is affixed to this eye, and carried to the bow deck, to make hookups easier. Then the pulling force is upward, not straight which as you said causes the towed boat to dig in, bow down.
It’s also hard keep the towed boat straight in line without swerving, especially a jet boat without true rudders to maintain alignment under tow.
I saw the towing bridle on the tow boat as a single line, where the towing line had an eye/thimble spliced to the end, and the tow line able to slide side to side on the transverse towing bridle. I don’t like that setup, I feel it is much inferior to a setup where the towing line is kept in a tight triangle, right on the centerline, the tow line not able to shift laterally in turns by the towing boat. When the turn is over, the towed boat gets squirrelly again, while the towing line is recentered. Just keep it centered at all times with an unshifting fixed tow bridle, if I described it well enough to picture.
I pretty much understand what your saying. Thanks. We’re gonna have to get a POTUS & Congress who will get some Secretaries in office that will restore some common sense and trust. Except where small number is necessity for mission ops I believe in the proven strength in numbers. Enough so even to cover the smaller ops behinds quickly if needed. Abandoning it has come at a price as of late.
We don’t make them like than any more. Before he passed, I used to correspond with Major Dick Winters, the hero of Easy Company of the Band of Brothers. He was a great man. He and all his men were true American heroes. We simply don’t make heroes like that any more. Very sad. America has simply gotten too fat and happy. We are spoiled. And what does spoiled stuff smell like? Yup, stink.
I am regularly impressed with what that generation accomplished. I think part of it was that most of them had it really tough during the depression.
I am also impressed by our enemies of that era. They were no pansies either.
Thanksshalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
NIAC, the Iran lobby... comes to mind.
Well, they are out there, my FRiend.
And, when we need them, they will come to the fore!
You are most welcome.
What came immediately to mind, when this story first broke, is “Why are there no maps? Why are there no GPS tracks or, as Matt pointed out, E-2C radar tracks of the RCBs intended/actual course?â€
The answer is, of course, as Matt’s visual shows us, is that there is no FReeping way those boats could have got near Farsi Island!
His map shows the LIE!
It was an Iranian takedown, and the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that they were ordered to intrude into Iranian waters, get “ambushed†and surrender!
I wouldn’t be surprised, mind you... if the orders came down to surrender rather than skedaddle or fight; it’s just that people need to find the Ghomert interview and read it for themselves, rather than rely on someone’s interpretation of one lone sentence in it. I haven’t had time to trace back to the interview or I’d link it.
Since both boats were not down , let’s say they were ordered not to fire warning shots to deter the Iranians ... why didn’t they abandon the disabled craft, scuttle it to whatever degree is possible , and get out of there on one? Unless they were told this was ‘help’ and drank the Kool Aide about ‘peace in our time’ with Iran. I don’t like seeing US personnel taking stupid chances with a hostage-taking nation. Let the State Dept try to ransom an empty boat instead if they want.
They probably did not have “Weapons FRee” ROE!
I'm thinking they had orders to cooperate.
Let the State Dept try to ransom an empty burned and sunken boat instead if they want.
I'm with you there.
Yup. Both of my parents grew up in a very rural county here in Alabama. In fact that county remains very rural. The only towns in that county are small. There are no settlements that qualify as a “city.” My parents both grew up on farms in the 1920s and 30s. My dad and mom both said they never knew there was a depression because they didn’t have any money anyway. They grew, killed or caught everything they ate. They grew all the crops to feed their large families. My mom was the oldest of 8 and my dad was about in the middle of 10. They went to the store in a small town maybe twice a month. Dad said it took all day to ride by wagon to town and return, since it was so far away. They had animals for food, pigs, chickens, beef, and fished, and hunted all kinds of game animals. Dad said he would spend all day every day sometimes hunting game. They were able to eat and not starve or stand in some soup line like the cities. Folks out on the farms actually had it better than the city folks. There are not many of those life styles left in America today. Even today farmers have all sorts of machines to do the work. Not my dad. He plowed behind a couple of mules not ride a nice John Deere tractor. Because of growing up on a farm and having to eat what was on the table or go hungry, I never saw a food that I heard my father say he did not like. Whatever my mom put on the table every mean, he ate. He never turned his nose up at any food. I hate liver to this day, but my dad ate it. I have watched him go through a field and pick peppers. I watched him eat them right off the bush. Some of them hotter than the gates to hell, but he woofed em down. Never said they were too hot. I guess when you grow up like my parents did, you were lucky. You learned to do, not have it dooo-ed for you. My dad has been gone since 1975. I still miss him to this day. He was my best pal growing up. I was a “surprise” child. Came along 6 1/2 years after my sister in front of me. My big brother is 13 years older than me. I guess me coming along gave dad a new little boy to take hunting and fishing and to ball games.
so now we know we cant depend on the military because the commander in chief controls them.
what will he have them do if a republican wins the WH?
i’m not kidding. this guy was a certified communist/muslim sympathizer and America HATER from day one.
Unless Gohmert has a smoking gun for this claim, it isn't remotely credible. Something like giving one of those boats a tow (and each could tow the other in any case) would probably not even make it up to flag rank much less all the way up the chain to civilian command.
Here’s your evidence that the US Navy was ordered to stand down. Just like I thought.
Please send this info VIRAL: Iran SEIZED our two small, PT-style boats from INTERNATIONAL waters and kidnapped the crew, in a BOLD demonstration of pure POWER over the Wimp of the White House. Read the 2nd comment, by Matt Bracken, linked below:
http://bit.ly/1nf3vTw
An interesting example of Iran going after vessels that are not in their waters, just close. This is the one of 2 seizures of boats of the UK- three boats seized; this one they jerked around the crews quite a bit before release, with mock executions, in a temper tantrum over a British vote:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Iranian_seizure_of_Royal_Navy_personnel
Well, we all know that the Iranian government is VERY unpleasant and detestable.
(I am trying, desperately, to not refer to the Iranian government as assholes, but, well, sometimes you gotta call ‘em like you see ‘em!)
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