COs describe radio threat, Gulf encounter

[unhappycamper]

Capt. David Adler, right, and Cmdr. Jeffery James, left, speak in Manama, Bahrain on Jan. 13 during a news conference. Adler and James would not say how close the Navy was to firing at the Iranian ships on Jan. 6 in the Strait of Hormuz.


COs describe radio threat, Gulf encounter
By Martin Benedyk - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jan 13, 2008 15:39:19 EST

MANAMA, Bahrain — A threatening radio message to U.S. warships may have been a coincidence but was taken seriously because it came at the same time Iranian vessels swarmed the American fleet, the commander of one of the American ships said Sunday.

Cmdr. Jeffery James, of the destroyer Hopper, and Capt. David Adler, of the cruiser Port Royal, would not say how close the Navy was to firing at the Iranian ships on Jan. 6 near Iranian waters in the Strait of Hormuz. But the Iranians knew what they were doing when they charged the three U.S. vessels in the Persian Gulf, they said.

“This was not a loose bunch of guys,” James said. “During this entire time, we were going through our pre-planned responses trying to warn them off before we had to take any lethal action. And fortunately for everyone involved, they turned outbound before we needed to open fire,” James said.

The two commanding officers gave a press conference Sunday at the Bahrain headquarters of the Navy’s 5th Fleet, which patrols the Gulf. Tensions between Iran and the U.S. have escalated since the incident, which occurred right before President Bush’s arrival in the region.

The U.S. released video and audio showing small Iranian boats swarming around American warships in the waters. In an audio recording, a man threatens in accented English, “I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes.”


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/ap_navyiran_080113/