Posted on 06/21/2007 5:16:59 AM PDT by jhpigott
According to DEBKAfile’s military sources, the US naval build-up off the shores of Iran marks rising military tensions in the region, accentuated by last week’s Hamas victory which has endowed Iran with a military foothold on Israel’s southwestern border.
The USS Enterprise CVN 65-Big E Strike Group, the US Navy’s largest air carrier, will join the USS Stennis and the USS Nimitz carriers, building up the largest sea, air, marine concentration the United States has ever deployed opposite Iran. This goes towards making good on the assurances of four carriers US Vice President Dick Cheney offered the Gulf and Middle East nations during his May tour of the region.
The “Big E” leads a strike group consisting of the guided-missile destroyers USS Arleigh Burke DDG 51, USS Stout DDG 55, Forrest Sherman DDG 98 and USS James E. Williams DDG 95, as well as the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg CG 64, the SS Philadelphia SSN 690 nuclear submarine and the USNS Supply T-AOE 6>
On its decks are the Carrier Air Wing CVW 1, whose pilots fought combat missions in the Gulf and Arabian Sea during 2006. The Air Wing is made up of F/Q-18 Super Hornet strike craft, the Sidewinders Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-86, the 251st Marine Fighter Attack Squadron MFA, and the Electronic Attack Squadron VAQ 137.
The 32nd Sea Control Squadron VS consists of S-3B Vikings. The Airborne Early Warning Squadron VAQ 3 flies E-2C Hawkeye craft. The Fleet Logistics Support Squadron VRC is based on C-2A Greyhounds.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report Washington is considering deploying the fourth US carrier for the region in the Red Sea opposite Saudi Arabian western coast to secure the three US carriers in the Gulf from the rear as well as the Gulf of Aqaba and Suez Canal.
And, who is largely responsible for this fine mess of a popular attitude? GWB, who couldn't explain the rationale for a strategically-sound move into Iraq, then proceeded to screw it up tactically and finally managed to embolden Syria and Iran while ignoring his own border and political base.
Exactly. GWB’s legacy is failed leadership which strategicly undermined the neccessary strategic moves he had to do.
There was a report a while back that claimed that once 3 groups were in the Gulf it was go time on Iran.
Can any sea dogs put that into landlubberease?
“Diplomacy is what you do after you kick the enemy’s ass and tell them what their lives are going to be like afterwards.” - Rush Limbaugh bttt
Hey battar battar battar, schwing battar battar.
I don’t give him that much credit to dream up a slider like that at this point.
And to think we could Kick the Holy SH!T out of these smelly little rag heads with just one Carrier Strike Group..........what are we waiting for....
That says it all, and very concisely.
i’m hearing on another board that the BBC just reported a standoff bwtn Aussie soldiers and Iranian soldiers. Anyone know how many Aussies are stationed in Iraq
not to disparage them...but probably 200
Americans do not get a pass for supposedly “not understanding” the world, the stakes, our enemies tactics and reasons, military history and realities, and war.
They do not need to be coddled, begged, and explained to any more than they already have since 9/11, by this Pres,Tony Blair, John Howard, Dick Cheney, and on and on, they have done nothing but for 6 years running.
Americans have decided they can’t take it anymore, its too tough, and want peace and love, their gas prices low, their health care paid for, and no war on TV.
Terrorists are mean, and we no longer want to make them mad, so its time to just arrest, give them a trial, and send them to jail.
Hell, Americans are more worried about Global Warming. Now the weather is something they are willing to FIGHT!
When your boogyman GWB is gone, you will still have your fellow Americans, (who btw have been voting in pro-illegal pols EVEN in the border States for a decade now)
Modality low; bogosity high.
A third group has been hanging around for nine months and has been rotated out at least twice.
“Enterprise is currently preparing to deploy this summer and is scheduled to get underway for sustainment exercises with Carrier Strike Group 12 and Carrier Air Wing 1.”
Can any sea dogs put that into landlubberease?
I’m not a sea dog, but I think the translation might be - What makes you idiot journalists think I’m going to give you information that might be useful to our enemies?
070530-N-1598C-015 ATLANTIC OCEAN (May 30, 2007) - Airman Jason Ogletree signals that an F/A-18C Hornet, attached to the "Thunderbolts" of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 251, has successfully hooked an arresting wire aboard nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65). Enterprise is underway conducting carrier qualifications. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman McKinley Cartwright (RELEASED)
Never mind it appears the incident with the Aussies happened a while ago, and they showed the Iranians a thing or 2
Australians ‘repelled Iran navy’
By Frank Gardner
BBC News security correspondent
The Australians have also been patrolling northern Gulf waters
Iranian naval forces in the Gulf tried to capture an Australian Navy boarding team but were vigorously repelled, the BBC has learned.
The incident took place before Iran successfully seized 15 British sailors and Marines in March.
The lessons from the earlier attempt do not appear to have been applied in time by British maritime patrols.
The 15 Britons were searching a cargo boat in the Gulf when they were captured over a boundary dispute.
‘Having none of it’
When Iranian Revolutionary Guards captured the British sailors and Royal Marines in March, it was not exactly their first attempt.
It turns out that Iranian forces made an earlier concerted attempt to seize a boarding party from the Royal Australian Navy.
The Australians, though, to quote one military source, “were having none of it”.
The British personnel were eventually released
The BBC has been told the Australians re-boarded the vessel they had just searched, aimed their machine guns at the approaching Iranians and warned them to back off, using what was said to be “highly colourful language”.
The Iranians withdrew, and the Australians were reportedly lifted off the ship by one of their own helicopters.
The circumstances for the Britons in March were slightly different in that they were caught so much by surprise that, had they attempted to repel the Iranians with their limited firepower, they would doubtless have taken very heavy casualties.
But military sources say that what is of concern is that the Royal Navy did not appear to have taken sufficient account of the lessons of the Australian encounter.
In an oblique reference to the threat from Iran, Britain’s First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, has recently admitted there was a need for greater strategic awareness in the northern Gulf.
Did I say or suggest they get a pass? (Don't think so :-)
But, let's not tip our hand to the Iranians.
Navy.mil~~~ 6~20~07~~~
Ships and Submarines
Deployable Battle Force Ships: 277
Ships Underway (away from homeport): 140 ships (51% of total)
On deployment: 103 ships (37% of total)
Attack submarines underway (away from homeport): 24 submarines (44%)
On deployment: 18 submarines (33%)
Ships Underway
Carriers:
USS Nimitz (CVN 68) - Arabian Gulf
USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) - North Arabian Sea
Bataan Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG):
USS Bataan (LHD 5) - Red Sea
USS Bohomme Richard (LHD 6) - Arabian Gulf
Amphibious Warfare Ships:
USS Essex (LHD 2) - Coral Sea
Uss Kearsarge (LHD 3) - Atlantic Ocean
USS Juneau (LPD 10) - Coral Sea
USS Tortuga (LSD 10) - Coral Sea
USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) - Atlantic Ocean
USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44) - Atlantic Ocean
USS Rushmore (LSD 47) - North Arabian Gulf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don’t think the Big E has even left yet,,,
JMHO : Anything that shows up now will be for the surge...
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