I once read that the U.S. Navy was keeping the Gerald Ford in the Arabian Sea, away from Iran, because of the threat of missiles such as the Shaheed III, which has a range of about 2000 km. Presumably, then, air strikes were conducted from carriers 2000 km away and from land-based air fields.
I understand that the precise positions of ships are not officially disclosed. But are there documented instances of Navy surface ships being actually in the Gulf since the war began? When they were talking about escorting ships through the strait, and kind-of-ordering their NATO partners to participate in escorting, was that even possible?
We are not keeping a lot of ships in the Gulf, the Carriers are staying out.
We do have some Destroyers and Littoral Combat Ships in the Gulf, maybe a dozen at a time. The Carriers have enormous range anyway. Though in the Gulf War my friends on the USS Ranger CV-61 were sadly in the Gulf, normally we don’t put carriers in the Persian Gulf.
A carrier is like a long-armed prizefighter: it works best out of the reach of a short-armed opponent, delivering long jabs and making the opponent try to close (and getting beat up and tired out in the process).
Exactly. They’re not as agile as, say, a destroyer, and not designed for close combat. They’re a floating airfield.
And if you have non-floating airfields available, you should use them instead. They don’t sink.
Two destroyers transited into the Persian Gulf on April 11th. They turned their transponders on once inside the Gulf to announce their presence.
UPDATED: Two U.S. Warships Sail Through Strait of Hormuz to Establish New Route for Merchant Ships - USNI News