Posted on 08/27/2012 6:17:29 AM PDT by Strategy
WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis is being rushed to the Persian Gulf as tensions between Israel and Iran edge closer to the boiling point.
The Nimitz class carrier, with an air wing of about 90 aircraft, sets sail Monday on an eight-month deployment to the region -- four months ahead of schedule.
In the gulf it will join the USS Enterprise Strike Group, giving the United States a powerful deterrent to any Iranian attack on commercial oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz or a counterpunch to Iranian military action against U.S. military facilities in the region or those of its allies.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
Just hope these big blue water ships are not confined to the narrow waters of the Persian Gulf. Also hope their escorts are well armed with anti missile defense systems.
And the GOP convention begins. May we say the timing is suspicions?
Yep maybe Obama will wag the dog.
Isn’t that a bit early for an October surprise?
Can anyone say “October Surprise”?
So, Obama is putting up a defense shield against Israel’s likely attacks on Iran? Just in time for the GOP Convention and the subsequent elections?
I’m sure that Zero will be the hero for both the impending hurricane and whatever happens with the Israel/Iran thing before the election. It will be enough to push him over the edge for the November victory.
Watch...it will happen this way.
Going on an 8-month deployment 4 months ahead of schedule - sucks being those guys. Prayers up all the way around.
Colonel, USAFR
Yes, sir, I agree.
Not that it is foremost on my mind..but I also wonder if their votes will be counted.
This Air Force flyboy had the distinct privilege of landing on the Stennis, trap, and being shot off the deck the following morning after observing a night recovery.
The coolest thing I ever did while serving in the Air Force was with the Navy!
Looks like they just came back from deployment in Feb.
God speed USS Stennis.
Been there, done that, never any fun.
But at least mine was done in the Med where there were some decent liberty ports. I cannot imagine where ships sent to the Persian Gulf dock to let the crew blow off steam.
NOT thrilled
“May we say the timing is suspicions?”
We may say that the timing is “a Day Late...” Let’s just hope that it is not “...a Dollar Short.”
In reality, the timing is a year or more late. Before sending the carrier groups we should have supported the still-born Iranian democracy movement and very publicly backed Israel’s right to construct glass parking lots wherever they found a madman with nukes repeatedly threatening to annihilate Israel.
Better yet, let Mossad whack Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollah & Co, making it appear to be internal dissension. Best idea would be to help genuine internal dissidents to whack the nut-jobs. Not everyone in Iran is crazy, with a Mahdi fore-runner martyr complex.
America is tired of war. If Obama starts something up in Iran, he will lose his base bigtime. And it’s not like conservatives are going to suddenly rush to his support. It would be a stupid move by Obama. But, then again, he is stupid.
Hopefully you were in an aircraft both times.
Looks like the October surprise may come early this election. The only two cabinet officials that Obama has been having late-afternoon meetings with are Geithner and Panetta. Obama needs to play the ‘Commander-in-Chief’ card in order to gain more votes in November.
Without giving too much in the way of detail, can anyone generalize about how much time it takes to get a carrier battle group deployed that far ahead of schedule?
Just curious how long ago this decision would have to have been made and communicated out in order to get everyone back aboard, get everything loaded, etc. I assume there was planned maintenance that would now be deferred too.
I’m under the assumption that these ships weren’t just sitting around idly by four months early.
For the POSOTUS slime and gutless maneuvers are nothing new, it is the stylings of all Communist thugs...and it is in the top five of Sol Alinksy's playbook
American’s aren’t tired of war....
American’s are tired of bullsh*t nation building like Afghanistan.....
Get in, destroy and leave quickly...let the bad guys deal with their own aftermath....
That’s pretty cool. How much overlap and training is required to to get carrier certified? Was yours under emergency or why would they let you play in their sandbox?
To deter Iran or deter Israel by monitoring the positions of her subs and aircraft?
I agree.....
Obama wags dogs over open fire pits, before he eats them. Kinda like ‘smores.
Proverbs 26:11.
Here we go it looks like Wag the Dog time for Barry Hussein Soetoro. Just before the election.
Oh I’m not a flyer. Just a computer/crypto geek. My unit and the Stennis exchanged radar air pictures and data links in support of Operation Southern Watch so we did a troop exchange to see “the other side.”
Poor Navy guys got to go to the desert in the middle of nowhere.
What's the bet that it doesn't?
Dubai's not bad, and these days, they want the money.
The most likely war scenarios are planned and wargamed early on. The scenario, "Israel strikes Iran" is probably the one updated the most. We most likely do not know the timing but prudent military planning requires having the assets the plan says are needed deployed ahead of action and that is what we may be seeing.
I think you’re right. Normally, the American public would cross all party lines and support the president in the event of military action but not this time. It would work against him. Still, because he’s incapable of understanding the situation he is in, I think he might do it.
Speaking of Afghanistan, another two soldiers killed today, by their “helpers”. This is the Vietnam approach again, know the war is unpopular at home, just keep the pressure up till the US withdraws. Meanwhile, we atrit our best of the best, our soldiers.
If your advesary knows you plan to fight with handcuffs on, they tend to wait you out. Recall the famous we are going to Vietmatise the Vietnam war so we can withdraw? Same plan, same result now.
No doubt with Obama secret orders to interdict the planned Israeli air strikes against Irans nuclear sites, which are ALL “peaceful”( BIG SARC.)
Obama wants to be very careful,for if he interferes with Israel, he is going against the American people.Obama wants to hero his way into another term of electoral office.We need him out of there before he creates WWIII.
Pure BS.
In a confrontation with Iran - You deploy the carriers out of the Persian Gulf kill zone. Well out of coastal defense missile range in the North Arabian Sea is the location for carriers in a confrontation with Iran - Gonzo Station.
Carriers are not Battleships, you don’t operate them at gun ranges. Be worried when we empty out of the Persian Gulf - not when we are doing normal ops in the Gulf...
I think Americans are more fed up with Rules of Engagement that tie our boys hands. Go in...kill all the bad guys, level the place like Dresden. Glass factories if needed. Then come the hell home and let the savages deal with the aftermath. While home do border patrol. Someone gets froggy you go shut them up as well. No more ROE that sends our troops out without ammo and unable to engage threats with a BFH. WTF is up with that??.
So...let’s push another ten or fifteen thousand men and women into this wag the dog pressure cooker. What the hell happens if the Iranians decide to use their new NORK nukes on our carriers instead of Israel?
We are acting pretty stupid these days.
EXCELLENT graphic! Bravo!
You can be sure of one thing: 0bamugabe hasn’t ordered the Stennis battle group into the Gulf for the purpose of assisting Israel with either overt or covert assistance.
If Israel launches air strikes against Iran, the odds in my opinion are 3 outta 5 that the Communist Kenyan will order our forces to shoot them down.
God help all of us if that should happen.
Yes, and Obama is quite capable of leaking ship and air wing movements like he has already been leaking Israeli plans and conversations with the US.
Just my opinion, but I think it is much simpler than that. Americans are just tired of the ongoing conflicts. In fact, if the MSM was still covering Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama’s numbers would be in the crapper. It’s amazing that so many troops are still over there, dying, and yet we don’t see it ever mentioned anymore in the press.
I was working the deck on the fid, and we had a coupla air farce pukes in the back seats of our EA-6B. It was on the cats waiting to launch. The pilot and ecmo 1 were in the front, with their heads back firmly against the seat. The air farce pukes were in the back, leaning forward in their seats, looking around the deck in wide eyed wonder.
When they shot the plane off, those air farce pukes heads literally slammed back into the seats!!!
I laughed so hard my eyes watered!!!
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