US Sends Aircraft Carrier Into The Strait Of Hormuz, As Iran Beats Its Chest

TBI ^ | 12-28-2011 | Robert Johnson

[blam]

US Sends Aircraft Carrier Into The Strait Of Hormuz, As Iran Beats Its Chest

Robert Johnson
Dec. 29, 2011, 7:56 AM

USS John C. Stennis

Iran has announced it located a U.S. aircraft carrier moving into the Strait of Hormuz during Iranian wargame exercises.

The AFP reports Commodore Mahmoud Mousavi, spokesman for the exercises, says the carrier was spotted by an Iranian reconnaissance plane that took photos and video.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Fifth Fleet confirmed the carrier is the USS John C. Stennis, a nearly 1,100 foot nuclear powered craft with unlimited range and 3 million gallons of onboard fuel for its aircraft.

USS Mobile Bay

In addition to its planes and the ships that sail in the group, the Stennis is armed with NATO RIM-7 Sea Sparrow and Rolling Air Missile (RAM) surface-to-air missile systems, the Phalanx Close-in Weapons System for cruise missile defense, and the AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System.

U.S. officials said Wednesday that the Stennis and the guided missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay slipped into the strait Tuesday after a stop at Dubai's Jebel Ali port.

The USS Mobile bay is a 570 foot Ticonderoga class cruiser that carries the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, two Seahawk LAMPS multi-purpose helicopters, and is used for anti-submarine warfare, anti-air, and anti-surface warfare.

The Associated Press reports Iran is playing up the sighting of the carrier and boasting of the strength of its navy in the region.

Iranian naval chief Adm. Habibollah Sayyari says Iran has "control over the moves by foreign forces" and that the "foreign fleet will be warned by Iranian forces if it enters the area of the drill."

Iranian state TV showed the supposed video but details of the carrier couldn't be made

(snip)

[UCANSEE2]

I remember the days when adults were in charge of strategic decisonmaking ...

When the enemy is demonstrating all their capabilities and their techniques, it is extremely valuable to get as close as possible and monitor their activity. All the 'signals' of their weapons can then be more easily acquired.

[UCANSEE2]

I think the ‘concern’ is not that they could block the pathway, but that it is a ‘pinch-point’ where the moving ships are almost ‘sitting ducks’. They would be maneuvering around the flaming wrecks at slow speeds.

If you were being hunted, and you came to river with a footbridge, and there were dead bodies with arrows sticking out of them laying all over the bridge, would you cross it ?

[Travis McGee]

Dream on. We’re not going to release nukes and hit an Iranian city over a CVN. Not under Obama, never.

[halfright]

Those that know, ain’t tellin’. Loose lips sink ships.

Those that speculate are doing just that. I know, I want to ask every seaman around if we can kick ass and just how much to worry about this stuff but it didn’t get me anywhere. So I read all day long.....Jane’s is a good place to start.
www.janes.com