Article

2012-07-16 Arabia

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by tipper 2012-07-16 13:58|| || Front Page|| [6 views ] Top

#1 Obama gearing up for elections?

Posted by JohnQC 2012-07-16 14:40|| 2012-07-16 14:40|| Front Page Top

#2 Sounds more like a dry run.

Posted by DarthVader 2012-07-16 15:01|| 2012-07-16 15:01|| Front Page Top

#3 "Wounded" by a .50 cal? Not a very pleasant visual I must say.

Posted by Besoeker 2012-07-16 16:58|| 2012-07-16 16:58|| Front Page Top

#4 Right you are Besoeker. Wood splinters is the best outcome, or its amputation (one or the other). In any event - its Board of Inquiries here we come, and likely imposed expensive VISAs for US air passengers (as the UAE did to Canadians). Its an Arab way of sending a message.

We know what happened to the USS Cole. Its a tough call, but someone made it.

Posted by Northern Cousin 2012-07-16 17:05|| 2012-07-16 17:05|| Front Page Top

#5 I know I'd rather be the ship captain that shot up the wrong boat than the one explaining why one got close enough to do a Cole job on my ship.

Personally I think the .50's ought to be replaced with 20mm or more.

Posted by Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division 2012-07-16 17:20|| 2012-07-16 17:20|| Front Page Top

#6 Oh yeah. Quick question for all you ex-Navy types. Is there regulation or conventions that Navy ships are a grey vs merchant ships various colors?

Posted by Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division 2012-07-16 17:23|| 2012-07-16 17:23|| Front Page Top

#7 Isn't Gray the Navy Khaki?

Posted by Slusosh Thrineck4715 2012-07-16 17:29|| 2012-07-16 17:29|| Front Page Top

#8 Froma Canuck perspective, grey hull in the North Atlantic grey fog means stealth. (although many ships in WW1 and WW2 were specifically painted with broken pattern stripes. Merchant ships - strictly speaking -want to be seen by others (except in the Guld of Aden). Maybe we should paint ours off white to lurk in the North. (Pure white is hospital ship colors as set out in Geneva Conventions)

Posted by Northern Cousin 2012-07-16 17:38|| 2012-07-16 17:38|| Front Page Top

#9 BBC reports this as an Indian fisherman killed, with the boat being a 30 footer with 3 outboard moters. Sounds more like a Go-fast smuggler than a fisherman. I can undersand the fire order given the profile.

Posted by Northern Cousin 2012-07-16 18:21|| 2012-07-16 18:21|| Front Page Top

#10 Is there regulation or conventions that Navy ships are a grey vs merchant ships various colors?

Makes it harder to discern regarding profile and heading. Riverine craft and some Scandanavian coastal defense warships get painted green for the same reason.

For a while, a few ships in the Gulf were painted a lighter gray with just slightly darker gray hull numbers.

Posted by Pappy 2012-07-16 18:35|| 2012-07-16 18:35|| Front Page Top

#11 That is affirmative Skipper, we've got one dead Indian and three dead Mercury's. Survivors appear to be frantically waving a bloodstained white dishdashah. I suspect they are signalling for reinforements. Shall I fire another 100 rounds ? OVER

Posted by Besoeker 2012-07-16 18:41|| 2012-07-16 18:41|| Front Page Top

#12 won't do that again.

perhaps an innocent mistake, or perhaps a dry run to test ROE. If they do it often enough, it'll make some idiot complacent. Nice shooting today, sailor

Posted by Frank G 2012-07-16 19:07|| 2012-07-16 19:07|| Front Page Top

#13 One must always listen, obey Mama Deuce.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2012-07-16 19:28|| 2012-07-16 19:28|| Front Page Top

#14 a few ships in the Gulf were painted a lighter gray with just slightly darker gray hull numbers.

Why don't they just paint them transparent? Or does that only work in Photoshop?

The WWII dazzle camouflage was a cool look, but Mr. Radar is not fooled by such pitiful human tricks.

Posted by SteveS 2012-07-16 19:28|| 2012-07-16 19:28|| Front Page Top

#15 Agree w/ dry run theory. As to paint schemes, visual deception takes many forms. If you look at a Nimitz class CV, there is a tall light pole fwd of the island. Properly lit the CV can visually (at night) resemble a merchantman.

Posted by USN, ret 2012-07-16 20:53|| 2012-07-16 20:53|| Front Page Top

#16 Mr. Radar is not fooled by such pitiful human tricks.

Weelll, yes and no. In one war game with the USN against a Southeast Asian naval force, the latter 'sunk' an Australian merchant instead of the USN target. I won't go into detail, but suffice it to say that advanced radar and electronics didn't quite work as well that day as cunning and experience.

Posted by Pappy 2012-07-16 21:39|| 2012-07-16 21:39|| Front Page Top

#17 The most likely counter-response at this time, iff any, from Iran or Radical Islamic Groups would be a TerrOp agz US andor Israeli target(s) somewhere in the ME.

* VARIOUS MSM-NET NEWS > repor that the Persons aboard the small boat were INDIANS - howvere, this alone does necessarily prove or disprove they were affiliated wid Iran + violent Islamic Groups.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2012-07-16 23:02|| 2012-07-16 23:02|| Front Page Top

#18 In one war game with the USN against a Southeast Asian naval force, the latter 'sunk' an Australian merchant instead of the USN target.

Man, I'd love to hear that story some day (or what can be told). My dad taught radar operation and tactics during WWII. A lesson from his stories was that sensors report data, but you still have to interpret what you are seeing. And as Pappy says, experience and cunning count big time.

Posted by SteveS 2012-07-16 23:29|| 2012-07-16 23:29|| Front Page Top

00:00 JosephMendiola
23:36 gorb
23:34 gorb
23:33 SteveS
23:31 gorb
23:29 SteveS
23:28 gorb
23:02 JosephMendiola
22:45 badanov
22:10 Frank G
22:06 Frank G
21:39 Pappy
21:34 gromky
21:09 lotp
21:09 Northern Cousin
20:59 USN, ret
20:58 Broadhead6
20:53 USN, ret
20:48 AlanC
20:47 Northern Cousin
20:40 SteveS
20:22 Frank G
20:21 SteveS
20:21 Frank G