US Navy Fires on Ship in Persian Gulf, One Dead

Middle East • July 2012 • Views: 1,166

abcnews.go.com

An American Navy ship fired on a boat in the Persian Gulf today, killing one person and injuring three others aboard the craft, a U.S. naval official told ABC News.

A spokesperson for the Navy’s 5th Fleet, which is based in nearby Bahrain, said that a security team aboard the oil supply ship U.S.N.S. Rappahannock fired a .50 caliber machine gun at a “small motor vessel after it disregarded warnings and rapidly approached the U.S. ship” off the coast of Jebel Ali, a city approximately 30 miles from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

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3 comments

Curt Mon, Jul 16, 2012 1:47:47pm

Hence my continued contention, for many, many years, that Ma Deuce will be the weapon of choice. If you’re that close, and you still have ignored many warnings, by flashing light, flag hoist and radio, and warning shots (which will be fired first, if all else has failed to get the attention of the crew, including possible maneuvering to avoid any mis-communications), then disabling fire is warranted.

It will be hard for any government to argue it was innocent fishermen, just out trying to earn a day’s pay check. It will be equally hard, if the Master/Security Officer-in-Charge followed all those steps, to exclaim someone was trigger happy.

One of my COs was in this type of circumstance in 1988, in the Gulf, near Iran and fired with .50s and M-60s, when it was apparent there was something besides fishing happening. The investigation found he followed all procedures and was within his realm of authority to open fire. He had both 76mm and 25mm weapons at his disposal, in addition to armed helicopters that night, too. He used the appropriate level of force to counter the presented threat.

Shiplord Kirel Tue, Jul 17, 2012 8:58:51am

Buck will know this but the rest of you may not:
Rappahannock is a replenishment oiler with a mixed civilian Navy crew. “Replenishment” means it can re-fuel other ships at sea, as opposed to a “transport oiler” that simply carries the goods from place to place. This ship is normally unarmed in peacetime but peacetime rules would not apply in the Gulf. It is very lightly armed in any case, at least in comparison to combat vessels. It is quite a large and valuable ship and would be a lucrative target.

Curt Thu, Jul 19, 2012 3:47:43am

re: #2 Shiplord Kirel

Buck will know this but the rest of you may not:
Rappahannock is a replenishment oiler with a mixed civilian Navy crew. “Replenishment” means it can re-fuel other ships at sea, as opposed to a “transport oiler” that simply carries the goods from place to place. This ship is normally unarmed in peacetime but peacetime rules would not apply in the Gulf. It is very lightly armed in any case, at least in comparison to combat vessels. It is quite a large and valuable ship and would be a lucrative target.

My first ship was a fully USN commissioned replenishment oiler. 450 man crew, it was 9 years old then, and decommissioned before I retired, as well as the MLSF (Mobile Logistics Surface Force) ships going to mixed merchant marine and Navy detachment crews, as in this case.

Our armament, when I arrived in Apr 77, was 4 20mm mounted formerly aircraft cannons…and a locker full of small arms, like M-60s, M-14s, Remington 870s and .45 cal pistols. We hauled 6M gallons of diesel fuel, marine and 2.5M gallons of JP-5, plus 600 tons of cargo ammo (not nuclear certified).

During my time in the service, it was upgraded to mounting the Mk15 CIWS (manually aimed 20mms removed), but those weren’t equipped to fire at surface targets, even if they technically could, it wasn’t connected in the installations.

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