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> What's wild to me is the assumption that Iran would suddenly launch a single F-14 fighter to attack a ship. What is sudden about that? "Two months before the
by krisoft 3y ago
> What's wild to me is the assumption that Iran would suddenly launch a single F-14 fighter to attack a ship.
What is sudden about that? "Two months before the incident, the U.S. had engaged in Operation Praying Mantis, resulting in the sinkings of the Iranian frigate Sahand, the Iranian fast attack craft Joshan, and three Iranian speedboats. Also, the Iranian frigate Sabalan was crippled, two Iranian platforms were destroyed, and an Iranian fighter was damaged. A total of at least 56 Iranian crew were killed"
And on the very day their helicopter received small arm fire from an Iranian patrol vessel, which they were pursuing when the shoot-down happened.
In this situation the idea that Iran would launch a fighter against them is not that wild.
- outworlder 3y ago> In this situation the idea that Iran would launch a fighter against them is not that wild. Why would they launch a single fighter to attack a warship?
- networkchad 3y ago[dead]
- toast0 3y agoPatrol ship sees and engages a foreign warship inside the patrol's territorial waters and radios for help. First fighter available launches and flies that way to investigate. Sees the warship engaged with the patrol boat and takes initiative, while other fighters are prepping for launch for follow on attacks in case the invading warship does not retreat or surrender.
- gpderetta 3y agoThe issue is "single". Does scrambling a single fighter ever happen, don't they always fly in pairs? A single attack or recognisance plane would make sense. Of course they might have known that their ability to properly identify the threat was limited, but that raises even more questions...
- krisoft 3y ago> Does scrambling a single fighter ever happen, don't they always fly in pairs? The USS Stark was hit by missiles from a single aircraft just a year before the incident in question. So no, they don’t always fly in pairs.
- 8372049 3y agoThe USS Stark was attacked by an (Iraqi) Dassault Falcon 50, not by a fighter jet. Fighters operating solo is virtually unheard of, especially in a live offensive posture.
- toast0 3y agoEven if you usually run in pairs, if your gunboat is engaging a foreign hostile, and only one fighter has a pilot immediately available, are you going to wait for a second pilot or just send what you have?
- mrguyorama 3y agoA single F-14 which only barely can even attack a surface vessel! It didn't have an anti-ship missile!
- smcl 3y agoI looked into this "small arms fire" you mentioned. You're right that it wasn't out of nowhere, but the actual story seems to be somewhat more nuanced than your very carefully worded depiction suggests: > All 290 on-board including 16 crew perished. At the time of the incident, Vincennes was inside Iranian territorial waters and engaged in small arms combat with several Iranian surface craft Did you miss that bit? I mean in that context, with the guy stumbling into Iranian waters and shooting at some of their boats it makes more sense that he'd be worried about an attack. But that just makes the situation even stupider and more avoidable in my opinion.