Article

2008-01-08 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Pentagon confirms Iranian boats harassed US Navy

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Posted by Seafarious 2008-01-08 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11 views ] Top

#1 ION SPACEWAR > CHINA PLANNING TO SECURE NORTH KOREA'S ARSENAL. More popularly/commonly known as sending in the troops = PLA; + IRAN MOCKS US BID TO BREAK ALLIANCE WID SYRIA.

Looks like CHINA is expecting truble this year vv NOKORS + IRAN-ME + DUBYA VISIT(S), while IRAN is just looking for truble??? TAIWAN???

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-01-08 00:19|| 2008-01-08 00:19|| Front Page Top

#2 I just heard about the incident. While a harpoon-like weapon could hurt a USN ship, I don't think a RPG would do much damage. During General Quarters, a really lucky hit in the bridge could make casualties of a quarter of the officers and cause some confusion. More than likely the first shot would be a miss and the carnage would commence. A five inch gun would have trouble hitting a small fast target with the first shot, but I'm confident that fire could be adjusted, before a small contact could turn 200m back into 1000m.

I never served on a ship that had CWIS, but I'm confident that it could be used effectively against a fast-moving surface target. Also three ships would have enough harpoons to waste 5 to 8 small ships. The fact that they are small doesn't matter as much as the size of their radar blip. Besides the chainguns and the 50 cals, the ships might also armed with stingers or other surprises.

I am confident that the result would be one-sided. After what happened in the harbor of the Port of Aden, I imagine that my SWO brethern would be happy to kill a bunch of folks and then send the Messenger of the Watch to the Wardroom for a fresh carafe of joe.

Posted by Super Hose 2008-01-08 01:17|| 2008-01-08 01:17|| Front Page Top

#3 ASIA TIMES > DOLPHINS:IRAN'S WEAPON AGZ THE USA? Run, FLIPPER, run; + CHINA FLOATS A THREE-CARRIER PLAN, + PAKISTAN SEES US AS THE GREATEST THREAT. The US' "Covert Push" from yesterday.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-01-08 01:25|| 2008-01-08 01:25|| Front Page Top

#4 The hull on a destroyer is only a half inch thick If I recall. An RPG would go right through it if so.

And given the value of taking out an American warship, I'll bet there would be more than fifty small boats involved.

If you like concerts, here's a cool video of a CIWS at work! :-)

Here's a video of how much work a Phalanx has to do to take out a "barrage" of two Exocet missiles.

It's my understanding that one of those gun systems only has 900 rounds of ammo, and I'll bet it takes several minutes to reload. It seems to me that even I could design a swarm of some kind to exhaust the ammo and leave the American ships less defended against 100 patrol boats each with 100 RPGs, so what's to prevent Iran or anyone else from doing the same thing?

Posted by gorb 2008-01-08 04:15|| 2008-01-08 04:15|| Front Page Top

#5 Although an having a a well-aimed RPG hit would certainly do some topside damage, it certainly wouldn't take out a destroyer. I am also dubious about the homemade swarm weapons. At the start of the Iraqi insugency the weapon of choice was the homemade rocket launcher pulled by a donkey. If the war between the US and Iran errupts into a full-fledged shooting match, the Iranian weapon of choice will be the mine deployed from a dhow. The end result will be a big squeeze on smuggling traffic in the Persian Gulf.

Posted by Super Hose 2008-01-08 07:31|| 2008-01-08 07:31|| Front Page Top

#6 How close could 100 small boats get to a destroyer before somebody noticed the dhow armada...

Posted by Excalibur 2008-01-08 10:10|| 2008-01-08 10:10|| Front Page Top

#7 The dhows are always there, or they used to be. That was the problem.

Posted by Super Hose 2008-01-08 10:45|| 2008-01-08 10:45|| Front Page Top

#8 What did they toss in the water? Nuclear mines could complicate everything rather easily.

Posted by Danielle 2008-01-08 10:56|| 2008-01-08 10:56|| Front Page Top

#9 The hull on a destroyer is only a half inch thick If I recall. An RPG would go right through it if so.

Modern warships are built like sponges rather than steel fortresses. A modern day missile has a chance of simply passing through a vessel without even exploding because of that thin armor, but really its there for another reason, once one compartment is punctured most of the energy is displace in that one compartment followed by maybe one or two more (note this is true mainly for shaped warheads and HEAT type warheads not so much boats laden with explosives).

Also as a side note, its pretty damn hard to shoot anything past 50 yards on a vessel without some kind of stabilization for the boats motion.

Posted by Valentine 2008-01-08 13:30|| 2008-01-08 13:30|| Front Page Top

#10 A modern day missile has a chance of simply passing through a vessel without even exploding because of that thin armor, but really its there for another reason, once one compartment is punctured most of the energy is displace in that one compartment followed by maybe one or two more

With anti-ship missiles, the actual damage is designed to occur after entry. Even if the warhead does not go off, damage is created anyway by the excess propellant (a la the Exocet).

Posted by Pappy 2008-01-08 14:04|| 2008-01-08 14:04|| Front Page Top

#11 If a jihadi can't hit a thunder-running humvee with an RPG at 100 meters from a standing position, why would he be able to hit a destroyer at 1000 meters from a rocking Boston whaler? If he did get lucky, so what. The damage will be above the waterline in the Persian Gulf which is relatively calm. If the RPM penetrates, the ship isn't going to sink. The hit might waste something or someone that is vital to communications, command and control and or fire control. Then again it might do no damage, spoil the paint job on the quarterdeck, mash the contents of the spud locker or hit the Port Side lookout as he goofs off at GQ instead of paying attention. The most likely damage assessment for a direct hit scenario is for it to cause secondary fires amongst the excessive paperwork that Navy vessels carry.

Rest assured, unless the Boston Whaler is a stealth X-wing fighter that can drop a phonton torpedo down the ship's smoke stack, the ship won't sink. If the jihadis are unlucky enough to knock-out e-mail or damage equipment critical to receiving NFL broadcasts, there is nothing that will save their lives. It will be a Mossad type response. You will have CPO's hunting the dudes in perpetuity.

Posted by Super Hose 2008-01-08 14:37|| 2008-01-08 14:37|| Front Page Top

#12 Unless it hits something vital like the waveguide feeding the Aegis radars (a single point of failure). Then the navy has a $1 billion dollar sitting duck from air/missile attack.

Posted by ed 2008-01-08 14:47|| 2008-01-08 14:47|| Front Page Top

#13 Lulz, the Hose is back in top form.

Posted by Thomas Woof">Thomas Woof 2008-01-08 14:56|| 2008-01-08 14:56|| Front Page Top

#14 USS Cole?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2008-01-08 15:01|| 2008-01-08 15:01|| Front Page Top

#15 If by 'Cole' you mean suicide craft attacks - yes, that's possible. It won't be as 'easy' as the Cole attack was, but it's possible.

Another possibility not to be discounted are attacks from land-based anti-ship missile installations, either simultaneous with an IRGCN boat-attack, or as a 'supporting/response' effort to IRGCN assets should the USN respond (or had responded) to an IRGCN provocation.

Posted by Pappy 2008-01-08 17:10|| 2008-01-08 17:10|| Front Page Top

#16 And ... it's not coincidental that this provocation came as Bush as on his way to Israel.

Posted by lotp 2008-01-08 20:20|| 2008-01-08 20:20|| Front Page Top

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