That was my first thought as well. I was all set to pump my fist in the air was a resounding "Yes!" that we had finally started showing some balls with regard to Mexico.

Let's hope this encounter is not the second time we have fired a "shot heard round the world" that results in WWIII.

"aggressive and threatening manner."

Yea, that's what cops say in addition to making up a resisting charge before pummeling some poor slob. They said the same thing in '88 before whacking the Airbus.

You know what? Unless you plan on going out there to the Persian Gulf yourself, your cynicism is no more believable.

Taking this thing with a grain of salt makes sense. Implying you know either the vessel shot or the vessel shooting is guilty already shows a severe level of naivety.

The Oil stakeholders needed a reason to raise prices, so they sent out a small boat in an "aggressive and threatening manner". Here we go again!

with this many combat ships in that region, it is just a matter of time until a big incident will occur; and yes our Navy does send out warning signals before opening fire; the Iranian jet that was shot out of the air years ago ,was a unbelievable , hasty, stupid overreaction occurrence, which no one wants to repeat.

my friend was on a ship that did the same thing in a similar situation many years ago. The small craft would not stop even after a 50cal machine gun was firing warning shots right beside the boat it just kept coming at full speed. What would you do? Im willing to bet the boat was loaded with explosives or the they were unconscious or something but its insane to keep closing in on a US navy warship even after multiple warning shots that would be guaranteed to scare the living hell out of anyone. You go no idea how loud a 50 cal machine gun is.. this boat was up to no good or everyone on it was unconscious.. Cheetah your insane if you think the ship would just shoot at a small vessel for no reason you also forget about the USS Cole we have the right to defend ourselves and our ships if you don't like it move.

Good for all on the USNS Rappahannock for serving and doing their duty. After what happened to the USS Cole would anybody actually blame them if they blew the whole damn boat with its crew out of the water instead of using the 50 cal.?!?

If they don't like small boats approaching their ships, then THEY should get the F*ck out of the gulf. Their prescence alone may be deemed threatening. The right to defend themselves? They have a warship 10 miles off THEIR f*cking coast. Give me a break.

Give me a break

Ok what do you want broken?

This is and is not a U.S. Navy vessel. This is a Merchant Marine ship. They used to not have any military personnel in them, though that probably has changed in present times.

Do not know if that makes any difference, just thought it should be clear.

hey cheeto

Yea, that's what cops say in addition to making up a resisting charge before pummeling some poor slob. They said the same thing in '88 before whacking the Airbus.

Sorry but 50 cal bullets whizzing by - after lights, lasers, and other warnings didnt make them stop or change course - they had it coming.

TNRebel...right on! The iranians knew they had a military transponder on that civilian craft, and that it would show on radar as a military plane. That foolish and ignorant decision gives us an idea of the mentality of these muslims,and let's not forget the Cole, small suicide boat, we should have made the same response then and blown those muslim cowards out of the water, instead we lost numerous innocent lives. Keep up the good work US Navy!

Ahhhhhh, the Kangaroo Court is at it early AGAIN without knowing what the investigation will reveal.

Everyone must have a broken glass ball.

Hopefully some numbnutz in Washington will NOT change the ROE after this incident.

It was most likely a test run to see what the response would be.

Pats...

Any boat from any country has a right to international waters. Also, any IDIOT knows you don't rollup on a Navy warship like that.

Jack, so right.. Amazing how these bloggers forget such a thing as the Cole. I am so glad they

flexed their muscle as they should.. Tired of watching our guys die because of these muslims.

GO NAVY!!

cheetah-822547 - Perhaps you forgot about the suicide attack/bombing against the USS Cole in Yemen. That's exactly how it started, with a small, seemingly non-threatening boat coming too close to the Cole except, instead of firing warning shots and issuing other non-life threatening warnings, they just sat there and got blown up instead, killing 17 Sailors and injuring another 39. If you're the captain of a vessel, the safety of the ship and crew are ultimately your responsibility and that goes for the craft that was closing in on the merchant vessel. He/She put their crew and passengers (if any) at risk, not the USNS Rappahannock which appeared to follow International Maritime Rules and U.S. Navy approved procedures.

The U.S. Navy isn't just going to sit idly by and allow another ship to have a hole blown into her side without putting up a fight.

I am extremely concerned when "pleasure ships" are being sunk. I am even more concerned when said pleasure ships are being managed by someone from the UAB and India. Those Colombian chicks that took care of the SS agents need to be in charge of pleasure ships.

Pats617, I think you should move to Iran and give them a helping hand. How can you stand to stay in a country like the U.S.A.?

Those Colombian chicks that took care of the SS agents need to be in charge of pleasure ships

That would be putting the "pleasure" back into "pleasure ships".

This ship followed established rules and the crew did nothing wrong. They made multiple attempts to warn off the pleasure craft and those warnings were all ignored. Those criticizing the crew's actions obviously do not have a clue. The use of small craft like this loaded down with explosives is a well established tactic of the fanatics out there. This was more than likely a deliberate provocation. I just hope the news media is not stupid enough to provide the propaganda the fanatics were hoping for out of this. They want to get the media to side with them and blame the US Navy for firing on an "unarmed pleasure boat" as a means to gain support and depict the US Navy as the evil aggressor. This pleasure craft was warned to alter course and not continue it's approach in ways that you would have to be unconscious or dead to ignore. This is no different than when they fitted a fighter aircraft transponder on a civilian airliner in order to provoke the Navy into shooting it down. The idiot media is too quick to blame the Navy and not realize that these are deliberate moves and that the Navy acted entirely appropriately under the situation they were faced with. Had the ship not fired on the pleasure boat and had it hit the ship and detonated a large explosive device the same way the USS Cole was hit all those criticizing the Navy would be screaming about why didn't they defend themselves.

@lvingbarefoot - You do not know what you are talking about. The USNS Rappahannock is most definitely a US Navy ship, that is what the USNS stands for - United States Naval Ship!!! Yes, the ship is a Military Sealift Command operated ship with a mostly civilian crew, but that does not mean it is not a Navy ship. Most of the Navy's support ships that replenish our warships are operated by MSC, but that does not mean that they are not Navy ships!!! The ship likely carries a small detachment of active duty Navy security personnel due to the region they are operating in. These ships have the same right and duty to protect themselves as any other ship and the crew did absolutely nothing improper.

