Small Boats and Planes Beat Big Ships

[I am beginning to think that one must have been there to recall the originals of events that are currently being echoed. The concern with the threat of Iranian small boats to our navy near their shores is a case in point. Let us not forget one of our strongest weapons along similar lines during WW2 -- JFK's PT-109 which was sunk by the Japanese, but with the rescue fortunately of JFK by Solomon Islanders:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pt109/

The general lesson that we learned about the conflict between big ships and small boats and planes was that the former are terribly vulnerable to the latter. Remember Pearl Harbor when the bulk of our Pacific navy was destroyed by a surprise Japanese bombing mission? I do, as I was listening to Jack Armstrong, the All American Boy, or some such that Sunday afternoon when the announcement broke into my program. The navy was my thing from then on. And I vividly recall how we worried about keeping the Japanese away from our shores with only one aircraft carrier left to do the job. We succeeded because we reversed the favor and destroyed a good part of the Japanese fleet with out planes. And remember their Kamikaze bombers -- guys bolted into their planes which made them flying bombs sent out to sink our ships?

We have known for quite some time that we have no real defense against the small boats of Iran just off their shores. We have been looking for trouble parking our big ships there.

Bottom line: we had better switch to negotiations rather than threats. We have far more to lose than the Iranians in any major encounter. They don't want trouble, nor do we -- too costly for all, so let's get on with the negotiations. See silly war game report below. Ed Kent]

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Iran Encounter Grimly Echoes '02 War Game
By THOM SHANKER
In a military simulation, small speedboats like those used
by Iran in an incident last weekend were able to inflict
devastating damage on more powerful warships.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/washington/12navy.html?th&emc=th
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
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