Free Republic

The following is the executive summary of the U.S. Navy’s investigation into the Jan. 12, 2016 seizure of 10 U.S. sailors by Iranian forces near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. https://news.usni.org/2016/06/30/document-summary-u-s-navy-investigation-farsi-island-incident

Weak leadership, poor judgment, a lack of “warfighting toughness” and a litany of errors led to the embarrassing capture and detention by Iran of 10 U.S. sailors in the Persian Gulf in January, according to a Navy investigation released Thursday. Six officers and three enlisted sailors have been disciplined or face disciplinary action. The trouble began even before the sailors left port in Kuwait aboard two 50-foot boats on a short-notice, 300-mile journey to Bahrain. They were delayed, unprepared, poorly supervised and ill-suited for the mission, the report said. …

<p>The commodore in charge of the two U.S. Navy boats that strayed into Iranian waters leading to the capture of his 10 sailors for 16 hours in January will be relieved of command likely putting an end to his career, Fox News has learned.</p>

Several sources confirmed to USNI News that the crews of the two boats, assigned to Coastal Riverine Squadron 3, had misjudged their location when they mistakenly strayed into Iranian waters off of Farsi Island in the middle of the Persian Gulf on Jan. 12 while trying to meet a ship for refueling. The sources said the mistake was a result of human error, not a failure in navigation systems.

A former admiral gave the crowd a peek into his own personal experience conducting aggressive ship boardings - under the eyes of armed helicopters no less - during a brief statement Monday about Iran's recent capture of U.S. Sailors. Joe Sestak, a retired U.S. navy admiral and current state Senate candidate for Pennsylvania, was responding to a question from John Baer of the Philadelphia Daily News during the event. "Earlier this month, the Iranian Navy seized 10 U.S. sailors, photographed them surrendering, filmed the U.S. commander apologizing, and forced a female U.S. sailor to remove-to cover her head in Islamic...