"Juergen Nieveler" wrote in message
. ..
"George" wrote:

I can assure you that even Iranian territorial waters are eyed with a
fine tooth comb when U.S. ships travel those waters. Anything
considered remotedly dangerous to U.S. ships under these circumstances
would be a dead duck in the water before it knew what hit it.

The Germans thought the same when the Scharnhorst entered the Oslo
Fjord...

We aren't the Germans, even though people like you tend to equate us with
them. And we don't have to enter the Gulf to get the job done. There are
maps on Google of the Arabian sea in relation to Iran, if you are
interested.

Choke points, during times of armed conflict, have a way of disolving
themselves when confronted with any U.S. armada that, when under
combat operations, and all by itself, is one of the most powerful
military forces on ther planet.

Still they can't check every single fishing vessel (most of which will
belong to neutral countries), every little bush on the shore (which
might or might not hide a missile launcher), every little creek or bay,
and every single suspicious sonar echo (which might be a submerged sub
hiding on the bottom). Repeat after me: If the US attack Iran, there
WILL be US losses.

They won't have to. Any vessel coming within a designated distance of any
of our war ships when we are in operational manuvuers will be forewarned to
stay clear. Any that don't will be subject to extreme prejudice. Yes
there will be U.S. losses. Where did I say that there wouldn't be? That's
not the issue here. The issue is whether or not this cavitation weapon of
Iran's has a chance in hell of being successful. The chances are very low.

If the Strait of Hormuz, even at it's narrowest, is only 30 km wide,
as you say, then our ships would have to be within 10 km of Iran's
coast in order for the weapon to have any chance at all.

Torpedoes don't NEED to be fired from the beach, you know? They could
be hidden below a fishing boat for all you know... look at how the
first generation of torpedo boats looked, they lowered the torpedos
into the water with winches...

Torpedos are not a problem. We have plenty of countermeasures for those.
And any vessel that launches one against us will not launch a second. See
above for countermeasures for your fishing boats.

and our Navy simply doesn't have to get that close. In fact, they don't
even have to enter to Gulf at all to carry out their mission.

Depends on what the mission is. Remember, there's still troops in Iraq
who need support, too - if the Straits are closed, they're stuck on the
far end of a very dangerous supply line through possible enemy
territory all around.

If the straits are closed, they won't stay closed. Yes, troops are in
Iraq, and we have the forces there to protect them, and more that can
arrive there on a moment's notice. You must know that our forces are very
flexible. The most flexible, in fact, anywhere, particularly our Naval
forces and Naval air forces. Do you know of another nation that could
round up the forces necessary to take Baghdad in a mere few weeks? Iran
couldn't do it after ten years of trying and a million dead. How many did
we lose by comparison?

George