Tanker War 2.0

[CBH99]

You mentioned an ASW towed sonar payload...does that include the ability to engage submarines, or simply detect & transit their location?

 

[Stoker]

You mentioned an ASW towed sonar payload...does that include the ability to engage submarines, or simply detect & transit their location?

Detect and transmit.

 

[tomahawk6]

New government vows to escort tankers. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49110331

 

[FJAG]

New government vows to escort tankers. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49110331

Time to reinstate the convoy system.

:cheers:

 

[Colin Parkinson]

This is interesting

Covert Iranian cargo ship http://www.hisutton.com/Saviz.html

Covert US Cargo ship https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/20959/photo-of-shadowy-u-s-special-operations-ghost-mothership-appears-on-twitter

 

[FJAG]

Maybe we should re-introduce Q-ships.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship

:cheers:

 

[brihard]

Really we’re getting pretty into the weeds when we talk about repelling boardings...

What’s Iran’s strategic objective with threatening tanker traffic? I’m not sure. If they’re attempting to demonstrate the credibility of their threats to tanker traffic, they already succeeded. They’ve holed a couple, and they’ve pirated a couple, releasing one at their leisure, and keeping custody of one belonging to one of modern history’s pre-eminent maritime powers.

Can we stop them seizing tankers? With enough resources, definitely. Can we deny Iran access to the waters? With more resources and adequate maritime surveillance, also yes. But now that’s playing hardball, and if we choose to do that, so can they. Hardball for them means putting a Silkworm into the side of a tanker. Can we run missile interdiction in protection of all tanker traffic? Not a chance.

Which gets us back to: what is their objective and how far will they go to achieve it? Can we deny their objective AND protect and preserve tanker traffic through the strait? That I don’t know. I do feel reasonably sure that no matter how much we escalate militarily, they will probably have the ability to hard-kill a tanker long past the point where that particular factor remains significant in our political and diplomatic calculus.

I don’t know where that leaves us. Killing Iranians =/= stopping Iran.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

or kill some Iranians, notably IRGC types and break some of their toys. Iran does not want full blown war, they want propaganda victories, take out some of their fast boats and helicopter and send a warning quietly through back channels that their naval base is next. Don't give them any warning about the initial response.

 

[tomahawk6]

Duncan will help HMS Montrose escort tankers. Duncan is a type 45 air defense destroyer.

https://apnews.com/de45fa9d9d1148a0bb3d2c044289fcb4

https://thedefensepost.com/2019/07/12/uk-destroyer-hms-duncan-gulf


Mod's would you be so kind to put this in the Tanker War thread ? Thanks Damn senior moment. 

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Britain begins escorting all U.K.-flagged vessels through the Strait of Hormuz

(I am assuming their insurance rates skyrocket if they don't comply)

 

[tomahawk6]

The type 45 might deterr another boarding action by helo.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

https://gcaptain.com/tankers-perform-vanishing-act-in-hormuz-as-tensions-escalate/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Gcaptain+%28gCaptain.com%29&goal=0_f50174ef03-5b3e8dc405-139922301&mc_cid=5b3e8dc405&mc_eid=c9f44d7f09

By Brian Wingfield and Julian Lee (Bloomberg) –Oil tanker owners are finding a way to reduce the risks of navigating the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important — and lately most dangerous — energy chokepoint: vanish from global tracking systems.

Copying from Iran’s own playbook, at least 20 ships turned off their transponders while passing through the strait this month, tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. Others appear to have slightly altered their routes once inside the Persian Gulf, sailing closer than usual to Saudi Arabia’s coast en route to ports in Kuwait or Iraq.

Before the latest increase in tensions with Iran, ships were more consistent about signaling their positions as they passed through a waterway that handles a third of seaborne petroleum. Once inside the Gulf, shipping routes took them fairly close to the Iranian coast, skirting the offshore South Pars/North gas field shared by Iran and Qatar. Most still do, but a growing number appear to be trying something new. (rest at link)

 

[Spencer100]

USNI blog about RN, USN and Allies helping.

https://blog.usni.org/posts/2019/07/31/the-essential-requirement-for-maritime-sovereignty

Plus a bonus dig at Canada and The HMCS Uganda in WWII  :'(

 

[Colin Parkinson]

A good reminder that actions have consequences and shirking your commitments is remembered for a long time.

 

[Spencer100]

Did Britain just blink?  Or just something else?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/us-iran-oil-tanker-gibraltar-released-gulf-latest-vessel-seized-a9061071.html

 

[Colin Parkinson]

The UK is in a tough spot, they don't want to appear to be weak, but from day 1 they said that if the cargo is not going to Syria, they would release it. So now Iran has given assurances it is not going there, so the legal reason for holding it is gone. The Iranians can claim they beat the UK up, but really the Brits would release it without the Iranians grabbing a tanker.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Gibraltar has released the Tanker but it's waiting new crew and now renamed and flagged Iranian.

https://gcaptain.com/iran-tanker-shifts-position-but-still-at-anchor-off-gibraltar/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Gcaptain+%28gCaptain.com%29&goal=0_f50174ef03-224fe9df53-139922301&mc_cid=224fe9df53&mc_eid=c9f44d7f09

 

[Spencer100]

Australia is joining.

https://foreignminister.gov.au/releases/Pages/2019/mp_mr_190821.aspx?w=E6pq%2FUhzOs%2BE7V9FFYi1xQ%3D%3D&fbclid=IwAR3JqhTVMwFKZSc8V-Rt7d76dbhPji5Ca0BMSAppkPJQNjdQ68fW21c1iQU

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Semi-related

https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2019/08/analysis-houthi-naval-attacks-in-the-red-sea.php

 

[tomahawk6]

The tanker wont leave Greece.