Update on the capture of 10 American sailors

APACHERAT · Jan 29, 2016

Still a lot of unanswered questions.

Not surprising that Obama is no Ronald Reagan. Reagan had the talk and the walk and would have handled things differently.

U.S. Boat Crew Navigation Error, Not Technology Tampering Led to Seizure of 10 Sailors by Iran

PENTAGON A navigation error not technology tampering led to two U.S. Navy riverine command boats and ten sailors being held by Iranian forces earlier this month, USNI News has learned.

Several sources confirmed to USNI News that the crews of the two boats, assigned to Coastal Riverine Squadron 3, had misjudged their location when they mistakenly strayed into Iranian waters off of Farsi Island in the middle of the Persian Gulf on Jan. 12 while trying to meet a ship for refueling. The sources said the mistake was a result of human error, not a failure in navigation systems.

During the voyage leadership on the RCBs made an unplanned course change during the transit in route to a refueling stop with with USCGC Monomoy (WPB-1326) at about the midway point of the trip.

The crews of the boats were determining their position and repairing a mechanical problem with one of the boats when forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) the units responsible for costal defense in Iran interdicted the U.S. RCBs and took both the boats and their crews to Farsi Island. Diplomatic efforts from the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prompted their release after 16 hours.

The general route, commonly used by the small riverine boats used by the Navy to patrol close to shore, comes only within a few miles of the 12 nautical mile territorial buffer around Farsi Island located in middle of the narrow and heavily trafficked Persian Gulf, USNI News understands.

The planned transit path for the mission was down the middle of the Gulf and not through the territorial waters of any country other than Kuwait and Bahrain, according to a Jan. 18 timeline of events from U.S. 5th Fleet.

U.S. Navy 5th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Kevin Stephens would not comment on the navigational error and told USNI News that the incident is currently under an administrative investigation by Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.

It is ongoing, he said.
There is no timeline for completion.

According to the Jan. 18 timeline from U.S. 5th Fleet, the investigation will determine what caused the change in course and why the RCBs entered into Iranian territorial waters in the vicinity of Farsi Island.

The revelation of the navigation error on behalf of the Navy crew deflates widespread speculation that Iranian forces had somehow confused or provided incorrect information to the RCBs navigation systems.

Iran has proved the capability to spoof U.S. navigation systems notably in how an Iranian cyber warfare unit deceived the navigation of an U.S. Air Force RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aerial vehicle into landing in Iran.

Likewise, North Korea a long-time technology partner with Iran regularly attempts to spoof the GPS on ships near its territorial waters, Eric Wertheim naval analyst and author of U.S. Naval Institutes Combat Fleets of the World, told USNI News earlier this month.

However, there is no evidence similar techniques were used in the Farsi Island incident, sources said.

While the error on the part of the sailors prompted the interdiction by the IRGCN, the conduct of the Iranians is arguably a violation of maritime law, James Kraska, professor in the Stockton Center for the Study of International Law at the Naval War College, told USNI News on Thursday.

Under the U.N. Law of the Sea Convention of which Iran is a signatory the IRGCN forces could challenge a ship in their territorial waters operating under the concept of innocent passage but went over the line in drawing weapons, detaining the crew and seizing the boats, Kraska said.

The lack of U.S. reaction internationally to the seizure which occurred mere days before the implantation of the long negotiated nuclear treaty with Iran creates a troubling precedent for U.S. operations in the future, he said.

Kraska compared the severity of the Farsi Island incident to when in 1986 Libyan forces of under Muammar Gaddafi fired missiles at U.S. Navy fighters operating in the Gulf of Sidra across the so-called line of death 64 nautical miles off the Libyan coast and the 1988 Black Sea bumping incident in which a Soviet Navy surface ship rammed a U.S. warship conducting an innocent passage in Soviet territorial waters.

In both cases, the U.S. raised a hue and cry internationally complaining of the violations Kraska said have not been echoed in the aftermath of the current incident.

Why wouldnt there be any reaction to this incident [on the part of the U.S.]? Kraska said.
Other countries now understand theres going to be no reaction to the similar incidents in the future.
As to the sailors, they arrived at their homeport in San Diego this week and recently conduct reintegration before adding their stories to the ongoing investigation.

http://news.usni.org/2016/01/28/u-s...230369141&mc_cid=0d065c5877&mc_eid=2aedd16e3c
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US Conservative · Jan 29, 2016

Obama is such a chump.

