Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Iranian Commander: US Carriers Target If Attacked
Associated Press ^ | July 9, 2011

Posted on 07/10/2011 1:47:28 AM PDT by Strategy

TEHRAN, Iran -- A senior Revolutionary Guard commander threatened Saturday that U.S. aircraft carriers would be targeted if Iran came under attack amid a standoff with the West over Tehran's nuclear program.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; Israel
KEYWORDS: aerospace; iran; islam; israel; middleeast; navair
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-102 next last
To: RaceBannon

OK, I will cede to you the technical possibility that Iran could do serious damage to one of our carriers or another ship in the group. Do you think they are really crazy enough to want to find out what our response would be?


81 posted on 07/10/2011 10:46:09 AM PDT by TigersEye (Wranglers not Levis. Levi Strauss is anti-2nd Amendment.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: CodeToad

Honest CodeToad, I’m not advocating anyone off this turd, that would be the worst thing that could happen
It just seems those wanting to do the offing has changed.
Last thing I want is this assclown becoming another Kennedy type ralleying martyr.
But about now ya don’t think the dem party would love to get rid of obammy and say run hillary in his place?
This economic mess does not have her fingers all over it. But if all comes out I’d bet the farm she is up to her fat ass in fast and furious and gunwalker./


82 posted on 07/10/2011 10:46:09 AM PDT by Joe Boucher ((FUBO))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 78 | View Replies]

To: TigersEye

Obama is president

I shudder to think what our response will be


83 posted on 07/10/2011 11:34:30 AM PDT by RaceBannon (Ron Paul is to the Constitution what Fred Phelps is to the Bible.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 81 | View Replies]

To: RaceBannon
Do you think he would have the only say in it if a major attack was underway on a carrier group? Do you think he would ignore the political consequences of giving a half-stepping response? Do you think the rest of the Dem Party would stand silently while he did trashing them all for a very long time?

We are in big trouble if all of that is the likely scenario.

84 posted on 07/10/2011 12:05:53 PM PDT by TigersEye (Wranglers not Levis. Levi Strauss is anti-2nd Amendment.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 83 | View Replies]


Click the Chick

Even this baby owes thousands on the national debt

Give what you can
Or donate monthly
A sponsoring FReeper will give $10 for each new monthly donor

85 posted on 07/10/2011 12:26:09 PM PDT by TheOldLady (FReepmail me to get ON or OFF the ZOT LIGHTNING ping list.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: KantianBurke
http://newwars.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/can-a-speedboat-sink-a-carrier-pt-1/

Plenty of other sources out there refer to the frequency of such exercises. Wouldn't expect anything less from the Navy, would you?

86 posted on 07/10/2011 2:03:37 PM PDT by LibWhacker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: tlb

Now picture Iran with a similar strategy. Many small boats and large numbers of drones converging on the TF in those narrow waters. It’s not like Okinawa anymore. The ships have few guns and are much more fragile when hit.

Get cocky if you like but it’s not an impossible mission.


I agree with you, In wargames back in the Mid 70’s we did the same thing. Only then the referee’s ruled that all of our torpedoes missed the Big ‘E’. So we officially didn’t accomplish our mission.

Oh Well, it was a lot of fun anyway.


87 posted on 07/10/2011 2:42:36 PM PDT by The Working Man
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: TigersEye

its who controls the release of information that matters, and how slow it comes out, and who tells it

You trust CNN?


88 posted on 07/10/2011 2:45:51 PM PDT by RaceBannon (Ron Paul is to the Constitution what Fred Phelps is to the Bible.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: RaceBannon

If a carrier group is under attack I don’t think the commander will turn on CNN to see what’s what. I have never watched a single minute of CNN but I expect they would report a major attack on our fleet.


89 posted on 07/10/2011 2:57:59 PM PDT by TigersEye (Wranglers not Levis. Levi Strauss is anti-2nd Amendment.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 88 | View Replies]

To: tlb

That’s scary stuff if true. I hope we have enough unconventional thinkers in our military who will challenge “the way it’s always been done”; so we don’t get get caught with our pants around our ankles like we did at Pearl Harbor.
I don’t have a military background; but fear there may be a lack of “what if” thinking such as Lt General Van Riper threw at them. That’s the kind of stuff that is needed.


90 posted on 07/10/2011 3:12:33 PM PDT by HereInTheHeartland (Real hope and change comes in January 2013)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Pan_Yan

Afghanistan—why are we there? We have established a new narco-state with a tin horn dictator in place. The heroin trade makes a LOT of money for terrorist groups. Two weeks after we leave, the Taliban will be executing women in the soccer stadiums once again. Plus they will have all of the resources we leave behind.

Pakistan—no war there. They have been playing both sides against the middle for a decade. And why not? We give them $ 3 billion a year to be duplicitous.

Iraq—And the point of this nation building exercise was what. Iran will take what we leave behind when we go. Including the oil. Iraq will split in three. The Kurds will keep the Turks at bay. But all of the military and other assets we leave behind will be a boost to Iran. If we donlt prevent that, do you think Iran will become more powerful?

Egypt—we deliberately let the Muslim Brotherhood gain power by refusing to come to Mubarrak’s aid, an ally of 30 years. We didnlt fire a shot, but we gave the signal there would be no intervention, so have it, terrorists!

Libya—absoluteley a war for the Muslim radicals to consolidate power. And control the oil riches, which are mostly sent to Europe. Watch for an alliance with Egypt, another Muslim brotherhood victory.

Yemen—is nothing and never will be anything.

Somalia—no war there. We have left a pirate-cracy intact in power there, where they still hold hundreds of foreign hostages, and get tens of millions of dollars from ransom, to this day, with little consequence. Where do you think those dollars go?

You forgot Kosovo, for the benefit of the Albanaian Muslim druglords.For them we actually bombed hospitals, trains, and schools—all with innocent people in them.

You forgot the Gulf War, which restored Kuwait and protected Saudi Arabia, and left Saddam Hussein in power for another 12 years, while he took potshots at our air resources daily and wore out our planes, and sold oil for food to our closest allies for a handsome profit.

Then in one day, Islamic terrorists almost decapitate our financial, miitary, and government symbols of power, killing three thousand innocent people in one day.

And the response—Islam is a religion of peace, doncha know?

Oh yeah, those Mohammedans really fear us.

And the Muslim in the White House is aiding and abetting them.


91 posted on 07/10/2011 3:37:14 PM PDT by exit82 (Democrats are the enemy of freedom. Sarah Palin is our Esther.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: riverrunner
Do these idiots in the press really think that in a war you don't go after the enemy.

Well apparently we don't else why d we have an award "Unusual Restraint"

92 posted on 07/10/2011 5:23:33 PM PDT by itsahoot (Fair warning--I will vote for Palin, if I have to write her in. --He that hath an ear, let him hear.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Shadow44
"Truman was a Democrat."

So were Kennedy and Roosevelt. Being democrat didn't stop a communist from blowing JFK's head off, or a socialist anarchist from killing Anton Cermak as he stood next to FDR.

93 posted on 07/10/2011 5:39:32 PM PDT by jonascord (The Drug War Rapes the Constitution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 80 | View Replies]

To: Colonel Kangaroo

Wow! One I can agree 100% on, instead of our normal head butting!


94 posted on 07/10/2011 6:44:14 PM PDT by dcwusmc (A FREE People have no sovereign save Almighty GOD!!! III OK We are EVERYWHERE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

[singing] Ka-boom, ka-boom, ya-da-da-da-da-da, ya-da-da-da-da-da...

Thanks Strategy.


95 posted on 07/10/2011 8:03:27 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Yes, as a matter of fact, it is that time again -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: jonascord
The Navy Aviator is still trying to recreate the Marianas Turkey Shoot. US Navy ships are no longer in the surface ship warfare business. The Gun Club died after WW2. The Navy have only air defense, or are ASW dedicated, and are not in the ship to ship defense business, let alone defending against small craft like the Boghammer, with a one-way-ticket-to-Crazy-Town crew. And remember, even if only one Boston Whaler with a bomb gets through, a CV is out of the plane launching and recovery business while Damage Control fixes things.

Battleships are anachronisms. Surface combate makes use of missiles both Harpoon anti-ship, and SM-2 anti-aircraft with fragmentation warheads that can destroy small craft. Then we have the 127mm /5 inch Mark 45 gun on Us Destroyers and cruisers. Plus these screening ships and the carrier have Phalanx CIWS, RIM-116 missiles. Cruisers, Destroyers, and replenishment vessels in the theater also are quiped with 25 mm bushmaster cannon, specifically to take out small craft.

Consider how much trouble 2 dozen Skinnys in a dhow can cause, when we have to import SEALS to shoot back.
You do understand the difference between blowing the ship out of the water and rescuing a hostage, right?

96 posted on 07/11/2011 12:09:29 AM PDT by rmlew ("Mosques are our barracks, minarets our bayonets, domes our helmets, the believers our soldiers.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

97 posted on 07/11/2011 5:00:19 AM PDT by SJackson (Normal people don't sit cross-legged on the floor and bang on drums, WI State Sen Glenn Grothman (R))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SJackson

Lordy. Save us all. Not the carriers with the decks loaded with high tech fighter jets equipped with state-of-the-art missiles? Let’s go beg for mercy./sarc


98 posted on 07/11/2011 5:43:49 AM PDT by Eleutheria5 (End the occupation. Annex today)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 97 | View Replies]

To: rmlew
"SM-2 anti-aircraft with fragmentation warheads that can destroy small craft."

How much of a radar return does a fiberglass Boston Whaler have, particularly if it has a low freeboard? Both these systems rely on an ECM signature or radar tracking. Do they still drill with using a Mark 1 eyeball over iron sights? It's a common problem, particularly in hi-tech environments, to have the Heinlein syndrome. There are very few environments that are more high tech than the USN.

"If you load a mudfoot down with a lot of gadgets he has to watch somebody a lot more simply equipped - say with a stone axe - will sneak up and bash his head in while he is trying to read a vernier."

I've always wondered if someone has ever worked out a ship board gun director system with image id and tracking, and a low light capability. The Air Force has it, do you suppose they'd share their toy? Time was when the GFC system aboard a ship was the ultimate in high tech. But, when the Black Shoe gunner vanished, so did his systems. Keep it mind, with asymmetrical warfare, the Bad Guy only has to be lucky once.

As an aside, by the time a captain gets permission to open fire from the White House, the threat will have sunk the ship and gone home for supper.

It's tough when giving a weapons free order is contingent on whether a political profit can be made.

99 posted on 07/11/2011 7:18:53 AM PDT by jonascord (The Drug War Rapes the Constitution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 96 | View Replies]

To: Strategy

I think the operative word here is if attacked. Is it presumed that we would attack with a minimal force? I would think that if we were to attack, It would be in force with the intention of hitting everything that could pose a threat to ships or bases in the area and to deny the Iranians the option of mounting a well coordianted counter.


100 posted on 07/11/2011 11:01:37 AM PDT by Always Independent
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-102 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson