Massive US Naval Armada Heads for Iran
https://europebusines.blogspot.com/2008/08/massive-us-naval-armada-heads-for-iran.html
..

Massive US Naval Armada Heads For Iran..

Operation
Brimstone ended only one week ago. This was the joint US/UK/French naval war
games in the Atlantic Ocean preparing for a naval blockade of Iran and the
likely resulting war in the Persian Gulf area. The massive war games included a
US Navy supercarrier battle group, an US Navy expeditionary carrier battle
group, a Royal Navy carrier battle group, a French nuclear hunter-killer
submarine plus a large number of US Navy cruisers, destroyers and frigates
playing the "enemy force"..

The lead American ship in these war games,
the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN71) and its Carrier Strike Group Two (CCSG-2) are
now headed towards Iran along with the USS Ronald Reagon (CVN76) and its Carrier
Strike Group Seven (CCSG-7) coming from Japan..

They are joining two
existing USN battle groups in the Gulf area: the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN72)
with its Carrier Strike Group Nine (CCSG-9); and the USS Peleliu (LHA-5) with
its expeditionary strike group..

Likely also under way towards the
Persian Gulf is the USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) and its expeditionary strike group, the
UK Royal Navy HMS Ark Royal (R07) carrier battle group, assorted French naval
assets including the nuclear hunter-killer submarine Amethyste and French Naval
Rafale fighter jets on-board the USS Theodore Roosevelt. These ships took part
in the just completed Operation Brimstone..

The build up of naval forces
in the Gulf will be one of the largest multi-national naval armadas since the
First and Second Gulf Wars. The intent is to create a US/EU naval blockade
(which is an Act of War under international law) around Iran (with supporting
air and land elements) to prevent the shipment of benzene and certain other
refined oil products headed to Iranian ports. Iran has limited domestic oil
refining capacity and imports 40% of its benzene. Cutting off benzene and other
key products would cripple the Iranian economy. The neo-cons are counting on
such a blockade launching a war with Iran..

The US Naval forces being
assembled include the following:..

Carrier Strike Group Nine..
USS
Abraham Lincoln (CVN72) nuclear powered supercarrier..
with its Carrier Air
Wing Two..
Destroyer Squadron Nine:..
USS Mobile Bay (CG53) guided missile
cruiser..
USS Russell (DDG59) guided missile destroyer..
USS Momsen
(DDG92) guided missile destroyer..
USS Shoup (DDG86) guided missile
destroyer..
USS Ford (FFG54) guided missile frigate..
USS Ingraham (FFG61)
guided missile frigate..
USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG60) guided missile
frigate..
USS Curts (FFG38) guided missile frigate..
Plus one or more
nuclear hunter-killer submarines..

Peleliu Expeditionary Strike
Group..
USS Peleliu (LHA-5) a Tarawa-class amphibious assault
carrier..
USS Pearl Harbor (LSD52) assult ship..
USS Dubuque (LPD8) assult
ship/landing dock..
USS Cape St. George (CG71) guided missile
cruiser..
USS Halsey (DDG97) guided missile destroyer..
USS Benfold
(DDG65) guided missile destroyer..

Carrier Strike Group Two..
USS
Theodore Roosevelt (DVN71) nuclear powered supercarrier..
with its Carrier
Air Wing Eight..
Destroyer Squadron 22..
USS Monterey (CG61) guided
missile cruiser..
USS Mason (DDG87) guided missile destroyer..
USS Nitze
(DDG94) guided missile destroyer..
USS Sullivans (DDG68) guided missile
destroyer..

USS Springfield (SSN761) nuclear powered hunter-killer
submarine..

IWO ESG ~ Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group..
USS Iwo
Jima (LHD7) amphibious assault carrier..
with its Amphibious Squadron
Four..
and with its 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit..
USS San Antonio
(LPD17) assault ship..
USS Velia Gulf (CG72) guided missile cruiser..
USS
Ramage (DDG61) guided missile destroyer..
USS Carter Hall (LSD50) assault
ship..
USS Roosevelt (DDG80) guided missile destroyer..

USS Hartfore
(SSN768) nuclear powered hunter-killer submarine..

Carrier Strike Group
Seven..
USS Ronald Reagan (CVN76) nuclear powered supercarrier..
with its
Carrier Air Wing 14..
Destroyer Squadron 7..
USS Chancellorsville (CG62)
guided missile cruiser..
USS Howard (DDG83) guided missile destroyer..
USS
Gridley (DDG101) guided missile destroyer..
USS Decatur (DDG73) guided
missile destroyer..
USS Thach (FFG43) guided missile frigate..
USNS
Rainier (T-AOE-7) fast combat support ship..

Also likely to join the
battle armada:..

UK Royal Navy HMS Ark Royal Carrier Strike Group with
assorted guided missile destroyers and frigates, nuclear hunter-killer
submarines and support ships..

