Navy-Contracted Vessel Fires Warning Shots on Iranian Boats in Persian Gulf

FOXNews.com brings us this troubling news this morning and it starts off like this... A vessel contracted by the Navy in the Persian Gulf fired warning shots Thursday on two Iranian fast boats... Navy-Contracted Vessel Fires Warning Shots on Iranian Boats
(FOX should update their link as info comes in)
************************************************************

...

BloggingStocks.com has this report... Oil zoomed past $119 per barrel Friday at mid-day after a cargo ship hired by U.S. military fired warning shots at boats suspected to be Iranian...
Oil jumps past $119 after ship fires warning shots at Iranian boats

ChinaView.cn website reports today incident this way... Iran on Friday denied any military confrontation between its boats and U.S. ships in the Gulf, the state media reported... A senior official of the elite Revolutionary Guards rejected the Western reports that an American ship had opened fire on Iranian patrol boats in the Gulf, said the English Channel Press TV... "If UK or U.S. vessels had fired at Iranian boats, based on previous experiences, they would have faced the harshest reaction by Iranian forces," the official was quoted as saying...
State media: Iran denies confrontation with U.S. ship in Gulf

US Navy File Photo

United States Coast Guard Vessel In Persian Gulf Turns Away Three Iranian Vessels

United States Coast Guard Vessel In Persian Gulf

Turns Away Three Iranian Vessels

Friday, April 11, 2008
A United States Coast Guard vessel, USS Typhoon (PC 5), had to fire off a flare to warn away three small, unidentified boats, which were visibly approaching the American patrol ship in the Persian Gulf on Thursday. According to various media reports, the boats were Iranian...
Read the rest of this short report HERE

AFP.Google.com has this take on the story and it starts off like this... A US patrol boat fired a warning flare to repel three approaching speed boats in the Gulf, the Navy said Friday, where Iranian vessels have in the past played cat-and-mouse with passing US warships... The USS Typhoon, a Coast Guard patrol boat, was heading from the central to the northern Gulf when it was approached late Thursday by the high-speed boats, said Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet...
Read the full report at link below...
US navy turns away boats in Gulf, Iran denies confrontation

US Navy File Photo

USS Enterprise Strike Group Speeding Towards Persian Gulf?

USS Enterprise Strike Group Speeding Towards Persian Gulf?

DEBKAfile has an interesting read that I found from a few days back that I thought you might like to read. It starts off like this... According to DEBKAfile’s military sources, the US naval build-up off the shores of Iran marks rising military tensions in the region, accentuated by last week’s Hamas victory which has endowed Iran with a military foothold on Israel’s southwestern border... The USS Enterprise CVN 65-Big E Strike Group will join the USS Stennis and the USS Nimitz carriers, building up the largest sea, air, marine concentration the United States has ever deployed opposite Iran.
Read the rest below...
A third US carrier, the nuclear-powered USS Enterprise Strike Group is speeding towards the Persian Gulf
***************

Then again... the Navy has no mention of the USS Enterprise being deployed anywhere at this time.

Status of the Navy as of June 22, 2007
Navy Personnel

Active Duty: 340,212

Officers: 52,461

Enlisted: 284,455

Midshipmen: 3,296
Ready Reserve: 147,850 [As of 18 June]

Selected Reserves: 68,925

Individual Ready Reserve: 78,925
Reserves currently mobilized: 5,102 [As of 13 Jun]
Personnel on deployment: 57,315
Navy Department Civilian Employees: 175,824
Ships and Submarines
Deployable Battle Force Ships: 277

Ships Underway (away from homeport): 133 ships (48% of total)

On deployment: 104 ships (38% of total)

Attack submarines underway (away from homeport): 24 submarines (44%)

On deployment: 18 submarines (33%)
Ships Underway

Carriers:
USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) - Coral Sea
USS Nimitz (CVN 68) - Arabian Gulf
USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) - Arabian Gulf