Pats sounds like a section 8.

To: "Ouch, my balls!!!"

First, our sailors did the correct thing with great restraint and control.

Second, you are correct about "international waters", but, "our country (the U.S.A.) has established 12 miles as the internatinal line fromshore, not ten.

JS, I did say they were, but they are not what people think they are. When I was in the Navy, they had no military personnel on them. I understand USNS stands for and was just trying to clear up that this was not a regular Navy ship.

That complete middle east area is one huge combat zone to the USA. Even in international waters we are in a combat zone there!

Hope they learn their lesson to stop next time..cheers to the crew of the USNS Rappahannock!

@Ed-NavDoc,

"Our appeasement minded administration will most likely find a way to make it look like it was the U.S. vessel's fault, apologise profusely, and pay large sums of money to the families of the deceased and injured!"

You may very well be correct but it would probably just be a distraction to keep them fom seeing the Drone Hellfire missile coming at them from their 6.

Any faults that President Obama may have, being shy about using the military isn't one of them. Nice try though.

On a side note I wonder if Obama's high school basketball teammate that nick-named him Obomber feels like Nostradomus now?

PATS617,

Words alone cannot begin to describe you. Lower than Whale dung comes to mind but is still lacking.......

MOST importantly................GO NAVY! Nice Job.

"On July 16th 2012 the Rappahannock was involved in an incident in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Dubai with an unknown motorboat that approached the ship despite several warnings. “An embarked security team aboard a U.S. Navy vessel fired upon a small motor vessel after it disregarded warnings and rapidly approached the U.S. ship,” Lt. Greg Raelson, media officer for U.S. Navy, said in an e-mailed statement. According to the Navy's Central Command Public Affairs, the Navy vessel followed its force protocol by first attempting to warn away the approaching craft with a series of non-lethal procedures using voice, radio, and lights. After those failed the Rappahannock escalated to lethal force, firing on the approaching vessel with a .50-caliber machine gun, killing an Indian fisherman on board and wounding three others, according to several sources"

Can we use the "Stand your ground " law over there?

Wasn't it an incident in the Tonkin Gulf that started an escalation in Vietnam as I recall? There, however the USA let the B--tards get too close. Good Work, thanks for protecting our sailors and ships.

Good point Mathuin! Apparently many of us were asking the same question, but I suppose it got us to open the article.

"The Gulf" whether here or "that" particular one, are certainly avenues which can be traversed by any terrorist group. The fact that we 'Sent a Message' to boats which would CONTINUE to approach our ships after being warned multiple times using multiple communication devices, are looking to have their cans blown out of the water! I am sure that the entire event was 'by the book' and perhaps even video taped just in case some foreign dignitary objects! (dash cams on cops cars)

This event could also have been a dry run with the use of "Virgin Seekers" as fodder for a test run to gauge our response time and distances to closing. I am sure that someone was watching, video taping and timing this whole event from another craft out in the water.

All I have to say is......NEXT?

50 cal? why bother they should have whipped out the BIG GUNS and blast the boat out of the water with a VW sized round :P overkill is better

We can only tell them 'You cross this line you die' so many times.

Mark, it's a oiler/supply ship in the merchant marines. They don't really have anything bigger then a 50 cal. Further, warning shots from a 50 cal aren't really that effective, the noise isn't that loud and the splashes in the water could be easy to miss. I'm assuming this a case of mistaken identity/lack of understanding on how close you can get to the vessels. The pleasure craft most likely did not understand/notice the warnings and kept inching closer for a better look. The navy is really tough on procedures of when you can open fire and what you must do before hand.
I'm not sure why they state in the article this is a US navy ship, when clearly it's a merchant marine vessel or a United States naval ship—pooh-pooh reporting I suppose. (There is a difference) The USNS title should give it away. The pleasure craft must have been rather large as well, as it's hard as hell to hit something with the 50 cal at the danger radius around a ship; unless of course they were closer.
Why would they want to gauge our response time? We already have the procedures developed and anyone can see them. Sometimes they even fly big banners on the side of the ship in several langue's with warnings.

TNRebel: The Airbus incident in 1988 was a little more interesting. Specifically, that bird was squawking in Mode II, an IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) mode used only by military aircraft. When the cruiser started getting Mode II squawks on its radar, it naturally wanted to know what the heck was going on. When the Iranian aircraft failed/refused to answer the ship's radio calls - even on the international Guard frequency - it would be reasonable to assume that the incoming aircraft (which was coming directly at the ship) had hostile intent, and that defensive measures should be taken. The ship defended itself. If the Iranians hadn't wanted such an incident, thay should have either (1) not used an F-14 IFF unit, or (2) manually turned Mode II off.

what the hell is wrong with you guys a 50 cal really you must of had some kind of rockets. you wouldnt have had to do any house keeping with rockets. no muss no fuss i leave the navy for a couple years and look what happens.

william bently it should have two r2-d2 ---20 mm phalanx

Mark S - The old saying goes "you can't kill something too dead".

@lvingbarefoot - You do not know what you are talking about. The USNS Rappahannock is most definitely a US Navy ship, that is what the USNS stands for - United States Naval Ship!!! Yes, the ship is a Military Sealift Command operated ship with a mostly civilian crew, but that does not mean it is not a Navy ship. Most of the Navy's support ships that replenish our warships are operated by MSC, but that does not mean that they are not Navy ships!!! The ship likely carries a small detachment of active duty Navy security personnel due to the region they are operating in. These ships have the same right and duty to protect themselves as any other ship and the crew did absolutely nothing improper.

JS, I think he was making the distinction clear. In the article they describe it as a US navy ship. This is untrue. It's a US Naval ship. There is a difference, maybe not to the average Joe, but its there. USS (United States Ship) USNS (United States Naval Ship) these ships also always have Active duty sailors on it, and their roles aren't limited to security by any means. Actually MSC usually furnishes the boarding teams and security. They're mostly there for at sea replenishments to do the bitch work and line handling. They are civilian ships though, and not owned or commissioned by the government.

livingbafefoot - this was a US Navy vessel, otherwise it would not have been the USS Rapahannock but the SS Rapahannock. William Bently, the US Navy has supply ships in its fleets, and they are NOT merchant marine.

Oh, second thought. Gulf of Tonkin anyone?

Someone wake up jonjojon and let him know the "Gulf of Tonkin" incident never actually took place.

Fhill,
Unless the CWIS are fitted for manual control it can't be used in the manner you suggest.

I haven't seen any joystick CWIS on a merchant ship, but there might be.

Christopher Cole,

The US Navy does not have any such ships that aren't merchant mariners. Look it up, or go enlist. : )

Pats617

give you a break? sure

i was an orthpedic medic in the army

which arm or leg always willing to help a nitwit

Can't see nothing wrong with defending themselves, every effort was made to warn the boat off, if they thought our Navy was going to nothing maybe they'll think twice the next time.

schoolyard

they sure did

Sam, our MSC not Navy.

That's right, it's not the gulf that is full of oil, it's the other gulf we get our oil from lol

will bentley given the locale i dont think they would go in naked . they did at one time arm with phalax or i will say that class ship did not in usn anymore so i dont know for sure.

The pleasure boat was full of WMD's

(why do you people still buy the official explanation? We have no way of knowing if they actually warned the ship or not. We were lied to about WMD's and a whole lot of other things. War is profitable and Iran has a ton of oil....but there's another sucker born in the US every minute. I don't buy anything this government says)

Easy way to keep from these incidents is to stay out of the region. US is a net exporter of oil. We don't need the middle east and Israel can handle Iran on their own.

Yeah Fhill, they probably had the CWIS loaded but without the upgrade it's only used to shoot down incoming missles; not at other boats.

whoknow you dont know another conspiracy i just know it is.who has bananas we need more bananas well invade them next. grapes those will be after the bananas well invade california next. no wait they have liberals out there we might have to give the troops eztra shots. lets invade alaska king crap. then the french for wine russia need some vodka. columbia ---need coffeee i know some of you were thinking coke but no.... coffee and the list plays on

The pleasure boat was full of WMD's

(why do you people still buy the official explanation? We have no way of knowing if they actually warned the ship or not. We were lied to about WMD's and a whole lot of other things. War is profitable and Iran has a ton of oil....but there's another sucker born in the US every minute. I don't buy anything this government says)

Easy way to keep from these incidents is to stay out of the region. US is a net exporter of oil. We don't need the middle east and Israel can handle Iran on their own.

Whoknow,
Well why your faith maybe shaken by our leaders, the guys out on the boat defiantly did warn the craft. Why would the MSC captain put his neck on the line just to play hero out in the gulf? They're very strict out about firing weapons at sea and it requires several layers of approval to do so. When stuff like this with the MSC or the Navy happens you can generally trust what is said. No captain is going to stick his neck and job out on something like this if it isn't true.

Jean...Not ALL Muslims are out to get ya...it's what's called a RADICAL...look it up, and in the meantime stop spreadingyour hate.

whoknow...too many troops have been killed, so I am all for stopping them BEFORE anything happens.

Not everything is a conspiracy, hun.

@ Screaminmimi...........LMAO!!!

TnRebel, you have it wrong. You wrote:

That Airbus flight in 88 was using a F14 transponder, supposedly taken from a scraped airframe, so that Navy ship was painting it a s a military bird, specifically a F14

That's not true. The airbus was sqawking a commercial code, but the Navy cruiser received a code from an Iranina F-14 that was at the same airport as the airbus.

check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LeYT9p_X3o

Moral of the story: Don't mess with the USA.

To all those uninformed people trying to act like they know what they are talking about, the USNS Rappahannock is not a Merchant Marine ship. If it were a merchant ship it would be an MV or SS, not a USNS. This ship is most definitely owned by the government as it is owned by the Military Sealift Command. Yes, MSC does sometimes charter merchant ships, but this is not one of them. This is a US naval vessel outfitted for underway replenishment of our warships. All vessels that are used for underway replenishment are owned by the US government. The only MSC ships that are not owned by the government are certain ships that are chartered for moving military cargo between different ports and they are not painted Navy grey and do not have the distinctive yellow and blue stripes on their stacks. No merchant marine vessels are outfitted to perform unrep activities. This ship is crewed by a civilian crew, but those civilians are US Government employees. The ship carries an active duty Navy contingent on board to handle security and certain other aspects of the ship's operations. I say this as someone who has in fact worked for MSC in the past, so I am well aware of the status of these ships. I also worked for one of the shipyards that built some of these "oilers" as they are called. They were built under contract to the US Government, not a private shipping company. I wish people on this forum would educate themselve before they go spouting their misinformation because, unfortunately, too many people do not know any better and believe the incorrect information these uninformed individuals post.

@!$%# 'em, you do not engage a warship in open water, especially in the worst neighborhood in the world.

Daotine, WHAT? The CIA was running covert ops on the North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin and they naturally retaliated. Lyndon " the murderer" Johnson used this as a political ploy for his election in '64 by sending fighter jets to bomb the region and going on national television to relay the event only after the planes were deployed. This was a political ploy of a show of ball$ on LBJ's part that horribly backfired. Without an act of congress,this bumpkin-a$$ liberal piece of $hit single handedly pushed the button on the Viet Nam War!

TNRebel wrote:

"That Airbus flight in 88 was using a F14 transponder, supposedly taken from a scraped airframe, so that Navy ship was painting it a s a military bird, specifically a F14. Yes, before the Islamic revolution we sold them F14's. Why they used that transponder on a commercial aircraft is unknown, the Iranians blamed it on trade sanctions and the lack of spares. But it could be argued they knew exactly what they were doing and what the Navy's response would be. Just saying, be aware of what happened before you open your mouth and use it for your own propaganda. Pretty sure you did not know any of this either...:)"

Rebel, you're the one who needs to get their facts straight. There are only 3 transponder modes available on an Airbus 300 back then. There is no confusion at all between military and civilian modes. The Airbus didn't have an F-14 transponder. It was squawking in A mode which showed it to be a civilian aircraft taking off, identified by the number 6760. It was transmitting the code for a civilian aircraft. It was communicating in English with civilian flight control.