French Navy nuclear powered hunter-killer
submarines (likely the Amethyste and perhaps others), plus French Naval Rafale
fighter jets operating off of the USS Theodore Roosevelt as the French Carrier
Charles de Gaulle is in dry dock, and assorted surface warships..

Various
other US Navy warships and submarines and support ships. The following USN ships
took part (as the "enemy" forces) in Operation Brimstone and several may join
in:..

USS San Jacinto (CG56) guided missile cruiser..
USS Anzio (CG68)
guided missile cruiser..
USS Normandy (CG60) guided missile cruiser..
USS
Carney (DDG64) guided missile destroyer..
USS Oscar Austin (DDG79) guided
missile destroyer..
USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG81) guided missile
destroyer..
USS Carr (FFG52) guided missile frigate.


The USS Iwo Jima and USS Peleliu
Expeditionary Strike Groups have USMC Harrier jump jets and an assortment of
assault and attack helicopters. The Expeditionary Strike Groups have powerful
USMC Expeditionary Units with amphibious armor and ground forces trained for
operating in shallow waters and in seizures of land assets, such as Qeshm Island
(a 50 mile long island off of Bandar Abbas in the Gulf of Hormuz and
headquarters of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps)..

The
large and very advanced nature of the US Naval warships is not only directed at
Iran. There is a great fear that Russia and China may oppose the naval and
air/land blockade of Iran. If Russian and perhaps Chinese naval warships escort
commercial tankers to Iran in violation of the blockade it could be the most
dangerous at-sea confrontation since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The US and allied
Navies, by front loading a Naval blockade force with very powerful guided
missile warships and strike carriers is attempting to have a force so powerful
that Russia and China will not be tempted to mess with. This is a most serious
game of military brinkmanship with major nuclear armed powers that have profound
objections to the neo-con grand strategy and to western control of all of the
Middle East's oil supply..

The Russian Navy this spring sent a major
battle fleet into the Mediterranean headed by the modern aircraft carrier the
Admiral Kuznetsov and the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet, the Guided Missile
Heavy Cruiser Moskva. This powerful fleet has at least 11 surface ships and
unknown numbers of subs and can use the Russian naval facility at Syria's
Tartous port for resupply. The Admiral Kuznetsov carries approximately 47
warplanes and 10 helicopters. The warplanes are mostly the powerful Su-33, a
naval version (with mid-air refueling capability) of the Su-27 family. While the
Su-33 is a very powerful warplane it lacks the power of the stealth USAF F-22.
However, the Russians insist that they have developed a plasma based system that
allows them to stealth any aircraft and a recent incident where Russian fighters
were able to appear unannounced over a US Navy carrier battle group tends to
confirm their claims. The Su-33 can be armed with the 3M82 Moskit sea-skimming
missile (NATO code name SS-N-22 Sunburn) and the even more powerful P-800 Oniks
(also named Yakhonts; NATO code name SS-N-26 Onyx). Both missiles are designed
to kill US Navy supercarriers by getting past the cruiser/destroyer screen and
the USN point-defense Phalanx system by using high supersonic speeds and violent
end maneuvers. Russian subs currently use the underwater rocket VA-111 Shkval
(Squall), which is fired from standard 533mm torpedo tubes and reaches a speed
of 360kph (230mph) underwater. There is no effective countermeasures to this
system and no western counterpart..

A strategic diversion has been
created for Russia. The Republic of Georgia, with US backing, is actively
preparing for war on South Ossetia. The South Ossetia capital has been shelled
and a large Georgian tank force has been heading towards the border. Russia has
stated that it will not sit by and allow the Georgians to attack South Ossetia.
The Russians are great chess players and this game may not turn out so well for
the neo-cons..

Kuwait has activated its "Emergency War Plan" as it and
other Gulf nations prepare for the likelihood of a major regional war in the
Middle East involving weapons of mass destruction..

The two-ton elephant
in the living room of the neo-con strategy is the advanced biowar (ABW) that
Iran, and to a lessor extent Syria, has. This places the motherlands of the
major neo-con nations (America, France, the United Kingdom), as well as Israel,
in grave danger. When the Soviet Union fell the Iranians hired as many
out-of-work former Soviet advanced biowar experts as possible. In the last 15 or
so years they have helped to develop a truly world class ABW program utilizing
recombination DNA genetic engineering technology to create a large number of man
made killer viruses. This form of weapon system does not require high tech
military delivery systems. The viruses are sub-microscopic and once seeded in a
population use the population itself as vectors. Seeding can be done without
notice in shopping malls, churches, and other public places. The only real
defense to an advanced global strategic biowar attack is to lock down the
population as rapidly as possible and let those infected die off..

Unless
the public gets it act together and forces the neo-cons to stop the march to yet
another war in the Middle East we are apt to see a truly horrific nightmare
unfold in OUR COUNTRIES..