Iran says they weren't involved and the US says it's very likely they were. One looks like a torpedo and the other a magnetic mine.

1. Does Iran have a seaworthy submarine capable of a torpedo attack?

2. Wouldn't our forces in area know about the movements of an Iranian sub?

3. Is launching a magnetic mine a complicated task that requires a certain type of ship and crew or do you just toss over and motor on?

You don’t need a sub to launch a torpedo, it can be done from a number of naval vessels and even aircraft. Limpet mines can be placed by a diver with a timed fuse while the vessel is at port. Iran supposedly has three Kilo class Russian subs, so who knows.

My limited understanding of the subject is that magnetic mines can be laid by ships, subs, and aircraft. I know mines were laid at least as early as World War 1 so I think the technology would be available to Iran.

Be interesting to see how it happened. Not surprised this wasn't done before, threats against oil transportation in that area have been done for decades as a way to influence crude oil prices.

Oil prices have been held in check for quite a while, the US has plenty of reserves, these attacks drive up oil speculation prices, even if for just a short while, like 911 someones making billions off the oil markets from the fluctuations...

They have a bunch of small fast attack surface craft armed with anti ship missiles as well as torpedoes.

Iran sure is poking the rattlesnake....

Trouble is, their stick isn't a tenth as big as it would need to be.

six Iranian ships caught fire pierside the other day.

https://jcpa.org/mysterious-bl...ps-in-iranian-ports/

some think the fires are related to the earlier "damage" to 4 other tankers.

dropping mines off by ships these size seems to be the thought...

Ghadir (Persian: غدیر‎) is a class of midget submarines built by Iran specifically for cruising within the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf

But as mentioned, you can launch torpedoes from small boats / ships as well.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
But as mentioned, you can launch torpedoes from small boats / ships as well.

For that matter, if your target is something big and slow and defenseless like a civilian tanker, you don't even need an actual torpedo, you could just stick a bomb on the front of an inexpensive recreational remote control boat.

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
But as mentioned, you can launch torpedoes from small boats / ships as well.

For that matter, if your target is something big and slow and defenseless like a civilian tanker, you don't even need an actual torpedo, you could just stick a bomb on the front of an inexpensive recreational remote control boat.

see "USS Cole"...

And CNN is tripping over itself to protect Iran from blame and speculation. Because how could we ever suspect them, Iran being such an upstanding member of the region and global community.

quote:

Originally posted by Chuck Perry:
And CNN is tripping over itself to protect Iran from blame and speculation. Because how could we ever suspect them, Iran being such an upstanding member of the region and global community.

How very predictable. Orange man bad, Iran good.


As far as subs go, I've read that the Persian Gulf has very muddled waters as far as sound propogation goes (the normal way to detect subs). So, Iran's 3 Kilo subs (if they are even operational) pose a theoretical threat to any ship in the Gulf.

Tankers are big, dumb, fat targets with no defenses against even small attack boats. This is likely just more saber rattling, but makes people fearful of repeating Iran/Iraq's 'tanker wars' of the 1980s. . .

Having spent some quality time in various resorts in Iraq in the not too distant past, and having spent some leisure time observing and tracking weapons brought in from Iran, and having benefitted from information about Iranian activities, and having been targeted on many occasions by Iranian weapons when working close to their borders (and on occasion, overhead), I can say with little reservation that I am not delighted with the state of Iran, it's politics, it's actions, or it's leadership.

In Iraq, nearly everything that got used against the US was either stolen US equipment or Russian equipment funneled through Iran. IED deaths, snipings, etc, were most often filmed, with the purpose of collecting a bounty, paid from Iran, or indirectly from Iran. I've personally tracked, observed and followed small arms, missiles, and personnel out of Iran; weapons intended for use against US personnel. When the US says that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism, it's not inaccurate to say that this is true in every conceivable way, and on every level.

I've spent a fair amount of time in the gulf area and in the countries surrounding the gulf, and in the straight, and operating close to and through Iran. No lost love, at all.

Iran's submarine force currently consists of three Russian Kilo-class (4,000 ton) diesel-electric submarines (Tareq 901, Noor 902, Yunes 903), one 350-400-ton Nahang and an expanding force of roughly a dozen 150-ton Ghadir-class (Qadir/Khadir) midget submarines. The Kilo class is very adapt at deploying mines quickly.

quote:

Originally posted by Flashlightboy:
Iran says they weren't involved and the US says it's very likely they were. One looks like a torpedo and the other a magnetic mine.

1. Does Iran have a seaworthy submarine capable of a torpedo attack?

2. Wouldn't our forces in area know about the movements of an Iranian sub?

3. Is launching a magnetic mine a complicated task that requires a certain type of ship and crew or do you just toss over and motor on?

quote:

Originally posted by Kasinefect:
... mines were laid at least as early as World War 1 ...

Even earlier. "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" is paraphrased from Admiral Farragut, running through a minefield during the Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864.

Trivia: There is a Farragut Street in Philadelphia, probably named about 1880.

Some AP story I read said it wasn't a torpedo attack because they are both still floating.

No one but Iran both could have, and would have, launched the attack per a sound bite from Vice President Pence broadcast on the radio this afternoon. Interesting that this would happen while Japan's Prime Minister is in Iran trying to cool down tensions between Iran and the U.S., no?

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
Limpet mines can be placed by a diver with a timed fuse while the vessel is at port.

Which appears to possibly be the case here.

From the news article linked in feersum's post:

quote:

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and other officials expressed confidence that Iran was behind the attack near the Strait of Hormuz. Bolton, while visiting the United Arab Emirates, said, “There’s no doubt in anybody’s mind in Washington who’s responsible for this.” The operation, he added, was carried out with “naval mines almost certainly from Iran.” The American fleet also closely monitored several Iranian ships, from which the attack was apparently conducted by divers from the navy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGCN).

I'm sorry, maybe its a sign of the times and/or my growing skepticism, but isn't this the same US 'intelligence' organization telling us what to believe here that also told us Asad gassed his own people in Syria, which we've now found out is likely not the case? I think the deep state (or whatever you want to call them) in Washington are itching for a fight with Iran, so I'm a bit reluctant to buy into any theories on what's happening in the Gulf just yet.

Gulf Of Tonkin?