dundonrl

hmmm, just looking on The US Navy and as of 21 April 07, the USS Eisenhower CVN 69 and USS Bataan LHD 5, along with their battlegoups are both in the gulf right now..

Akita

U.S.Navy has prepared for swarming attacks by small combatants since the early 1980s. They were called Soviet cruise missles, the 'Vampires' of Clancey novel fame.
One of Navy Secretary Lehman's main efforts during the "600 ship Navy" buildup of the 1980s was the equipping of the surface fleet to defeat massed attacks by enemy cruise missles. The Vulcan Phalanx and RAM systems can still do that job well.

For swarming attacks by surface craft, Navy ships will rely on cannon fire by the main gun, Vulcan systems, (though some of the older ones won't operate in this mode), 50 cal machine guns, (which have been shipped in large numbers since the Cole incident in Aden harbor) and Hellfire missles, Penguin missles and gunfire from LAMPS and Ocean Hawk/Rescue Hawk/Knighthawk and Sea Cobra helicopters as well as conventional and VSTOL combat aircraft.

At least some U.S.Navy ships are protected by Barret rifles for self defence the old fashioned "Sgt York" way. I suspect there are additional capabilities we aren't privy to...don't you?

(Keep in mind that the Cole was injured, (not sunk), by a sneak attack while at anchor, in harbor, in peace time, while being serviced by native Yemeni small craft on a port call that the Navy was not sanguine about. They will not allow themselves to be caught flat footed like that again.
I am told that the IRIN is very cautious operating anywhere near USN forces. In the event of hostilities it will be thier antiquated fleet that is 'Pearl harbored'--not the Americans.)

ChrisF202

We should invest in more Cyclone class patrol vessels. They would be great for patrolling the Persian Gulf and for homeland security related missions.

Cyclone class patrol ship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Has a crew of 4 officers and 24 enlisted and can carry 8 SEALs, Coast Guard MLEBP members, etc. It has armaments of 1 MK 96 and 1 MK 38 25mm machine guns; 5 .50 caliber machine guns; 2 MK 19 40mm automatic grenade launchers and 2 M-60 machine guns PLUS small arms. Thats a helluva lot of firepower.

B.Smitty

The problem with patrol craft for the USN is how do you move them to a forward operating area, and then support them when you have no local, friendly ports.

gunnut

How do we know the big ships actually entered the gulf? It could be just a ruse.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but a former coworker served on an LSD during the tanker wars and he said the battleships can barely clear the bottom in the gulf. I assumed the carriers would require too much of a draft to manuver in the gulf.

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Dreadnought

Figure a BB at a "light" ship minimum 44 feet depth (48,650 tons) "empty" for manuver. A heavy BB more like 57,000-60,000 "loaded" tons add a minimum 10 foot to depth. This is not an accurate account namely "ball park" figure.
Soundings would quickly tell the real tale.

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