More on the “dumbest pirates ever“:
Brandishing a rocket-propelled grenade and several Kalashnikov rifles, (the pirates) rushed alongside, threw a grappling hook and tried to lash a ladder to the Sunshine’s side. They hoped to scale the gunwales and seize the bridge.
Their plans unraveled immediately. As the Sunshine radioed for help, and tried to deter the boarding by spraying the pirates with fire hoses, the pirates were unable to board.
“Our ladder broke,” Mr. Mahmoud said.
See? Marlinspike seamanship.
Then an American helicopter appeared.
Neither the pirates nor the crew of the Sunshine had known it, but three Navy ships — the Stennis; the U.S.N.S. Rainier, a supply ship; and the U.S.S. Mobile Bay, a guided-missile cruiser — were steaming in formation a few miles away. The carrier was taking on provisions from the Rainier and had several helicopters in the air when the Sunshine radioed its distress call.
Aboard the carrier, Rear Adm. Craig S. Faller, who commands the carrier strike group, looked at the chart and radar images of the Sunshine’s location with something like disbelief. The Sunshine and the Stennis were only a few miles apart. “These might be the dumbest pirates ever,” he said.
In the end, the US Navy ended the Iranian hostage crisis.
I just wanted to see how that looked, rolling off the keys.
The mullahcracy responds with characteristic grace:
Iranian media were largely silent Saturday on the US navy’s rescue of 13 Iranians held by pirates in the Arabian Sea, making little mention of the incident — or that the US ships included an aircraft carrier Tehran had warned out of the region.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency reported only that a US warship “claimed” to have saved the Iranian fishermen from a weeks-long ordeal as captives of Somali pirates.
“So far Islamic Republic of Iran’s armed forces staff has not confirmed” the incident, IRNA said.
Inherent limitations to battlespace awareness, command and control. Something they should keep in the back of their minds, next time they feel like issuing threats.
How about the mullahs & Old Beady Eyes start with a ” Thank You ” and then tell the world press where the Iranian Navy was at the time as they have told all they rule the waves in their region….
As usual, the average Iranian is not very important to the Mullahs….likely they weren’t looking to send their Navy out to save the hostages. Not worth even the fuel to run the ships, ya know.
do they even *have* fuel to run the ships?
Looks pretty good…rolling off the keys.
maybe we should have a destroyer escort them home, all the way to the twelve mile limit, just to make sure they stay safe?
%-)
On the other hands, the strategic “SA” is pretty good. They know a weak horse, when one babbles in front of a teleprompter…and they issue threat after threat after threat…knowing nothing of consequence shall come their way…at least not until after jan 2013..
Iranians are different from the rest of the Muddle East. At the top of that list, Iran/Persia is a country, not lines on the map drawn by proto-EU drinking parties.
Put it this way: Not many of the folk who frequent this site have a high opinion of That Man in the White House, but if he had a Scud land on his head or were otherwise assassinated by a foreign power, we would all be baying to rename the glassy slag at the bottom of the crater. Teheranitite, perhaps? Similarly for dissing the Navy, or the capabilities of our scientists and engineers. Even if we’d like to slap them silly for what they actually do, we remain proud of their competence. American exceptionalism extends to our having the best damned Greenies and Watermelons on the planet, dammit.
Persians feel the same sort of patriotism, in ways that Iraqis or Afghans don’t. Never mind that they don’t have much to be proud of — there are people who say that about us, OK? They have a long history with some bright lights in it, they’re proud of that and their country, and attacking them in ways that go to the people, their intelligence, competence, and courage, just plays into the mullahs’ hands. Obama got an approval bounce when he started letting the cruise missile people loose on the Taliban. The mullahs get an equivalent bounce when they do something that exerts Iranian power, or pretends to (like the recent bombast), or when the West does something that attacks the patriotic instincts of the Persian in the street.
If we can’t do something that affects the Council of Mullahs and the Supreme Religious Authority, we should do nothing at all. Anything else gives the wrap-heads an excuse to say, “You may not like us much, but at least we’re on your side, and those guys want to hurt you.” Obama has already squandered a good chance to insert a wedge into that situation, but be patient. There will be more.
Regards,
Ric
“In the end, the US Navy ended the Iranian hostage crisis.
I just wanted to see how that looked, rolling off the keys.”
Quote of the week.
This is the American military at its best. We even rescue potential enemies…
This will spread in Iran away from the media.
Mr. Imadinnerjacket just wants us out taking care of Pirates. I have no trouble with that, but that’s a pretty easy job of work as we know what needs to be done there, and it wouldn’t take long at all.
I have argued long and loud on the subject of Iran vs the US Navy in conjunction with Iran’s threat to close the strait on several other websites and message boards.
Battlespace Awareness and Command and Control.
That really does sum up the huge gulf between the two country’s capabilities.
Iran does have some modern weapons that can do some serious damage. The C802 Anti-Ship missile is not all that different and almost just as capable as the Harpoon ASM we employ for example.
The difference is in our ABILITY to deploy the weapon.
Our ABILITY to track and monitor the other side.
Our ABILITY to target the other’s platforms BEFORE they can even guess where we are much less deploy their weapons.
Can we get caught unawares? Sure we can. We’ve proved it time and time again.
USS Stark was completely unprepared for even the possibility that someone might (even accidently) fling an ASM their way.
We underestimated the Iranian Mine threat before Sammy B was gutted through her engine spaces.
But any possible suckerpunch the Iranians might land on us would at best (for them) hurt or possible sink one or two ships.
After that… the full might and capabilities of the US Navy would transform the Iranian Navy into the most recent additions to the Gulf’s artificial reef program.
And they know it too.
Maybe they should cross reference “Japan” and “Sleeping Giant”
They might learn something.
“This may just be the stupidest person on the planet. Perhaps we should shoot him.”
– Ruthless People