Iran dispatches warships to US maritime border

[Bigfella]

Ok, everybody knows this Iran stunt doesn't pass for news with the USN but thats not the point. The point is can you imagine in the 80s China telling US liners to submit themselves to Chinese authority on international airspace and the US government obeys.

If China's airforce was a large & well trained force rather than the world's largest aviation museum then, very possibly.

Can you imagine in the 80s Iran killing american servicemen on foreign soil and brag about it and they don't suffer even as much as a stone throw from the US.

1983 Beirut barracks bombing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1983 United States embassy bombing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Francis Buckley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William R. Higgins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I count 260 dead there. Granted, no Iranian announcement, but not much doubt as to who did it. I would assume from your tone that thesaintedReagan nuked Tehran in response.

Now Iran can even play practice games with its rookies in Florida pond.......guys?

How close have they got to Florida? Saying you are going to do it & doing it aren't the same thing. Oh, and its 2 ships that belong in a museum, not the Black Sea Fleet.

Once upon a time the US could draw a line in international waters of another country and tell a super power with multiple nukes that 'you will not cross or else', and they obeyed.

Still could if it was needed. These days people prefer not to risk the destruction of the world unless it is REALLY necessary.

Iran is sending a very important message to the world that even the Soviets wouldn't dare do ie 'the US is no longer the mighty US to be scared of'.

The Soviets didn't dare? Really? Didn't fly nuclear capable planes over US? Didn't stage exercises in the Carribean? Didn't send ships for extended visits to Cuba? Didn't play tag with USN carrier groups or sail within sight of the US coast? Most of those ships were more capable than what Iran is sending & many of them were built more recently.

The 'message' Iran is going to end up sending is that it is time for Iran to buy a new navy. This one passed its used by date 20 or more years ago.

[troung]

Ok, everybody knows this Iran stunt doesn't pass for news with the USN but thats not the point. The point is can you imagine in the 80s China telling US liners to submit themselves to Chinese authority on international airspace and the US government obeys. Can you imagine in the 80s Iran killing american servicemen on foreign soil and brag about it and they don't suffer even as much as a stone throw from the US. Now Iran can even play practice games with its rookies in Florida pond.......guys? Once upon a time the US could draw a line in international waters of another country and tell a super power with multiple nukes that 'you will not cross or else', and they obeyed. Iran is sending a very important message to the world that even the Soviets wouldn't dare do ie 'the US is no longer the mighty US to be scared of'.

During the early 2000s Pakistan found it safe to give shelter to terrorists.
During the 1980s the US bolted from Lebanon.
During the late 1960s the US would not bomb logistics routes the Chinese were using to send guns into Thailand.
During the 1960s the US horse traded missiles in Turkey for ones in Cuba.
The USSR kept supporting Cuba afterwards.
The USSR sailed ships around the world throughout the Cold War.

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Edit BF beat me to it

[gunnut]

I wonder which SSN got the "honor" of follwoing these cows?

This is a fart in a windstorm...

They have farted in our general direction...

[Bigfella]

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Edit BF beat me to it

And WAY more stylishly I would add. Your game is slipping. ;)

[Gun Grape]

Can you imagine in the 80s Iran killing american servicemen on foreign soil and brag about it and they don't suffer even as much as a stone throw from the US.

Yes I can. Because it happened. More than once.

And what happened was a little thing called Iran-Contra. Maybe you read about it. We sold them arms.


What is your point? That we should sell them better ships?

(Edit- They also killed American civilians during the same time)

Edit again- BF and Troung beat me to it.

[Bigfella]

Yes I can. Because it happened. More than once. And nothing was done about it then

And what happened was a little thing called Iran-Contra. Maybe you read about it. We sold them arms.


What is your point? That we should sell them better ships?

(Edit- They also killed American civilians during the same time)

WWRD (what would Ronnie do) - pull out the troops & sell them weapons apparently.

[troung]

Grenada better get ready.

[Bigfella]

Grenada better get ready.

Yeah. Teach those commies to build a runway!

Since BO already bombed Libya this would seem the obvious next move.

[Gun Grape]

Grenada better get ready.

As a participant of Urgent Fury I demand you buy me a new laptop.

I laughed so hard I spewed coffee all over mine.

You hit the nail on the head.

[Stitch]

They have farted in our general direction...

. . . . and your father was a hamster!

Wow, and what situation DOESN'T beg a reference to Monty Python?

[troung]

Forget your laptop - as we speak Iran is sending a powerful naval task force to threaten our supply of bad medical students.

Grenada 2 The Requiem

[Bigfella]

As a participant of Urgent Fury I demand you buy me a new laptop.

I laughed so hard I spewed coffee all over mine.

You hit the nail on the head.

How many Cubans did you bag Gunny? bet it was like squillions.

[Dreadnought]

Maybe they will just all defect and let the junk sink.;)

[Dreadnought]

Sinking feeling: Iranian Navy sends message with US-bound 'rust buckets'
By Joshua Rhett Miller
Published February 11, 2014


The two Iranian warships headed toward U.S. waters — one of which barely survived a 1988 run-in with an American fighter jet — are a pair of "rust buckets" Tehran is using to prove to its people it can project power around the globe, naval experts said.

The commander of Iran’s Northern Navy Fleet said the ships — the frigate Sabalan and Kharg, a supply ship capable of carrying helicopters — began their trip last month from the southern port city Bandar Abbas. Adm. Afshin Rezayee Haddad said the vessels had already entered the Atlantic Ocean near South Africa en route to U.S. maritime borders as part of a three-month mission. Haddad characterized the move as a response to the ongoing presence of the U.S. Navy’s 5th fleet, which is based in Bahrain, across the Persian Gulf.

But the British-built ships, which are reportedly carrying roughly 30 Iranian Navy academy cadets, are not militarily imposing, according to defense experts reached by FoxNews.com.

“From a tactical perspective, neither one of these ships are any good; they are an afterthought to the U.S. Navy from a warfare perspective,” said Christopher Harmer, senior naval analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. “From a strategic standpoint, they are very important.”


In 1988, the 310-foot Sabalan was attacked by American forces after it fired upon an A-6 Intruder aboard the USS Enterprise following tensions in the Persian Gulf. The Iranian ship was completely decimated but did not sink, ultimately being restored and improved — something not lost on the Iranian powers, Harmer said.“

They are very aware that we nearly sunk the Sabalan, and there’s absolutely a psychological message being sent here by the Iranian Navy,” he said. “Up until five years ago, everything the Iranians were doing was focused on short-range defense with their navy, including small-missile ships that were optimized for shallow waters in the Persian Gulf.”

The larger of the two ships, the 679-foot Kharg, can support three helicopters, but poses no real threat. One analyst, Michael Eisenstadt of The Washington Institute, characterized the aging vessels as “rust buckets” with little heft on international waters. Another expert questioned how much of the naval war games really convinces the average Iranian.

“What happens day after day in the Iranian press is there’s a constant theme that Iran is capable of defending itself and that the United States cannot attack or invade it,” said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “A lot of that deals with the ability to deal preventive strikes.”

While the Iranian admiral said the ships were already in the Atlantic, Harmer said there are no indications that that’s the case. He said the ships were most likely approaching South Africa, still toiling in the southwestern Indian Ocean.

“I’m skeptical,” said Harmer, adding that the Iranians have previously expressed similar global naval aspirations. “But we’ll respond in the sense that we’ll keep an eye on them.”

Above all, the move should be seen as a direct message to Iranians, not the U.S. Navy or the citizens it protects, according to U.S. Army (Ret.) Lt. Col. David Johnson, now serving as executive director at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies.

“This would be aspirational and demonstrate that they have the capability to reach out to us and hopefully threaten us the way we threaten them on a daily basis,” Johnson told FoxNews.com. “I believe the target audience is internal -- not us. They are demonstrating to [Iranians] and others in the region that they can stand up to the big boy.”I

If the ships make it across the ocean to U.S. maritime waters, they wouldn't even be a match for Coast Guard cutters, Johnson said.

“The point would be that the world is a much smaller place,” Johnson said, perhaps leading to expanded political pressure stateside to increase American presence in the region. “It’s a message to their population that we’re a conventional power.”

But the ships — and their capabilities — paint a different picture, according to Cordesman, who said they’re conventionally armed with the equivalent of little more than “terror weapons,” or less operational than a 2,000-pound bomb.

“We would get concerned if there was any kind of air-sea capability or missile launch capacity, or if Iran had the kind of surface or submarine fleet that could reach across the Atlantic,” Cordesman said. “At this point in time, Iran cannot pose a single meaningful naval threat outside the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.”

It isn't the first time Iran tried to use its modest navy to threaten the U.S. In 2011, Iran warned it might deploy warships close to the U.S. coast. The official IRNA news agency then quoted Iranian naval chief Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari saying, “Like the arrogant powers that are present near our marine borders, we will also have a powerful presence close to American marine borders.”

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/02...-rust-buckets/

;)

[Bigfella]

Edit again- BF and Troung beat me to it.

Gettin' old Gunny. Just lucky we wasn't Cubans. Woulda smoked yer ass! :tank: