The Other McCain

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The Iranian Navy On A Med Cruise?

Posted on | January 17, 2013 | 7 Comments

by Smitty

A Russian site has the best detail:

Iran will deploy a fleet of warships to the Mediterranean Sea, Navy chief Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said on Wednesday.
“The Navy’s 24th fleet of warships will patrol the north of the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden, Bab-el-Mandeb, the Red Sea, Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea for three months and will even sail as far as southeastern Asian countries,” Sayyari was quoted by Press TV as saying.

Roughly the same information was to be gleaned from Stratfor. Some digging around brought up this YouTube clip, which benefits from going full screen:
The Order of Battle is everything they purportedly have, and by no means breaks out the actual deployed ships. The 24th Fleet may not amount to terribly much, as most of their Order of Battle doesn’t look to have significant endurance. However, as David vs. Goliath reminds us, it doesn’t actually take much to wreck somebody’s day. The USS Cole attack was conducted by just a few dedicated tangoes in some sort of zodiac.

Can’t think of why the Iranians would want to be in the Mediterranean. Not much going on in, say, Syria. And nobody remembers the last time there was interest in getting arms into the Gaza Strip, or something. Nope. Probably just a quick run into Lebanon for some of that tasty cuisine, I expect. Poor Bibi Netanyahu, stuck trying to stay awake in these boring times.

Were things to get down to fisticuffs, a U.S. Navy battlegroup might make short work of these Iranians, but the likelihood of that isn’t too high. Sure, posturing happens, but I wouldn’t expect the ROE approved by this Administration to get much past tea and crumpets with the bad guys, and that before Benghazi filled everybody in the military with confidence that, when the fertilizer hits the air circulator, #OccupyResoluteDesk has their backs.

So, nice and boring. One hopes.

via Red__Rover

Category: Iran

Comments

7 Responses to “The Iranian Navy On A Med Cruise?”

  1. richard mcenroe
    January 17th, 2013 @ 10:28 am

    I’d be more impressed if they told us what happened to their first 23 fleets.

    And whatever became of those dread Iranian warships that were supposed to cruise off the American coast?

  2. smitty
    January 17th, 2013 @ 11:40 am

    Watch that condescension, for reasons underscored by USS Cole.

  3. rmnixondeceased
    January 17th, 2013 @ 1:13 pm

    I understand Beirut has a helluva falafel stand right on the beach …

  4. Adjoran
    January 17th, 2013 @ 1:52 pm

    Obama wouldn’t authorize firing on the Iranians if they attacked New York.

  5. Quartermaster
    January 17th, 2013 @ 10:10 pm

    Completely different situation, Smitty. Particularly if they want to restage the Cole incident a 100 nm south of Crete. Iran is barely blue water and engaging in sea keeping to the extent required to cruise off our littoral is beyond them for now, and most likely quite some time.

    Israel, on the other hand, is the real target.

  6. WJJ Hoge
    January 17th, 2013 @ 10:35 pm

    I agree with your comment on endurance. This isn’t a blue water navy. I’m not sure it couldn’t successfully go after our Coast Guard.

  7. First Mate #NealRauhauser, Policy Wonk | hogewash
    January 18th, 2013 @ 12:02 am

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