The flight is a routine flight of 28 minutes to Dubai. It flew the same path dozens commercial planes fly out of Iran every day. It was in Iranian airspace. The Vincennes strayed into Iranian territorial waters. The flight was ascending, which shows it to be taking off and the new Aegis radar system was misread by the crew of the Vincennes as descending. Two other Navy warships in the area correctly identified it as a civilian aircraft. The Vincennes tried contacting the plane 7 times on military frequencies but the plane was not equipped to pick up military frequencies.

Captain Rogers was condemned by other Navy captains for his actions. He, and the crew screwed up big time and killed 290 people. The crew of the Vincennes is trained to handle a simultaneous attack of hundreds of aircraft and they couldn't correctly identify one civilian aircraft.

JS you are absolutely correct. Many of the MSC ships are also known as RO RO's, short for Roll On Roll off, to facilitate loading and unloading of rolling stock.

So, let me see if I understand the argument being made by some of you Monday morning quarterbacks... You think the US Navy should have simply ignored the lesson learned from the asymmetric warfare attack on the USS Cole?

That was an attack, by a small boat carrying explosives.

Seventeen American sailors were killed, and 39 were injured.

A 40' x 40' gash was opened in the hull of the ship by the explosion and the crew fought for 3 days trying to stop the flooding and save the ship.

The repairs to the USS Cole took 14 months and cost the US taxpayers more than $250 Million.

So, another small civilian boat moves aggressively toward an US Navy warship and ignores all attempts by the US ship to warn it away, and finally even ignores the US Navy's last resort warning shots ....

and you geniuses think the US Navy should have just ignored the approaching boat, and crossed their fingers? Seriously? This is your argument? My gosh, sometimes the stupidity and naiveté exhibited on these discussion threads is breathtaking.

To all those uninformed people trying to act like they know what they are talking about, the USNS Rappahannock is not a Merchant Marine ship. If it were a merchant ship it would be an MV or SS, not a USNS. This ship is most definitely owned by the government as it is owned by the Military Sealift Command. Yes, MSC does sometimes charter merchant ships, but this is not one of them. This is a US naval vessel outfitted for underway replenishment of our warships. All vessels that are used for underway replenishment are owned by the US government. The only MSC ships that are not owned by the government are certain ships that are chartered for moving military cargo between different ports and they are not painted Navy grey and do not have the distinctive yellow and blue stripes on their stacks. No merchant marine vessels are outfitted to perform unrep activities. This ship is crewed by a civilian crew, but those civilians are US Government employees. The ship carries an active duty Navy contingent on board to handle security and certain other aspects of the ship's operations. I say this as someone who has in fact worked for MSC in the past, so I am well aware of the status of these ships. I also worked for one of the shipyards that built some of these "oilers" as they are called. They were built under contract to the US Government, not a private shipping company. I wish people on this forum would educate themselve before they go spouting their misinformation because, unfortunately, too many people do not know any better and believe the incorrect information these uninformed individuals post.

Hey JS, all the MSC folks I've met all refer to themselves as merchant mariners as they're contractors for the MSC folks, the USNS means the Navy bought or built the ship but control and ownership go to the civilian captains in the MSC. The majority of the crew is made up of mariners who're contracted by the government not US government employees or CivMars or whatever the hell they call themselves although there are a quite a few of those. Sure when they're completely civilian owned and operated ships they have the MV or SS designation. Again the Navy contingent isn't there for security in the majority of cases; the MSC guys have their own boarding and security teams, but to do line handling and bitch work, with every now again firing some shot line to quell the boredom.
The main complaint I'm raising about the article is that it states a US navy ship, instead of a US Naval ship. The difference lies in the fact that MSC is under threeish commands DOT, DOD, and DON similar to the coast guard in some regards. It wasn't the Navy, but a US Naval ship that shot the other boat. There is a difference, it's not the same as saying the US navy shot at it. I guess it isn't important to other people but I was stationed on a MSC oiler for a while when I was active duty. I didn't consider them USN, and they didn't consider themselves USN either. They worked for the Navy, and I worked for them. Their ships aren't commissioned, so they aren't part of the standing Navy.

I hope you can see why I feel this way, just look at all the comments about a US navy warship and @!$%# when it isn't even close to the truth or structure of the MSC or their contracted merchant marine folks.The article could be better written.

William Bentley, you are incorrect, and you also appear to be pushing an agenda. For what purpose one can only guess?

An "embarked security team aboard a U.S. Navy vessel" fired upon a small motor vessel after it disregarded warnings and rapidly approached the U.S. ship, Lt. Greg Raelson, media officer for U.S. Navy, said in an e-mailed statement. According to the Navy's Central Command Public Affairs, the Navy vessel followed its force protocol by first attempting to warn away the approaching craft with a series of non-lethal procedures using voice, radio, and lights. After those failed the Rappahannock escalated to lethal force, firing on the approaching vessel with a .50-caliber machine gun.

Source: "USNS Rappahannock Fires After Vessel Ignores Warnings". U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Public Affairs. http://www.cusnc.navy.mil/articles/2012/102.html. Retrieved 16 July 2012.

NOTE: The USNS Rappahannock carries a crew complement of: 1 US Navy officer, 18 Civilian
Officers, 64 merchant seaman and 20 US Navy enlisted personnel.

Are you referring to me?

How is anything I'm saying pushing an agenda? Do you know what the 20 enlisted peoples duties are onboard? It isn't security for one.

And it certainly isn't a warship Robert.

Pretty soon we're going to need a real CIC, not a neighborhood organizer bent on redistribution of wealth in America!

That Airbus flight in 88 was using a F14 transponder, supposedly taken from a scraped airframe, so that Navy ship was painting it a s a military bird, specifically a F14.

You just pull that out of your ass or something? Not even the US government account claims this.

