BudW

Iranian attack on USN with 75-100 speed boats laden with explosives how effective would this be?

Wraith601

You're question is pretty vage.

Where does the attack take place? Is it the open water of the Gulf or the littoral areas of Strait of Hormuz?

What is the nature of the US forces? Is a full battlegroup or a lone warship?

Those things make a big difference.

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BudW

Strait of Hormuz, full battle group

Feanor

Do they know it's an attack?

Wraith601

The obvious first line of defense are strike aircraft, though in a sneack attack the CVN may not be able to sortie F/A-18s loaded with Harpoons fast enough to make a difference, except in the counterattack.

If there are any amphibs available you may get get some USMC AH-1. which would absolutely rape the Iranian boats. Another tactic I've seen is to deploy several AAVs to serve as gunboats if the seas aren't too rough. The 50 cal/Mk 19 combo wiould do a number on a speed boat.

Of course the ship's themsleves has 5 inch guns (3 inch on the Perrys), the Phalanx in anti-surface mode, as well as crew served 25mm guns and 50 cal and 7.63 MGs.

Also, the ESSM and Standard SAMs have surface attack modes I believe, and there's a proposed update that will give the RAM a surface attack mode.

All of that means lots of dead Iranians.

BudW

Surprise attack, 75-100 speed boats packed with explosives equal to what the boat that attacked the USS Cole had,what kind of damage do you think they would do?

omon

the same damage uss cole had, times number of boats that got thru,

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BudW

Iam asking if the USN could stop the attack cold or if some would get through and speculate how many would get through.

ace16807

The scenario is still pretty vague. Is the US at war with Iran? Is it day or night? What class of speedboat are we talking about? Are they armed/armoured?

TopHatter

Your scenario assumes that Iran could find and equip 75-100 speedboats of sufficient capability into the water, all of them manned by crews willing to kill themselves.

But, this is Iran we're talking about, so we'll go on that assumption.

After the USS Stark, I sincerely doubt that any USN warship has entered the Persian Gulf without anticipating an attack.

After the USS Cole, I sincerely doubt that any USN warship has dropped anchor in any Middle East or Muslim port without turning itself into the Alamo.

A military journalist recently visited a Ticonderoga-class missile cruiser moored in an Iraqi port and noted that "the huge capital ship bristled with light automatic weapons manned by sailors." and that it resembled the "world's biggest PT boat."

So. Looking at your scenario, is it possible successfully get through a task force of itchy-trigger fingered sailors manning everything from M-16's to .50 caliber to 20mm Phalanx to 25mm Bushmaster to 76mm (100 rounds per minute out to nearly 9,000 yards) to 127mm (pumping out a 5-inch projectile to some 16,000 yards every 3 seconds)?

Especially after the events of the past 2 months?

Sure. Anything is possible. Especially with enough speedboats.

Although, sending such a gigantic group of speedboats will prompt enough of a "Screw this 'warn them off with the loudhailer' BS, hose 'em all and right the f--k NOW!" reaction that it's unlikely that it will succeed.

Their best results would be to use a small group of non-radar reflecting craft, under the cover of darkness, doing whatever possible to minimize their IR signature and using the quietest engines on the market.

"The bomber will always get through"

citanon

The following video just went up on liveleak:

US Navy layered anti-speedboat defenses test

I don't know what to make of this video. Are they engaging the targets effectively? They certainly don't seem to be damaging the boats to the point of mechanical break down.

gunnut

Check out some pictures here:

USA 0.30 caliber (7.62 mm) Minigun Pictures

USA 0.50"/90 (12.7 mm) M2 Browning Machine Gun (BMG) Pictures

USA 25 mm/87 (1") Mark 38 Machine Gun System

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HKDan

After what happened the other day Im sure that the likelihood of such an attack being successful has gone down a fair bit. One of the only chances that an attack of this sort would have is if wasn't expected.

One very difficult part of arranging an attack of this sort would be to get that many small boats in place to intercept the USN fleet without being noticed. The above scenario involves far more small boats than I think would be possible in reality. Much more than five or so boats I think would be difficult to conceal.

Transient

Wonder if the USN ships in the standoff had these?

BAE Systems Will Deliver Mk 38 Mod 2 Gun Mounts To US Navy

YouTube - Mk 38 Mod 2

Silent Hunter

75-100 speedboats in one go is something you notice coming. IR scopes, whatever. You get out the SM2s and you blow every ship out of the water.