USS Dwight D. Eisenhower
Sea Fox Submersible
(DEBKAfile) As Russia and NATO continued to boost their military strength in the eastern Mediterranean, debkafile’s military sources report substantial US reinforcements, led by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier, are being rushed to the Persian Gulf opposite Iran, with dozens of unmanned underwater craft for destroying mines. The USS John C. Stennis arrives in August, raising the number of American aircraft carriers in waters off Iran to four including the USS Enterprise and the USS Abraham Lincoln, with the French Charles de Gaulle due soon to make up a fifth. The Eisenhower, which reached its new position in the first week of July, operates under the joint commands of the US Sixth (Mediterranean) and Fifth (Gulf) Fleets. Thursday, July 12, American military officials announced that the US is also dispatching to the Persian Gulf dozens of tiny, unmanned SeaFox submersibles that can detect and destroy mines if strewn by Iran to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint for transporting one-fifth of the world’s oil. About 4 feet long, they each carry an underwater television camera, homing sonar and an explosive charge. ~~~~NNNNN~~~~
Ticonderoga Class Aegis Missile Cruiser
With the USS Shiloh and USS Cowpens (Aegis Missile Cruisers) now coming on station in the present AO, we now have a full compliment of capabilities in-range of the presumed first target… and the festivities can begin at any time. The additional resources being brought in-theatre are for breadth of engagement, and assure capabilities for engaging the second target are independent of any 1st-target commitments (because the second target is the one the US really cares about hitting). I suspect that there may already be an Aegis Crusiser on-station to the southeast of Iran to keep them in check until we decide to engage the overture upon them visibly…
