The Iranians got within 200 yards of the US ship!
Coastal Patrol Ships (PC)- USS Typhoon PC 5 (OKNAPC)
FOX reported that there were two Iranian boats involved.
The USS Typhoon tried unsuccessfully to establish radio contact with a small Iranian boat after it came within an estimated 200 yards of the Typhoon on Thursday April 10, 2008 outside Iranian territorial waters. (AP)
Reuters reported:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A cargo ship contracted by the U.S Military Sealift Command has fired at least one shot toward an Iranian boat, a U.S. defense official said on Friday.
“It was an MSC vessel,” the official said, confirming the ship fired on an Iranian boat.
Other details were not immediately available. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain did not have any immediate comment.
The United States in January said Iranian boats threatened its warships on January 6 along a vital route for crude oil shipments.
The Daily Mail described the incident:
The Westward Venture was travelling north in international waters in the central Gulf at around 8am local time on Thursday when the incident took place.
The cargo ship, which is chartered by the U.S. Department of Defense, opened fire after it was approached by two unidentified small boats.
Its crew issued “standard queries” to the vessels by radio but did not receive a response, Commander Robertson said.
The ship then fired a flare, which also produced no response, and when the boats continued to approach, its onboard security team fired “a few bursts” of machine gun and rifle warning shots.
“The small boats left the area a short time later,” the spokeswoman said by telephone.
It’s too bad Hillary wasn’t there… She would have obliterated them.
Lawhawk describes it as another attempt by Iran to test American resolve.
Truly.