Sunday, February 9, 2014

That Iranian 'Fleet'

"Iran's military fleet is approaching the United States' maritime borders, and this move has a message," the agency(Fars) quoted Admiral Afshin Rezayee Haddad as saying.
Well Fars and Reuters are behind the curve on this as numerous other agencies have been reporting on this for the last few days w/ details as to which ships are involved.
Iranian officials said last month that the fleet consisted of the destroyer Sabalan and the logistic helicopter carrier Khark, which will be on a three-month mission.
Ah, clumsy Iranian propaganda, like when they photoshopped missile launches awhile back. 

The 'Destroyer' is the Sabalan, a 40 yr old British built Vosper Mk V class (Alvand Class) Frigate.

A starboard quarter view of the Iranian frigate ITS Rostam (DE-73), later renamed IS Sabalan (F-73).
And what does one picture when you think of a 'Helicopter Carrier'?  Something like this maybe?
 

Yeah, not so much.  The Khark(g) is a 30 yr old Ol class helicopter 'carrying' logistics ship.

RFA Olmeda (A124).png

So congratulations to the Iranian Navy for getting a (semi-modern) ship to the other side of the world.  Welcome to the 20th century.


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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

somehow I don't think they've mastered at-sea replenishment. which means they're likely using the helicopters to carry fuel from one ship to another.

that's a lot of wear ant tear on old UH-1's, and not something you can do if the seas are rough.

I think we should send out the coasties backed by a few squads of marines to do "safety inspections"..and if they run, we sink them. "we thought it was a go-fast drug runner. sorry about that"

drjim said...

'Taint nothin' a few F/A-18's can't handle....

Robert Fowler said...

We could sink half their navy with a couple torpedoes.

Billll said...

We should send Independence, Freedom, and Zumwalt out as a bit of an escort.

Linoge said...

I can guarantee you they are being shadowed - and have been for some time - by assets they both can and cannot see. As I was telling Better Half yesterday, we could annihilate this little "middle finger to the evil American empire" exercise and they would not even see the ships that launched the ordinance.

But they sure do feel like they are accomplishing something.

Sigivald said...

A fleet. Of two ships.

That's not even a "group" or a "task force".

I'm pretty sure the Coast Guard could sink those, though admittedly their lack of missiles makes them less well suited than the Navy.

ISH (Mininerd) said...

The USCG's Hamilton-class cutters mount a 76 mm cannon and a pair of Mk 38 25mm chain guns... I don't doubt that wouldn't be enough to to sink these vessels, but between all the fun sorts of shells you can put into a 76mm cannon, American fire control systems, and American communications and coordination (with helicopters, other ships, smallcraft, drones, etc) it'd be no fun to be a Persian deckhand that day.

I'm hardly an expert, but I'd put my money on the Coasties in a straight-up fight between the USCG and these Iranian rust-buckets.

Adam Lawson said...

... I thought the news was a naked act of aggression, but having seen this post, I'm not sure it isn't a damn joke.

I remember tales of our European allies having planes that had to drop their ordnance before landing, during Afghanistan. I thought that was the most pathetic military thing I'd ever heard.

It has been topped. This "fleet" could be toppled by some kids in the woods calling themselves "Wolverines."

Anonymous said...

Letter Of Marque anyone?

Cargosquid said...

As others have said...we should send tugs to meet them....THAT would be a great insult.

Also, I think we should just invite them in for a port call.

Introduce their sailors to civilization....and by that, I mean, hookers and booze. See how many want to stay.....

snoopycomputer said...

Send out a yacht with a bunch of "Go Daddy girls" romping around.
The nonstop 24hr news cycle barrage would be priceless in advertising value.

Anonymous said...

That's laughable! How did you find out what ships are in this so called 'fleet?'

Thirdpower said...

They announced the names of the ships in the 'fleet' some time back. All it took then was a little Google-Fu.