APACHERAT · Jan 29, 2016

US Conservative said: ↑

Obama is such a chump.
Click to expand...

That's what the article seems to point out.

waltky · May 13, 2016

Navy commander relieved of command over Iran detention incident...

Navy Commander Fired in Connection with Iran Detention Incident
May 12, 2016 | The commanding officer of a West Coast-based Navy riverine squadron has been fired in the fallout from an investigation into an incident in which 10 sailors were briefly captured by Iranian forces earlier this year.

Cmdr. Eric Rasch, commanding officer of Coastal Riverine Squadron 3, was relieved today by Capt. Gary Leigh, the commander of Coastal Riverine Group 1 due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command, according to a Navy release. Leigh made the decision to remove Rasch after reviewing a preliminary investigation into the incident that unfolded over Jan. 12-13. Two riverine boats carrying ten sailors from CRS-3 were apprehended by the Iranian military after they entered Iranian waters. Officials noted in the release that Rasch was the executive officer of the squadron at the time of the incident. The nine men and one woman detained were released less than 24 hours after their capture after Secretary of State John Kerry intervened on their behalf.

This picture released by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, shows detained American Navy sailors in an undisclosed location in Iran.

A timeline of events released by U.S. Central Command indicates that the riverine boats deviated course en route to a refueling mission during a transit from Kuwait to Bahrain. One boat had a mechanical issue in a diesel engine, which both boats stopped to address while in Iranian waters. It remains unclear how the boats entered Iranian waters and whether the crew knew where they were at the time. A command investigation into the incident was launched Jan. 14; it has been reviewed by senior Navy officials, but has not been released publicly. Capt. Stanfield Chien, prospective deputy of CRG-1, will take over command of the squadron in the wake of Raschs firing, according to the Navy release. It remains unclear if more firings will follow in the wake of the incident.

The Iranian government has attempted to leverage the events for a propaganda victory, disseminating video of a sailor appearing to apologize for venturing into Iranian waters to national media and publishing images of sailors on their knees in a position of surrender. Rasch enlisted in the Navy in 1989 and previously served as an electronic warfare officer in Iraq in 2008 and 2009, and as the executive officer of the Arleigh-Burke Class destroyer Sampson in 2010. His awards include a Bronze Star.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/...in-connection-with-iran-hostage-incident.html
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Strasser · May 13, 2016

Obama and SOS Lurch loves them some Iranians; they're even making sure the vermin get nukes and the missile systems to toss them around much more effectively. Naturally they aren't going to give a (*)(*)(*)(*) about some grunts at the low end of the food chain as far as they're concerned, all they ask is that their good friends hold off on their usual mayhem until after the elections.

And why does the media keep pretending Kerry got some sort of Treaty out of the scum??? That lie went stale months ago. They have nothing from them.

APACHERAT · May 13, 2016

waltky said: ↑

Navy commander relieved of command over Iran detention incident...

Navy Commander Fired in Connection with Iran Detention Incident
May 12, 2016 | The commanding officer of a West Coast-based Navy riverine squadron has been fired in the fallout from an investigation into an incident in which 10 sailors were briefly captured by Iranian forces earlier this year.
Click to expand...

This is one decision the Navy brass got right in Obama's PC Navy.

The Navy knows that Obama days are coming to an end and if the new CnC is Donald Trump, no longer will deserting on the field of combat or violating the U.S. Military "Code of Conduct" that was signed into law as an executive order by President Eisenhower of U.S. Marines carrying out an unlawful order in Yemen and surrendering and destroying their weapons or sailors not putting up a fight and allowing their boats to be captured will be called by the Obama White House as " Serving the United States with honor and distinction." Those days are coming to an end.

The Navy needs to go further and the boat commanders should also walk the plank. If Cmdr. Eric Rasch issued an order to the boat commanders not to defend the boat from being captured, then the boat commanders carried out an unlawful order.

At the minimum both boats should have been scuttled to prevent the boats being captured. The two patrol boats were well armed and should have fought off the Iranians.

ARTICLE II
I will never surrender of my own free will. If in
command I will never surrender the members of my
command while they still have the means to resist.

http://seabeemagazine.navylive.dodlive.mil/files/2014/02/Chapter-2.pdf
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Update on the capture of 10 American sailors

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Update on the capture of 10 American sailors

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