generalspeaking

Monday, August 26, 2019

Sailing on Eggshells
"Anytime a carrier moves close to shore, and especially into confined waters, the danger to the ship goes up significantly."
"It becomes vulnerable to diesel submarines, shore-launched cruise missiles and swarming tactics by small boats armed with missiles [Iranian arsenal of weaponry and tactical manoeuvres]."
James Stavridis, retired admiral, former supreme allied commander, NATO

"We can reach Iran from here easily. They can reach us when we're there [Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz]. When we're here, [North Arabian Sea] they can't."
"I wouldn't say we are sitting ducks because we have offensive capability. But as you get further out into the North Arabian Sea, they just can't see us."
"All the systems were on; all the lights were green; we were waiting for the order [to attack Iran in the wake of the U.S. drone shoot-down]. And the order didn't come."
Rear Admiral Michael E. Boyle, commander, carrier strike group U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln

"I stayed on shift that night. You're preparing for the offensive but also have to be ready to play defence. [Like being in] the eye of the tiger."
"You could feel the stress in the younger sailors."
"Relief? Yeah. Whatever caused us not to have to push the button, we're happy."
"We recognize that tensions are high, and we don't want to go to war. We don't want to escalate things with Iran."
Capt.William Reed, fighter pilot, commander, U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln air wing

In this April 1, 2019, file photo, the USS Abraham Lincoln deploys from Naval Station Norfolk. (Kaitlin cKeown/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, File)

The U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln sails in the North Arabian Sea at the present time; it is in the Middle East, in the words of President Trump: "to send a clear and unmistakable message" to Iran that the United States will brook no interference in its interests in the region. Except that it is tolerating for the moment, at least, interference in its presence in the region. For the last four months the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier has steered clear of approaching anywhere close to Iran's shoreline, even within international waters.

The navy's 5th Fleet, with its headquarters in Bahrain, has decided the better part of valour for the time being is to steer clear of Iran, to remain out of sight, out of reach, deliberately avoiding the appearance of provocation. Should an aircraft carrier -- the reasoning goes -- steam as is usual through the Strait of Hormuz its presence could provoke conflict of the type the Pentagon would prefer not to be engaged in at a time when the U.S. has countered Iran in every direction with sanctions.

Iran's fast-attack craft, the type repeatedly used to harass ships in the Persian Gulf.

Fars News Agency Photo via USNI News

So the North Arabian Sea it is, some 600 nautical miles from the Strait of Hormuz, mostly off the coast of Oman. This is not necessarily convenient for the ship nor its crew of 5,600 men and women aboard the carrier, given the huge waves and fierce undertow in the North Arabian Sea, so much so that fighter pilots are hard put often to catch the wire as they land on the pitching carrier. The Persian Gulf on the other hand, is calmer; seasonal monsoons hit the North Arabian Sea.

According to Naval authorities, however, from their position in the North Arabian Sea, F/A-18s still catapult off the flight deck heading toward Iran, remaining clear of the 19-kilometre border of Iranian airspace. The warplanes simply take flight above Oman and other gulf allies to get to the Persian Gulf and the planes are capable of striking Iran if needed, as readily from the North Arabian Sea as from the Persian Gulf, while remaining out of the way of watchful Iranian eyes.

Normally, when things are on a calmer plateau, American aircraft carriers regularly ply the Persian Gulf. U.S. fighter pilots attached to the Nimitz were deployed in 2017 to strike Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State group and in 2015 with the Theodore Roosevelt when navy fighters were hitting targets in Ramadi, Iraq and elsewhere against Islamic State. Even then the carriers tangled routinely with Iranian fast boats operated by the IRGC.