USNS Rappahannock Fires after Vessel ignores warnings

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=68398

Source: US Navy website - U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Public Affairs

US vessel fires on boat in Gulf, killing one

Only one, that is sad.

@William Bentley

".... USNS (United States Naval Ship) these ships also always have Active duty sailors on it, and their roles aren't limited to security by any means. Actually MSC usually furnishes the boarding teams and security. They're mostly there for at sea replenishments to do the bitch work and line handling. They are civilian ships though, and not owned or commissioned by the government."

William, that's incorrect:

United States Naval Ship or USNS is the prefix designation given to non-commissioned ships that are property of the United States Navy. United States Naval Ships are usually auxiliary support vessels owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by Military Sealift Command.

Source: United States Navy - http://www.navy.mil

.

Get it? "...property of the U.S.Navy" ... "owned by the U.S. Navy" These are NOT "civilian ships". They ARE owned by the government. Don't dissemble. Just admit when you are wrong rather than doubling-down. There's no dishonor in making an error. Refusal to admit an error is another matter.

Uhh dude, they're commanded by civilian captains, therefore they're civilian ships. The captain owns the ship. They are not commissioned therefore they are not part of our standing Navy.

Call it what you want, I'm tired of trying to argue this from the prospective of an old navy sailor. It can be a @!$%#ing Olympic ping pong champion for all I care.

@William Bentley

"Uhh dude, they're commanded by civilian captains, therefore they're civilian ships. The captain owns the ship."

What ? "The captain owns the ship" ??

"Uhh dude", .... that's pretty pathetic.

Maybe you should try your concept of "ownership" on the United States Department of Defense which contracted and paid for its construction (along with her sister ships of the 'Henry J Kaiser Class' fleet replenishment oilers of the U.S. Navy), and which pays for its operations and pays the Federal Civil Service personnel and the uniformed U.S. Navy officers and enlisted men who sail on her.

That's right, even her "civilian" crew members are United States Civil Service Federal Employees.

As my late grandfather often said: "You had better open a fresh line of logic, because that one is stinkin' up the place."

http://www.msc.navy.mil/inventory/ships.asp?ship=146

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Sealift_Command

http://www.msc.navy.mil/

http://www.msc.navy.mil/N00P/overview.asp?page=chainofcommand

.

When you're wrong, you're wrong. It was just a simple mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. Why keep ignoring facts and doubling-down with additional misstatements?

"When you are in a hole, stop digging."

The US has been trying to make up for twiddling it's thumbs for three quarters of WWI and half of WWII ever since 1946. We fought for all of WWI and all of WWII, quite unlike the cowards of the United States. Now it's Americans shooting up every little nation you can bully to make up for sitting out most of the real wars, WORLD WARS.

If it weren't for Canada, Britain, the French and then the French Resistance fighting the Naziis for the entire war (not just half of it as you did), the United States would be speaking German now. At least if the Germans had overrun you, you'd at least have universal health care now.

As far as a security force, if you're in the Navy you're part of the security force. Doesn't matter if you're a cook or an intel specialist, NCO's are trained in shipboard security and defense. I was an intelligence specialist and certified in .45, 12 gauge, m-14 and m-60.

John, how's that revisionist history working out for you? Tell me, who was supplying Britian with weapons? Oh yeah, the US. Without the US the UK wouldn't have been fighting anyone very long. Get over yourself.

To all of you wondering about the whether the ship was a commissioned US ship or not. ALL ships Commissioned in the US Navy Are designated United States Ship (USS), the US Navy has Supply Ships working under the United States Supply Ship Command. They are manned by US Sailors.

As someone else, research it, or enlist... Just research it more then they did. 2nd class PO, 2 combat tour's, VietNam...

The USNS designation stands for United States Naval Ship (USNS), alot of these ships are owned by the US Government, but civilian manned. They are operated by the USN, Military Sealift Command (MSC), rather than being called Commissioned Ships they are referred to as 'In Service' Ships.

For all you collapsers, you can go to Al Jazeera for another view of the events and find it was an Indian fishing boat that was fired on from 8km, about five miles, and tell me how they heard the .50s and knew it was directed at them; not every barge that takes to the water has an experienced crew or expects to bow to the US. When you add the Cole and the Airbus that brings the command score to 0 for 3. Mistakes happen - too bad you have to cheer over them.

@cheetah-822547

" ....For all you collapsers, you can go to Al Jazeera for another view of the events and find it was an Indian fishing boat that was fired on from 8km, about five miles"

Cheetah, "five miles" distance would place the estimated 30' long boat at or beyond the horizon (depending on the guns' firing elevation above sea level) and that distance is approximately 4 times the 2,000 meter maximum effective range of the 50-cal machine guns.

If quoted correctly, I suspect your Al Jezeera source may have reported the distance incorrectly, because It wouldn't make sense to fire 50-cal guns at a target that could not be seen, and at 4 times the effective range the guns could fire.

Jesus Robert, I avoided commenting on you again because you've never been a sailor. Five miles is not beyond the horizon on any ship.

Shooting a 50 at five miles and hitting what you're aiming at is next to impossible anyway, how about using this instead of saying it's beyond the horizon.

As far as a security force, if you're in the Navy you're part of the security force. Doesn't matter if you're a cook or an intel specialist, NCO's are trained in shipboard security and defense. I was an intelligence specialist and certified in .45, 12 gauge, m-14 and m-60.

Doesn't mean you're part of the reaction force onboard a ship. I was part of the reaction force and VBSS team on my other boats, never when I was stationed on an oiler cause the civilian seaman did it.

Please reread what I actually wrote: I wrote " ..."five miles" distance would place the estimated 30' long boat at or beyond the horizon (depending on the guns' firing elevation above sea level).

I noted in parenthesis "depending on the guns' firing elevation above sea level) which is presumably also approximately the gunner's eye level. The distance to the horizon depends on the height of your eyes above the water. If your eyes are 8 inches (20 cm) above the water, the distance of the horizon is about 1 mile (1.6 km) away. A rough formula for calculating the distance to the horizon is: SquareRoot(height above surface / 0.5736) = distance to horizon where "height above surface" is in feet and "distance to horizon" is in miles. If you are 6 feet tall and standing right at the water's edge, then your eyes are about 5.5 feet above the surface. The distance to the horizon is: SquareRoot(5.5 / 0.5736) = 3 miles. In metric, the equivalent is: SquareRoot(height above surface / 6.752) = distance to horizon where "height above surface" is in centimeters and "distance to horizon" is in kilometers. If the mounted height of the 50-cal machine guns (and gunner's eye level is 30-40 feet above sea level, the horizon distance would increase accoridn to the formula. The actual elevation is unknown because it hasn't been stated.

PS. The foillowing is from the Bloomberg update of this story this morning:

"The shooting happened near the Strait of Hormuz, where tensions have risen this year as Iranian officials threatened to shut down the waterway in response to increased U.S. and European pressure. Western sanctions on oil and other products aim to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons technology, a technology that Iran maintains it isn’t seeking.

The vessel fired on was a fishing boat whose owner was from the United Arab Emirates, according to Al Arabiya television. The fisherman who was killed and the three people injured were Indian, according to the U.A.E.’s WAM state news agency. The casualty figures were verified by a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity because the incident is still being investigated.

The USNS Rappahannock issued warnings to the smaller vessel by voice, radio and light signals before firing, a U.S. official said. The vessel, a 41,000-ton fleet replenishment oiler operated by the U.S. Navy’s Sealift Command and staffed mostly by civilians, also carried a security team, the Navy said.

Fired Rounds

When the warnings failed, the security team “fired rounds from a .50-caliber machine gun,” Raelson said. The boat that was hit had approached to within 100 yards (91 meters) to 200 yards of the U.S. ship, according to another U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation."

.

100 to 200 yards distance is a whole lot different than 5 miles.

And don't presume to know a person's life experiences, and/or whether or not that person has served in the milittary, merely because you are challenged on your "facts."

Yes Robert I know how to calculate distance to the horizon and navigation aids, you can just use height of the persons eye squared X 1.17, then if you want to convert it to miles you times it again by 1.1508. If you're looking at something above the horizon you have to calculate that in too. There are no oilers that will ever be at an evaluation low enough not to see five miles. Not even on the smoke pit or fantail of a destroyer at that.

I'm not challenged on any facts, one the captain owns the ship. Period. This is sailor 101 buddy. A USNS is not a warship. Period. It's not part of our standing Navy either. It belongs to MSC. Period. The USN is made up of commionsioned ships. This was the whole problem with the article I had. They called it a Us navy ship, which is untrue. Then everyone gets on here and starts talking about Navy, or a Navy warship which is incorrect. MSC works for the Navy, they aren't equal to each other and they aren't the same thing.

My point is to quit cheering and don't be in a rush to condemn over the self-serving quotes of anonymous US officials. The same brass that excuses its own mistakes will throw a lowly soldier under the bus in a heartbeat.

Sheesh, William. It's "Circular logic in a fruit dish."

"The sky is green, the sea is yellow, the Sun rises in the West and Admiral Buckingham is properly attired although he has no trousers. And I would argue these points to my dying breath, if it weren't time for tea. Ta ta!" ~ Thomas Hood (19th Century British humorist)

Have a good day. It's time for tea.

Fenderblue...read transcripts from LBJ tapes with Sen Dirksen. LBJ had negotiated peace with North and South Viet Nam and China. Nixon sent envoy to South Viet Nam to tell them to hold off on peace and he would get them better deal. They held off, and Nixon blew up the peace. Night before elections Nixon came out with his secret plan to end the war. He didn't. He expanded war killing thousands more right up to end of war. Republican Sen Dirkson confirmed this. There is audio also. LBJ did not tell public because there would be riots all over the country. Dirksen agreed. NIXON THE LYING CROOK MURDERER< KILLING TRAITER OF PEACE!
BUSH DID THE SAME< LIED AND MURDERED OUR TROOPS.

MSC USNS vessels are civilian crewed and government owned, bottom line! The active duty complement on board usually consists of Radiomen, electrician's Mates, and occasionally Independent Duty qualified Navy Hospital Corpsmen when a civilian Ship's Nurse in unavailable or incapacitated.

All the positive responses to your post kinda confirms my belief that Americans are ready for a showdown in the Gulf.

Don't get me wrong, I'm ready myself. I believe its inevitable anyway so lets just get it on. Will help our economy with all the new jobs producing beans & bullets for the war effort.

I'm watching the clock to see how long before another poster calls me a war monger.

I prefer to think of myself as more of a Realist.

War monger.... lol.... I didn't want you to spend your day waiting.

warmonger....

actually I would tell those under my command to blow it out of the water if got closer than 100 yards

ratznmice...beat me to it

It's nice to be so loved.... :)

And the winner is....WeAllHaveOpinions! Congratulations for being first to war monger me. LOL

There are people in this world that want to do nothing more then kill Americans, just because of where we were born. How do you combat such hatred? How can you reason with the uneducated or, even worse, the brain washed. That region of the world breeds hate towards my family, again, because of where we were born. I have a right to defend my family from such blind hatred. Does that make me a warmonger?

Label me with whatever you choose, I choose to label myself as alive. If that means sending the military that my tax dollars pay for into that region to keep them from coming here, then so be it.

Amazing, Everyone here seems to believe the MSM again. Just because they say it is so does not make it so. Remember the Gulf of Tonkin? I understand some of the feeling since the USS Cole attack, but if the people on board turn out to be Iranian I would be guessing it was a false flag attempt to get American support. Attacking Iran is a bad idea.

JACKSON-2576676

If your into conspiracy theory, maybe we should use a high yield low explosion nuke on their

nuclear facilities and swear their experiments go the best of them.

when they glow in the dark there secret police can't sneak up on anyone.

Good...Just shoot the bastards!....

Anyone who thinks a small boat isn't a threat to a large vessel should google USS Cole.

Because bullets don't impact and splash water - they skip like stones.

cheetah, the sound is enough

Obviously cheetah hasn't ever heard a "Ma Duce" chatter. There's no sound like it. And even if'n you'd never heard it before, you'd recognize right away that someone meant you harm. By the way, when a round from a .50 cal strikes the water (even at an angle) it throws up a large water spout, so if you where deaf and didn't hear it, you'd have to be blind not to see it. Oh, you'd have to be assume that the other four guys on the boat had to be deaf and blind because I'm pretty confident that if the pilot didn't see or hear anything, the other guys would certainly be pointing out to the pilot that his "pleasure" boat was about to be shot up.

Stupid is as Stupid does: And now they sleep with the Fishes and OBL...Rot in Hell with those 20 Virgin's you wanted sooooo bad, how's that working for you !!! Not so good, good !!!!!! PTL Amen ! Give'em hell and pass the Ammunition , fire at will , boys....stay safe & come back home to us ......USN and all our troops protecting the good old USA , USA , USA !!!!!! Dad said; F%&# with the Bull and you get the horns..so be it !!!!!!!

yes they do splash go look at some youtube videos from the USCG or the Navy or the Russian Navy etc.. THEY DO SPLASH. Cheetah completely made that up to support his anti-American propaganda bs soon he will be trying to make us believe that gravity is a conspiracy.. Go watch mythbusters about 50cals and water... also yea chestypuller there's nothing like the distinct sound of a 50 cal machine gun you will be able to hear it for miles and even louder at sea.

Cheetah- depends on the angle they strike at. As Chesty said - pretty hard to mistake the sound of a .50 or any other big machine gun.

Great example of bias in the news "possible pleasure craft" makes it sound like sunbathers, partiers, etc....
regardless of the way the original builders hought, if a vessel is ignoring warnings and acting like a hostile - it isn't a pleasure craft.

Andrea Mitchell and the Lame Stream Media need to retire.

Houstnn 10.6 "if a vessel is ignoring warnings and acting like a hostile - it isn't a pleasure craft."

I don't know Dave, seems to me a lot of Muslims take pleasure in killing or trying to kill Americans!

I bet it turns out the boaters had evil intentions when the investigation is completed. Otherwise it just doesn't make any sense that a "pleasure craft" would not heed major warnings from a US Navy vessel in the Persian Gulf especially when everyone and everybody are on high alert. I am glad that the US Navy didn't allow a repeat of the US Cole and shot when they saw the whites of their eyes. The Persian Gulf is a big body of water I don't think recreational boaters would chose (1) boat near a US Navy Vessel as a place to pleasure craft an d/or (2) I don't believe recreational boaters would ignore warnings and continue to proceed toward a US Navy vessel.

RTColorado.........It is a sound no one ever forgets. You do not want to be on the wrong end of that bad boy. We have been using the 50 cal in almost the exact configuration for about 100 years. While it has been improved and changed for certain applications, it is still an all around top notch weapon after 100 years. Just glad I dont have to hump the tripod or the ammo any more !

cheetah-822547.....When a Cal 50 "skips by you" it is something that you will never forget as long as you live ! That is one very large, very heavy, very fast moving hunk of lead ! The "splash" from the skip will look like Old Faithful going off ! The sound of a 50 can be heard for a VERY long way !

Years ago when I was in the Gulf, a helicopter out of Iran was heading toward the cruiser I was on. The bridge followed the rules of engagement with radio warnings. They helo didn't respond and missles shot out on the rails and he was lit up by fire control. Suddenly he stated yelling not to shoot. Tells you they were testing our response and resolve.

If the sound and the splashing weren't enough to get their attention, they certainly noticed the tracers.

Too bad 3 survived, it would have been a Grand Slam vs. just a single....

The 50 cal doesn't make that much noise and at distances may be inaudible; the splashes as well can be hard to see. I shot a bunch of rounds off when I was in and warning shots weren't really encouraged, but I imagine it was a last ditch effort before firing at them. They were probably aiming for the motor housing as well, but the 50's can be finicky when it comes to aiming.

These were also civilians and not active duty sailors.

DingleB, there are normally no tracer rounds used.

If I walked into someone's house, sat down on their couch with a shotgun and started popping off warning shots if they walked too close to me, I'd be in the clear too....except of course, I'd be in their living room.

We have no business in the persian gulf!!!!

We don't need their oil (we export oil and could turn our economy around tomorrow if we just used the domestic oil we produce). We are broke. Americans just get dumber every day. You paid for those bullets and to get that ship to the gulf. Hope you like paying for pointless military operations. No - your kids will be paying for them for the next hundred years. Retards.

whoknow you walk into my house you would not make it to the couch!

You mean you would defend your territory? How unamerican. That's my point. We invade other people's territories, bait them into fights and then blame for doing exactly what we do.

whoknow i get your point see i wasnt in a war it was a conflict only took the lives of 58000 americans. over what stopping the flow of communism more like protecting the french rubber tree growers. i want to see all our men and women home let the idiots in the middle east kill each other off. let europe take care of it its their back yard. that being said someone shots at on one of our ships in international waters or a friendly port blow them out of the water! plus one of these countrys needs our help put a price tag on it. hell we are a gun for hire as it is might as well get paid for it

It's not going to be Bushes or Obama's fault. It's our fault for being so stupid.

You are dumber than you sound. If they had done nothing you would have chastised them for not protecting the sailors on the ship it had been blown up. When they do everything possible to warn them away including warning shots, and finally have no other recourse, you complain about that as well. Why don't you grow up.

I was surprised at how far I read before someone blamed President Obama.

Those who ignore history are dumber than the retard pervert from Texas, ahem you. When something happens, you have to look at the people doing the "defenses." When can you believe the boy who cried wolf? For you and your stupidity, 70 times 7. In other words, you believe every thing the government tells you, when they never, ever tell the truth. Let me give you few, the Gulf of Tonkin? A lie. Saddam Al Qaeda connection? A lie. The purchase of uranium? A lie. etc, etc. How about medical and other experiments conducted on unsuspecting citizens? Even one would be one too many. Were the troops warned about ground zero health problems at White Sands? No, of course not. Were blacks informed that their syphillis was going untreated? No. Were Guatemalan peasants told that they were being used for medical experiments by this "Christian and democratic" nation? Of course no. And how about the secret LSD experiments? Were the victims told about the obvious effects, including death? Of course not. Ergo, you can believe what have you, but to expect this "dumber" to believe any thing coming from any government agency to me means that the real dumb and dumber is you, not only for believing, but swallowing the whole enchilada. BTW, I bet that you also believe that 9/11 was not planned by the retard pervert from Texas? Something tells me you also believe in WMDs. In other words, you are dumber than dirt and you don't even realize it. But, then again, that is your problem.

Come on - why are you so cynical?

Didn't you know there were WMD's on that boat they shot? There was a nuclear scientist, two nuclear warheads, sarin nerve gas and Hitler's clone on that boat, all put there by the evil Islamist terrorists running Iran.....

American's are the best retarded citizens that a government could ever hope for. They don't see the irony in foreign countries (US) sending their navy into the Persian Gulf (not their place) and trouble resulting (what do you expect?) Can't wait to listen to Obama or whatever puppet president is next explain how we were attacked and now have a duty to fight back.

That will put an end to those spending cuts that were coming for defense.

"Did I miss something?"

Yah the details of the story:

"The U.S. officials say the boat, possibly a pleasure craft, ignored warnings and was closing in on the U.S. Navy supply ship in an "aggressive and threatening manner."

The crew aboard the Navy ship sent out repeated warnings, including radio calls, flashing lights, lasers and ultimately warning shots from a 50-caliber machine gun. "

they were warned repeatedly you get what you get

Yeah you missed something. Sometimes peace has to be promoted a half inch at a time. Lot more peaceful there now don't you think.

Any idiot with a boat knows that if you are in open water and you close in on a flagged ship with weapons and they issue warnings that it is in your best interest to stop what your doing. So to answer your question, yes, yes you did miss something. The podcast concerning international maritime law.

This was a Merchant Marine ship, not a Navy military ship.

The UAE or Muslims? I think its the latter, and yes, they Navy did me proud by defending themselves. GO NAVY!!!

Lving, as has been noted earlier, this is a Navy ship. USNS stands for United States Naval Ship. It is operated under MSC (Military Sealift Comand). It has a, mostly, civilian crew with a very small detachment of Navy personnel, usually for communications and possibly the gun crews.

Here is the wiki for you...

United States Naval Ships are usually auxiliary support vessels owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by Military Sealift Command. United States Naval Ships are usually crewed by civilians rather than U.S. Navy personnel.^[2] In comparison, U.S. Navy ships commissioned into service have the designation USS and are crewed by U.S. Navy personnel; commissioned and held in property by the United States Government.^[3]

It is not a military ship! That is what I typed.

I served in the Navy and worked on Merchant Marine ships, I do not need Wikipedia to define them. The only thing I was not sure of is whether they had military personnel on them, which it appears they did, probably because of the area and the current situation.

Barefoot,

They have had military personnel on the for many years. I am retired Chief and my last command was USNS so not the current situation. Approx 30 peeps with some Supply types, Radiomen and a few others.

Don't shoot to you see the whites of his eyes is old school... shoot and ask questions later much better approach when dealing with towel heads...

Yawn you Marxist "peace" activists were claiming this in 2006 about Iran. What was it 50/50 chance before the election that fall, one former CIA/"peace"nut was claiming.

You can expect an Israeli/US attack on Iranian Nuclear installations in October. Bet on it.

Paul, might that be because: Never in the history of this Country, a sitting president has always been re/elected during war time.. Bammy is expecting this..

why does anyone begin to think that there can be any peace in the middle east?

religion is the root of all evil and war

Ok, Paul we all have our calendars marked. But just remember, if it doesn't, you have to kill yourself and 20 other conspiracy friends, ok?

Some people try to push the envelope everytime. Now they know the US NAVY pushes back.

UberMann-3766761

don't you think the pentagon has plans in case anyone attacks us.

I could also see Obama pull a October surprise

The government shills are out in full effect on the MSNBC comments wall today.

Two active wars isn't enough.

A country that is bankrupt isn't enough.

20% unemployment isn't enough.

We need another war and it's coming. Get ready Iran. We're setting the stage for an invasion. And get ready for another 7-8 trillion in debt Americans. Who do you think is going to pay for this war? The people that profit from them? HAHAHAHAHA.....SUCKERS!

The government shills are out in full effect on the MSNBC comments wall today.

Two active wars isn't enough.

A country that is bankrupt isn't enough.

20% unemployment isn't enough.

We need another war and it's coming. Get ready Iran. We're setting the stage for an invasion. And get ready for another 7-8 trillion in debt Americans. Who do you think is going to pay for this war? The people that profit from them?

HAHAHAHAHA.....SUCKERS!

Based on your diction, grammatical errors and syntax I would think you do not pay anything into the Treasury.. just take out.

Typical liberal myths against law enforcement.. however like William Ayers, when they are in trouble who do they call. As the old saying goes If you are ever in trouble call a hippy or a gang banger, or Nancy Pelosi and see who will respond."

ill buy them bullets...never mind i proply paid for them already .

im so glad they dont miss ...less paper work.

The government shills are out in full effect on the MSNBC comments wall today.

Two active wars isn't enough.

A country that is bankrupt isn't enough.

20% unemployment isn't enough.

We need another war and it's coming. Get ready Iran. We're setting the stage for an invasion. And get ready for another 7-8 trillion in debt Americans. Who do you think is going to pay for this war? The people that profit from them?

HAHAHAHAHA.....SUCKERS!

help legalize POT and we will pay for it up front

The government shills are out in full effect on the MSNBC comments wall today.

Two active wars isn't enough.

A country that is bankrupt isn't enough.

20% unemployment isn't enough.

We need another war and it's coming. Get ready Iran. We're setting the stage for an invasion. And get ready for another 7-8 trillion in debt Americans. Who do you think is going to pay for this war? The people that profit from them? HAHAHAHAHA.....SUCKERS!

Only if you are trying to board a Navy Vessel that says No.

My Momma said never trust anyone named after a city or state.

What are you talking about? The White House illegally leaks these types of stories every chance they get.

hey Mark-3966513, what is your source of information about these illegal leaks?.....lol...