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chaloobi
SFN Regular
1620 Posts |
 Posted - 01/22/2008 : 08:22:11 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Chippewa
Originally posted by Valiant Dancer
...I remember seeing some pictures on Navsource of damage on some destroyers where soviet ships would suddenly change course to cross the bow of an oncoming US warship. Brinkmanship. Usually around the entrance to the Suez canal. |
A long time ago I attended a lecture and the speaker showed several pictures he took of a US and Soviet vessel close encounter when he was in the US Navy. The ships would pass side by side in the same direction usually one moving faster than the other. He added that while officers topside would gaze seriously at each other (and take pictures to gather intelligence), regular crew from both navies would be further back, closer to the sterns and as the ships passed; they'd wave, shout hello and throw bundles of goodies to each other. The Russians tossed over canned goods, magazines, music cassettes, items they got in other ports; the Americans did similar including girlie magazines, comic books, chocolate, etc.
Of course both crews would shoot at each other if ordered too but occasionally there was an underlying brotherhood of mariners sometimes occurring in that situation.
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My brother was in the Navy in the early '80s. He went on a 6 month tour of the Pacific on a Frigate and tells a story about how the Soviets would follow them around for days and pick up their trash, which they tossed overboard while out to sea. One time they loaded a 'care package' full of nudy books, music and other goodies the commies didn't normally have access to. Later the Soviet sailors cheered and waved. Then they loaded up a similar package with shit and rotten food. I don't recall how the Soviets sailors reacted to that one...
Regarding the Iranian boats and the Revolutionary guard, I wonder. I would not at all be surprised if the radio transmission was a prank from some smartass in the US military itself. I heard it on NPR and it sounded like a joke to me. Not funny considering the circumstances, I guess.
About the Revolutionary guard, they more or less ARE the Iranian military these days. And they also have their own significant business interestes and investments as well; weird that one. This is why Congress' idiotic designation of the guard as a terrorist organization was tanatmount to giving the Bush Administration the authority to roll the Iranian military into it's War on Terror. Bad idea to give those guys that kind of authority.
But I wouldn't get too worried about them taking over the Iranian navy and running wild with it. I don't think they're the wild-eyed terrorist nutjobs the Bush Administration would like you to believe. And likely they've had defacto control of their navy for decades anyway... |
-Chaloobi
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| Edited by - chaloobi on 01/22/2008 08:24:16 |
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Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2008 : 11:38:14 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by chaloobi
...Regarding the Iranian boats and the Revolutionary guard, I wonder. I would not at all be surprised if the radio transmission was a prank from some smartass in the US military itself. I heard it on NPR and it sounded like a joke to me. Not funny considering the circumstances, I guess.... |
According to CNN and NPR the broadcast voice is believed to have originated from a well-known heckler in the region.
According to Air America's Mike Malloy, the voice might have even been lifted and planted into the video later. Malloy believes that a few pro-Bush elements attached to the Navy Department stateside co-opted the whole thing to create an alarmist situation and raise tensions with Iran, and that the US Navy ships actually on site reacted very professionally and according to standard procedure thus in reality defusing the situation. |
Diversity, independence, innovation and imagination are progressive concepts ultimately alien to the conservative mind.
"TAX AND SPEND" IS GOOD! (TAX: Wealthy corporations who won't go poor even after taxes. SPEND: On public works programs, education, the environment, improvements.) |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2008 : 15:27:19 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by chaloobi
Originally posted by Chippewa
Originally posted by Valiant Dancer
...I remember seeing some pictures on Navsource of damage on some destroyers where soviet ships would suddenly change course to cross the bow of an oncoming US warship. Brinkmanship. Usually around the entrance to the Suez canal. |
A long time ago I attended a lecture and the speaker showed several pictures he took of a US and Soviet vessel close encounter when he was in the US Navy. The ships would pass side by side in the same direction usually one moving faster than the other. He added that while officers topside would gaze seriously at each other (and take pictures to gather intelligence), regular crew from both navies would be further back, closer to the sterns and as the ships passed; they'd wave, shout hello and throw bundles of goodies to each other. The Russians tossed over canned goods, magazines, music cassettes, items they got in other ports; the Americans did similar including girlie magazines, comic books, chocolate, etc.
Of course both crews would shoot at each other if ordered too but occasionally there was an underlying brotherhood of mariners sometimes occurring in that situation.
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My brother was in the Navy in the early '80s. He went on a 6 month tour of the Pacific on a Frigate and tells a story about how the Soviets would follow them around for days and pick up their trash, which they tossed overboard while out to sea. One time they loaded a 'care package' full of nudy books, music and other goodies the commies didn't normally have access to. Later the Soviet sailors cheered and waved. Then they loaded up a similar package with shit and rotten food. I don't recall how the Soviets sailors reacted to that one...
Regarding the Iranian boats and the Revolutionary guard, I wonder. I would not at all be surprised if the radio transmission was a prank from some smartass in the US military itself. I heard it on NPR and it sounded like a joke to me. Not funny considering the circumstances, I guess.
About the Revolutionary guard, they more or less ARE the Iranian military these days. And they also have their own significant business interestes and investments as well; weird that one. This is why Congress' idiotic designation of the guard as a terrorist organization was tanatmount to giving the Bush Administration the authority to roll the Iranian military into it's War on Terror. Bad idea to give those guys that kind of authority.
But I wouldn't get too worried about them taking over the Iranian navy and running wild with it. I don't think they're the wild-eyed terrorist nutjobs the Bush Administration would like you to believe. And likely they've had defacto control of their navy for decades anyway...
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Soviet trawler, Gidrofon, 1967
When I served my active duty between January 1965 and January 1967, I was aboard the USS Aludra (AF-55). Our duty was to replenish food supplies for Navy ships at sea, during the Vietnam conflict. The US Navy was mainly involved in heavy bombing missions over North and South Vietnam. (I recall seeing the north-west sky lit at night by the burning of the oil facilities at Haiphong harbor.)
While in the Gulf of Tonkin, we replenished the USS Conserver (ARS-39), a small salvage ship. The duty the Conserver was performing was shadowing a small Soviet ship, the Gidrofon ("Hydrophone). The Gidrofon was officially an "oceanographic survey" vessel, and was ostensibly part of the Soviet civil maritime fleet. In actuality, it was a spy ship. In effect, the Conserver was doing counter-espionage work.
The Gidrofon would shadow the US fleet, picking up trash (much as Chippewa and Chaloobi pointed out), as well as track aircraft bombing raids by advanced, supposedly over-the-horizon radar. They would, it seems, radio warnings to the North Vietnamese. (Here is a short video of the USS Lipan's (AT-85) encounter with the Gidrofon in 1967.)
When we came up to the Conserver to bring them groceries, both it and the Gidrofon were just wallowing about near to one another, with no way on. We replenished the Conserver, then offered the Ruskies a crate of frozen steaks. Their skipper politely declined, saying they were well-supplied. Many in the Gidrofon's crew were sunning themselves on deck in bathing suits, trying, it seemed at the time, to appear happy and content.
Then the Aludra made a slow, close pass by the Gidrofon, as our ship's rock-and-roll band played "Eve of Destruction."
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 01/22/2008 16:45:32 |
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JohnOAS
SFN Regular
Australia
800 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2008 : 05:45:00 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Chippewa
The ships would pass side by side in the same direction usually one moving faster than the other. |
What happened when they passed side by side in the same direction, traveling at the same speed?
Sorry for that, but it's late here and I found that somewhat amusing.
Nothing to see here, move along. |
John's just this guy, you know. |
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Iranian Speedboat Ploy
