Free Republic

IN a huge blow to Saddam Hussein's pride, his vast presidential yacht is believed to have been sunk in a coalition air strike. Typically, his yacht - the luxurious Al Mansur - was the largest ship in the Iraqi navy, despite having no military value whatsoever. But following an attack by allied bombers on the port of Basra, Saddam's floating pride and joy is now understood to be partially submerged. Also destroyed in the attack were virtually the entire remnants of the Iraq navy, with two large patrol boats and a supply ship left shattered on the bed of the...

Australian naval divers have become the key to the humanitarian relief effort in southern Iraq, battling poor visibility and debris in their hunt for mines.The divers' mission is to clear Umm Qasr, the only deep sea entrance into Iraq, of explosives which may have been left by fleeing enemy forces."All you can see is a dark object so you have to swim up on it and use your hand to work out what it is," one diver said.Australian Navy Captain, Peter Jones, is the commander of a flotilla of coalition ships responsible for clearing the waterways in southern Iraq.They are...

Navy alert to suicide attacks after speedboat bomb intercepted March 26 2003, 12:55 PM Coalition naval forces were on high alert against suicide attacks after Iranian gunboats intercepted an Iraqi speedboat packed with half a tonne of high explosive. Three other Iraqi speedboats, which it is feared may contain similar amounts of explosive, got away when Iranian forces engaged Iraqis at the mouth of the Shatt-al-Arab River, the waterway that marks the border between the two countries. The explosives were discovered after one of the Iraqi boats was run aground during the confrontation. British, American and Australian warships in...

U.S. and British naval forces are on high alert against seaside suicide attacks after Iranian gunboats intercepted an Iraqi speedboat packed with half a ton of high explosives. Navy alerted for speedboats like these Zodiacs Three other Iraqi speedboats got away when Iranian forces engaged Iraqis at the mouth of the Shatt-al-Arab River, the waterway that marks the border between the two countries. The explosives were discovered after one of the Iraqi boats was run aground during the confrontation. Coalition warships in the region have been on high alert for the risk of al-Qaida strikes since the suicide attack against...