On Watch In The Arabian Gulf: What The U.S. Navy Faces Against Iran

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group transits the Suez Canal, Thursday, May 9, 2019. The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. With Abraham Lincoln as the flagship, deployed strike group assets include staffs, ships and aircraft of Carrier Strike Group 12, Destroyer Squadron 2, USS Leyte Gulf and Carrier Air Wing 7, as well as the Spanish navy Alvaro de Bazan-class frigate ESPS Mendez Nunez. (Petty Officer 3rd Class Darion Chanelle Triplett/U.S. Navy via AP)

Time: On Watch in the Arabian Gulf: What the U.S. Navy Faces Against Iran

When oil tankers were bombed in the Persian Gulf two weeks ago, my thoughts turned to the summer of 1987 when I sailed through the narrow Strait of Hormuz for the first time as the Operations Officer in a brand-new Navy Cruiser, the U.S.S. Valley Forge. She was the fourth of the vaunted AEGIS-class guided missile cruisers, and our job was to protect the aircraft carrier carrying the admiral in command of our forces in the Arabian Gulf. Like today, tensions were elevated with Iran as a result of their attacks on merchant shipping, carried out largely through dumping mines in international waters – part of the so-called “Tanker War.” Several oil tankers were hit, passage through the Strait was problematic, and the international community sought to keep the Strait open to allow some 30% of the world’s oil that moves through it. That became the Navy’s mission.

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WNU Editor: These ships must be on high-alert at all times.