I doubt the iranian navy has a chance. Heres what I speculate the US has done to counter Irans military in the area.

We have subs in the area. They are doing much more than waiting for some raiding craft to suicide bomb a frigate. They have probably tapped every fiber optic telecommunication line in the region from underwater and are actively listening in on the traffic encrypted and non. We probably have assets in Iran doing the same thing on the ground as well. So its safe to say we are listening in on all of irans military communications and know exactly what their plan is. THis would not be the first time we've done this to other countries. We've been doing it since he 50s.

On top of that. Those same subs are probably releasing seals to recon the iranian islands to make sure there are no anti ship missile sites hidden away on random islands. We've been doing that for a while too. Even near chinas coast. Charting where hidden weapon systems are cached.

THose same subs are also busy mining with the modern day version or replacement for the captor mine. So basically these mines watch the iranian traffic go by over them as they sit on the bottom of the ocean. At any time we tell said mine to do it's thing. Boom! Torpedo in the water from nowhere sinking iranian ships and effectively corralling them in their ports.

We also have drone subs doing the same thing except they can roam and also have the ability to spy.

Pretty sure that if we saw a swarm of gunboats making a go at our fleet a sub can just as easily launch a asroc programed to simple land in the middle of the swarm and blow up knock the whole swarm out of the water.

Pretty sure we will have plenty of time to see the swarm coming too since our fleet is always being observed by multiple types of satellites.

As far as Naval Warfare goes the US has Iran in checkmate. Except we don't disclose that to the actual Iranians.

Originally posted by DarknStormy

Originally posted by howmuch4another
Any navy that goes head to head with the us navy that isn't asymmetrical will soon be...

Regarding Irans "assymetrical" navy,

I can see a "nighmare scenario" where our US Sailors would be really busy plucking Iranian sailors out of the water for days and weeks.

The Iranians would have a strategic plan against the USA like any smart country would. The USA are what Iran have been waiting for also apparently. They have dropped a drone, have a formidable army and it only makes me wonder what we haven't seen on their behalf. Don't shrug them off as easy beats, they would of learnt a lot from the wars around them over the past 10 years.

No. With all due respect I will continue to regard them as the paper tiger they are. You may invite me back to feast on crow if circumstances change.

Originally posted by mr-lizard

Originally posted by Atzil321
This seems like wishful thinking on the Iranians part. No navy, army or airforce in the world can even come close to matching U.S millitary superiority. How America uses such power is sometimes questionable, but their ability to wreak utter devestation on an enemy should never be in doubt.

Ah yes but underestimating your enemy is what will ruin America. And just because no single enemy can stand up to America, doesn't mean combined forces couldn't do the same thing.

Remember America is the smug kid in the playground, the rich kid with all the equipment. Other, wiser, older, countries are watching it from afar thinking 'you might have the equipment, but you don't seem to be winning many wars'

There's a great British army joke about the US military and it's something like 'all the gear, no idea'.

One thing your forgetting: America has always been the smug kid on the block. After the Revolution(you know when we kicked the redcoats out), American's where just as smug then as we are now. And it isn't that we don't have an idea, we just have different ideas. Unlike the nations of Europe(in particular the UK), the USA doesn't want to conquer the world and/or rape and pillage across several continents wiping out well over 100+ million people like the British Empire did when it had many "great" ideas.

my fear isn't Iran retaliation against the U.S Navy but it sending terror squads and weapons to rouge terrorists to attack U.S interests around the world.

but for as the straight of Hormuz a pre-emptive strike from Iran is probably it's best chance to do maximum damage, because if it was to come to war the U.S would take out Irans Radars AA sites etc, but a occupation of Iran is out of the question.

now I see can see why Iran would want nuclear weapons.

While Iran can make sure that the Strait oF hormuz cannot be transversed,US military has the capability to severely damage Iran.

This type of tatic would certainly be of concern to the US, and no doubt the US would look to mitigate the threat quickly by destroying the small fleets before they launch.

But even if they did manage to launch, this is a one time tatic. after the first 2-3 days large numbers of the small ships would be destroyed, and then its business as usual for the US, bar the odd -5-10 boat attack that would come periodically after that.

The trick for the US is to ensure they don't suffer a major loss (ie Carrier) in the opening stages, a few damaged crusiers/destroyers won't bother anyone in the whole scheme of things. Obviously Iran would be hoping for the opposite, but even a direct hit on a carrier won't delay the US for very long at all.

I don't know how swarm tactics or sea mines would somehow automatically be effective against the US Navy. Pretty much all US Navy warships, and even many logistics ships, have smaller caliber guns designed for rapid fire against smaller targets. The US Navy also has the best sonars and minesweepers in the world by far, sea mines would be detected easily. I wouldn't expect a naval group, much less a carrier group to go through a bottleneck like the straight of hormuz without being prepared for something that simple.

Frankly, the Iranian Navy doesn't strike me as much more than target practice for the USN...in a straight-up fight (even an asymmetrical fight). Yes, they can use 'swarm' tactics, but there are plenty of counter-tactics for that, including 'fight from beyond the range of the swarm'. The USN doesn't have to enter restricted water to engage the Iranian navy, and probably won't....why give up your greatest advantages (range and mobility)?

That said, the Iranian Navy could be a 'nightmare' for the USN by the simple expedient of attacking everything *but* the USN (for example, every tanker, regardless of national flag that tries to transit the Straits of Hormuz), then proclaiming every sinking as a victory. There are more than enough anti-American press outlets around the world to give that story traction. Of course, this line of attack brings its own down-sides, not least of which is immediate, near-universal condemnation of Iran's tactics. There's also the fact that, while the USN can't reasonably defend every hull that transits the straits, they can beat the living **** (Insert profanity to taste) out of bases, concentrations of shipping, and support facilities...eventually (assuming the politicians don't do something stupid...or stupider), assembling a 'swarm' attack won't be practical any more.

the us navy if it fought strategically could easily control straits of hormuz they could send mine sweepers and seal teams in fast attack boats ahead of larger ships and use carriers based in gulf for air and ground support while missile destroyers in gulf could take ouit large surface contacts and missile installations surface to surface mikssiles

Lets not forget the've got fleets of these little baddies:


the sub had no chance..

And the suicide donkey..formidable

Most Iran is willing to do is play poker with thier "friends" across the gulf. It's not like we're there totally uninvited, even though some countries may say they don't like us on the surface - look who's profitably selling the U.S. and its allies oil and buying U.S. made arms.

Iran does anything too stupid in the gulf, it's not just the U.S. Navy they'd answer to, but likely the Saudi, UAE, or Bahrain air forces might chip in a little too. (They have their coast guards/navies too, but I think they're negligable in terms of what they have, their airforces have much more power to project in comparison.)

Of course if Iran wanted to be really clever, they could do a soft attack on ship traffic in the gulf. Even better than some zerg-rush of fast boats or laying of mines which come with accountability. Just plant the right kind of fast growing seaweed and dump out some phosphates. Claim it's "aquaculture". Sit back and watch what happens to ships when that stuff goes into sea chests and gets sucked in engine cooling tubes. Only reason they wouldn't do it is that it would also cut off their own economic access to the gulf, and that's one of the things that's keeping them playing nice.

I think we should be more concerned with Iran's significant Air Force -