Iran says it has 100 vessels for each U.S. warship

[unhappycamper]

Iran says it has 100 vessels for each U.S. warship
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Jul 24, 2010 13:16:28 EDT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The former naval chief for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said the country has set aside 100 military vessels to confront each warship from the U.S. or any other foreign power that might pose a threat, an Iranian newspaper reported Saturday.

Such a military confrontation in the vital oil lanes of the Persian Gulf would be of major global concern. The warning builds on earlier threats by Iran to seal off the Gulf’s strategic Strait of Hormuz — through which 40 percent of the world’s oil passes — in response to any military attack.

“We have set aside 100 military vessels for each (U.S.) warship to attack at the time of necessity,” Gen. Morteza Saffari was quoted as saying by the conservative weekly Panjereh.

The U.S. and Israel have said military force could be used if diplomacy fails to stop what they suspect is an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Iran denies any aim to develop such weapons and says its nuclear work is for peaceful purposes like power generation.

The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters is based just across the Gulf from Iran in Bahrain.

[alphafemale]

1. That would include rowboats I'd guess? nt

[hobbit709]

2. All it takes is a small fast boat loaded with explosives.

Actually I'm far more worried about the Sunburn missiles they have.
Think supersonic Exocet with improved capabilities.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. The Sunburn meme is significantly overplayed

USN has effective responses. The pages on the web doing the fear mongering all have a single seminal source.

[hobbit709]

8. their effective response is based on the open sea scenario

Not in the confined waters of the Persian Gulf with mountains behind the launch effectively muddying the radar signal

[ProgressiveProfessor]

14. USN has means/methods to address choke point scenarios as well

[hobbit709]

16. When I was in the Air Farce there were all sorts of brilliantly planned scenarios.

When the metabolic byproducts started hitting the atmospheric impeller blades, all bets were off.

"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy"

[ProgressiveProfessor]

19. USN has been actively working it for some time. The key is to know it is coming

UAVs make that a lot easier these days.

[old mark]

3. Maybe canoes, too...nt

[alphafemale]

4. ...and don't forget the pool floaties.

An important part of any sea defense.

[Arkana]

11. I'm imagining a bunch of Iranians in inner tubes holding AKs

and it's cracking me the fuck up.

[alphafemale]

21. and they're ululating

they're coming for the battleship in an innertube and they're ululating

[Recursion]

13. Canoes would be remarkably effective, actually

Send 100 canoes out at night at a modern warship, each with a rocket launcher and/or some explosives on it.

They're low to the water, and made of wood, so the ship's radar doesn't pick them up. They're quiet, too, so somebody has to actually spot them. And the AEGIS system doesn't help you; all you can do is try to light up 100 silent canoes with the deck floodlights, and pick them off with the 4 deck .50 cals. Before any of them get close enough to detonate.

I'd be worried.

[Recursion]

12. Remember the USS Cole?

It just takes one lucky Zodiac, a few pounds of C4, and a very devoted bosun to cripple a warship.

[alphafemale]

18. yeah...everybody does.

There'll be a thousand innocents in a rowboat blown to smithereens before THAT happens again.

[Bitwit1234]

5. And where may I ask are they hiding them?

Do they have an underground sea. Something they thought of when Cheney had all those undisclosed locations.

[Motown_Johnny]

6. .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[Pavulon]

9. US. We have 100 guided munitions for each of your claimed

vessels.

What they do have there is better drugs.

[Arkana]

10. Ahahahaha. I bet.

Iran's Baghdad Bobs are as terrible at lying as the originals.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

15. Its called the small boat threat and its credible

RPG up close and personal can do a number on a capital ship. Get enough of them and it gets to be a serious problem. Attack en masse in a choke point, and some may get through

However there are effective means to counteract it. Cobras, Apaches, Hueys with mounted guns, AC-130s, any fast mover with a gun. Really nasty is a supersonic low pass (also questionable under the laws of war) but its low cost and very effective. The key is know they are coming.

[panzerfaust]

17. Does say "Vessels", not warships

The first estimate that I could find (Wikipedia, as Jane's is now sadly behind a pay-wall) is that Iran has: 4 Destroyers, 5 frigates, 2 corvettes, and 15 patrol-boats.

How many minutes these would survive after an all-out attack on US Naval forces in the eastern Med is an interesting question.

As far as the hundreds of "vessels" the effectiveness of small-craft against warships is greatly over-rated, witness the relative ineffectiveness of torpedo boat attacks in WW2. The success against the Cole being due to the deception of an attack in harbor.

If hundreds of small-craft suddenly burst from harbor I think most Naval captains would retire to sea (Navies never 'retreat') at a speed much greater than speedboats can sustain in open waters - that, or turn them into kindling with the Phalanx Gatling gun system mounted on all (I believe) US Surface warships which fires, depending upon the model, 3000-4500 20mm cannon rounds per minute.


British Grand Fleet at the Conclusion of The War to End All Wars (WWI)

[asdjrocky]

20. Bang Bang Go The Drums. nt

[Warren DeMontague]

22. It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean.

Well, actually, it is sort of the size of the boat.