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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
More Than Mines: Iran Is Ready To Harass And Destroy The U.S. Navy
2020-01-04
[The National Interest] Key point: War with Iran could require an intensive demining effort.

In the event of war with Iran, the U.S. Navy’s small, aging force of Persian Gulf-based minesweepers would struggle to locate and disarm Iran’s underwater mines.

The consequences for U.S. military operations, not to mention world trade, could be severe.

Four of the Navy’s 11 1980s-vintage Avenger-class minesweepers sail from Bahrain and, if war broke out, would be responsible for clearing the strategic Strait of Hormuz and other important waterways of mines.

But the Avengers suffer from obsolete equipment and a lack of spending. The minesweepers "routinely need repairs," one Navy officer told Pro Publica reporters Robert Faturechi, Megan Rose and T. Christian Miller.

The Navy for years has diverted minesweeping funding into the development of multi-mission Littoral Combat Ships. The LCS were supposed to replace the Avengers, but the new ships have proved expensive, unreliable and unsuitable for many of the missions the Navy hoped they would handle.

The sailing branch in 2016 canceled development of a dedicated minehunting robot for the LCS. All the while, the Avengers slowly have rusted away.
Posted by:Besoeker

#18  thanks for the update mr. Peanut
Posted by: USN, Ret.   2020-01-04 20:34  

#17  IIUC, news of their passing is a bit premature. They've SLEPed the SLEP packages but they are still flying. But at a certain point they are going to stop flying, either because they fall out of the sky or are finally retired. There is only so much you can do to or for a 40 year-old heavy helicopter.
Posted by: The peanut gallery   2020-01-04 19:38  

#16  Must have been exciting when the towed rig made contact with the objective.
Posted by: Angeack de Medici1681   2020-01-04 19:24  

#15  long ago, in a Navy far, far away, before the onesizefitzall hornet an the usaf will provide tanker support to the tailhook navy, there was a sizeable force of H-53- based towable minesweepers. but they were davis- mothaned to provide $$$ for the lawn darts.
suspect they are still useable or at least the mine sweeping system could be pulled for use in another platform.
Posted by: USN, Ret.   2020-01-04 18:12  

#14   Unfortunately not true. Iran has a very long coast line and mining operations are not that difficult to organize

Good you can read a basic map. Now organize the logistics of making that happen. Even though you have a long coast line doesn't mean you can operate over every inch, foot, or mile of it or have access to it for materials.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2020-01-04 16:32  

#13  PERFECT CAPTION!! DO IT!
Posted by: ranture   2020-01-04 15:53  

#12   Can't they just use multirole F-35s for this?

Candidate for Snark of the Day!

Question: why not use small tactical nukes for de-mining? Seems like the blast pressure + EMP would either detonate or disable a mine. Sure, you'd get some tidal surge, but like they say, you can't make an omelette without flooding some basements.
Posted by: SteveS   2020-01-04 14:39  

#11  I thought Iranian Oil was sanctioned. Shut down the waterway.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2020-01-04 14:30  

#10  But why exactly is it our job to keep the Straits of Hormuz open?

My thought.

In fact, mine the hell out of it, shut it down for 50 years.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2020-01-04 14:10  

#9  The "strategic" strait of Hormuz ain't all that strategic for us any more.


Have you hugged a fracker today?
Posted by: AlanC   2020-01-04 13:16  

#8  Wrong strategy. Just keep on a-dronin' a la the final scene of Godfather Part 1.
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-04 12:22  

#7  clearing the strategic Strait of Hormuz

Why, again?
Posted by: Skidmark   2020-01-04 12:17  

#6  #5. Unfortunately not true. Iran has a very long coast line and mining operations are not that difficult to organize
Posted by: Uleck Spererong9442   2020-01-04 11:57  

#5  ..leaving every port facility in utter rubble would negate the threat.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2020-01-04 11:51  

#4  What? Can't they just use multirole F-35s for this?
Posted by: gorb   2020-01-04 11:18  

#3  be a damn shame if oil shipments to ChiComs were sunk on Iranian mines
Posted by: Frank G   2020-01-04 11:13  

#2  No doubt the Navy has serious problems (McCain, Fitzgerald, Zumwalt, Little Crappy Ship, etc.) and Pro Publica has been all over them. But why exactly is it our job to keep the Straits of Hormuz open?
Posted by: Matt   2020-01-04 11:03  

#1  Destruction of Iran's ability to place mines seems like the sensible way to proceed.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2020-01-04 10:48  

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