Iran Sends Boat Swarm To Trail U.S. Carrier

A Mk VI pulls alongside of the USS Abraham Lincoln in Manama, Bahrain.

Navy Confirms Boat Swarm  Observed Trailing the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN Was Iranian

 U.S.Navy spokesmen have confirmed that about 18 small combatant craft recently "shadowed" the Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other ships from her task force. The "swarm shadowing"  took place  in the Strait of Hormuz . The entire Iranian "swarm fleet " was clearly visible via commercial satellite imagery in early December of 2019. This was prior to the US. drone strikes that killed top Iranian military leaders in retaliation for their attack on U.S. interests in Iraq. 

Map by Google Images

The Lincoln sailed through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf of Oman earlier this month, as seen in commercial satellite imagery. The U.S. Navy reports that none of the Iranian craft acted provocatively toward the carrier, or her escorts.  None the less the image of 18 small boats in very close proximity to Lincoln and her escorts is a stark reminder of the inherent risks of each transit through the Strait.. 

 This swarm shadowing occurred prior to the American drone attack that prompted Iran to swear revenge on the U.S.. The next time we could see a swarm attack on one of our carriers. The Iranian "swarm boats" have little chance  of breaking through a US carrier escort flotilla. They have virtually no chance of sinking one of our carriers. However, nothing is impossible the lesson of the BISMARK from WWII is that a bunch of lessor warships can gang up on the super war ship of the era, and if the smaller attack flotilla doesn't mind losing a few boats, sink the more advanced and larger vessel (s). We doubt the Iranian command seriously believes that they could sink even one ship of a U. S. Carrier task force. However, a "mission kill' has a real chance of succeeding . 

"Mission kill" occurs when a combatant causes enough damage to an enemy's equipment to stop or delay the mission of their opponent. A really successful "Mission kill"could send a US Carrier and /or any number of her screening war ships into an expensive and protracted ship yard stay. The U.S. public seems unaware that great powers have used "mission kill" tactics in the past usually to bypass legislative war power scrutiny and reduce collateral damages. "Mission kill"  strategy and tactics these days are especially attractive to the lesser powers. The Iranians after the loss of two general officers in a very precise U.S. drone attack may be highly interested in a shocking attack on U.S. armed forces vice their usual attacks on softer civilian targets. 

Preventing mission kill from a boat swarm attack requires some different approaches to carrier protection. The swarm must be engaged before the carrier task force gets into swarm boat gun range. This would require greater use of air cover and perhaps our own gang of "street fighters" , small heavily armed patrol boats to engage the enemy before they can conduct a mission kill. More difficult is the change in use of force policies and rules of engagement. Given the threats Iran has made on the US in the wake of our successful drone attacks; we must consider any approaching swarm on track towards a US carrier task force as any enemy intent on engaging. They must be met with force even if they are still in Iranian territorial waters. If ,upon meeting our outlying "street fighters" they change course we should monitor their movements until they have returned to base. At the first sign of resistance we must destroy the swarm before it gets into mission kill position. If we do encounter a swarm attack that would be justification for destroying the naval support infrastructure of Iran. Iran's maritime forces operating in their own neighborhood are Iran's only means of engaging the US military. Terrorism is their only other option for carrying war to the US. Attempted "Mission kills" at sea against our fleet should result in the total destruction of Iranian maritime forces; there is no need to tolerate an Iranian war at sea. If we don't invade them they can't really invade us. 



"Forces with U.S. Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) have killed Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, a leading Iranian political figure and the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization..." read more at the "MARINE EXECUTIVE: