Monday, May 31, 2010

Submarines in the News

Submarines’ stealth capabilities are serverely eroded when they make the “news,” but the “news” is not often meant to inform.  Rather, the “news” is often meant to broadcast certain agendas, or send messages not necessarily “received.”

With the above in mind, I point to two “news” stories.  First, from Debka.com, under the headline A US nuclear submarine crosses into Strait of Hormuz, which informs us of the following.

Tehran reports that an Iranian naval patrol Thursday, May 27, detected a US nuclear submarine sailing through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which most of the oil produced by Persian Gulf states passes on its way to world markets. debkafile’s Iranian sources report Tehran has placed its navy and army on high alert.

Western intelligence and naval sources confirm that a nuclear-armed American submarine has in fact entered the Persian Gulf. This confirms debkafile’s report of May 20 that the Obama administration had decided to boost US military strength in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf regions in the short term with an extra air and naval strike forces and 6,000 Marine and sea combatants. Carrier Strike Group 10, headed by the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, was due to sail out of the US Navy base at Norfolk, Virginia Friday, May 21.

The second story, in the Times Online, under the headline Israel stations nuclear missile subs off Iran, informs us of this.

Three German-built Israeli submarines equipped with nuclear cruise missiles are to be deployed in the Gulf near the Iranian coastline.

The first has been sent in response to Israeli fears that ballistic missiles developed by Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, a political and military organisation in Lebanon, could hit sites in Israel, including air bases and missile launchers.

The submarines of Flotilla 7 — Dolphin, Tekuma and Leviathan — have visited the Gulf before. But the decision has now been taken to ensure a permanent presence of at least one of the vessels.

I sincerely hope that the Captains of these submarines, and the naval chains of command, are working together more cooperatively than Obama has appeared to work with the leaders of Israel.

Both sub stories linked via Fred Lapides.

Posted by John Venlet on 05/31 at 10:46 AM
(4) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Page 1 of 1 pages