Bataan Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG):
USS Bataan (LHD 5) - Red Sea
USS Bohomme Richard (LHD 6) - Arabian Gulf

Amphibious Warfare Ships:
USS Wasp (LHD 1) - Atlantic Ocean
USS Essex (LHD 2) - Coral Sea
USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) - Atlantic Ocean
USS Juneau (LPD 10) - Coral Sea
USS Tortuga (LSD 10) - Coral Sea
USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) - Atlantic Ocean
USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44) - Atlantic Ocean
USS Rushmore (LSD 47) - North Arabian Gulf
Aircraft (operational): 4000+
Info taken from the NAVY.mil website

Iran Adding Attack Boats in Persian Gulf - U.S. Coast Guard patrols Persian Gulf

If there ever were two stories that needed to be run together... These would have to be them... Click them out below...

>>> Bloomberg.com reports...
Iran is increasing its fleet of small attack boats capable of challenging warships and disrupting oil traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the sea route for two-fifths of the world’s daily supply of crude oil, the U.S. Navy says... Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps already has more than 1,000 of the speedboats “and continues to add boats armed with anti-ship cruise missiles,” said Robert Althage, spokesman for the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence...
Read the rest of the story at link below...
Iran Adding Attack Boats in Persian Gulf, U.S. Says

>>> LATimes.com...
Common images of the U.S. Coast Guard’s duties include boat rescues on the Great Lakes, pursuits of smugglers in the Caribbean and patrols of U.S. ports in the post-September 11 security buildup... But “Coasties” are also hip-deep in one of the world’s riskiest and most politically volatile missions: boarding ships in the Persian Gulf to search for contraband, weaponry and suspected terrorists...
Read this story in full below...
U.S. Coast Guard patrols Persian Gulf

AubreyJ.........

USS John C. Stennis Now Operating in Persian Gulf

March 27, 2007
The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis entered the Persian Gulf today escorted by the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam.
...
While in the gulf, the flagship of the USS John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group and its air wing, Carrier Air Wing 9, will conduct a dual-carrier exercise with the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group. This marks the first time the Stennis and Eisenhower strike groups have operated together in a joint exercise while deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.
...
"This exercise demonstrates the importance of both strike groups' ability to plan and conduct dual task force operations as part of the U.S. long-standing commitment to maintaining maritime security and stability in this region," officials said.
...
Two air wings from the aircraft carriers will conduct air warfare exercises, while the surface components will conduct exercises in three general disciplines: anti-submarine, anti-surface and mine warfare.
...
John C. Stennis left its homeport of Bremerton, Wash., on Jan. 16 for deployment and began operating alongside coalition maritime forces in the region Feb. 19. After arriving, the strike group began conducting maritime security operations and providing direct support to coalition ground forces participating in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. During the 33 days of operations over Afghanistan, Carrier Air Wing 9 provided close-air support and reconnaissance to International Security Assistance Force troops on the ground.
...
Maritime security operations help set the conditions for security and stability in the maritime environment, as well as complement counterterrorism and security efforts of regional nations. These operations deny international terrorists use of the maritime environment as a venue for attack or to transport personnel, weapons or other material, officials said.
...
The Carrier Air Wing 9 squadrons include the "Black Knights" of Strike Fighter Squadron 154, "Blue Diamonds" of Strike Fighter Squadron 146, "Argonauts" of Strike Fighter Squadron 147, "Death Rattlers" of Marine Strike Fighter Squadron 323, "Yellowjackets" of Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 138, "Golden Hawks" of Carrier Early Warning Squadron 112, "Topcats" of Sea Control Squadron 31, "Eightballers" of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 8, and "Providers" of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 30.
...
The John C. Stennis Strike Group includes John C. Stennis, Carrier Air Wing 9, Destroyer Squadron 21, USS Antietam, the guided-missile destroyers USS O'Kane and USS Preble, and the fast combat-support ship USNS Bridge. More than 6,500 sailors and Marines are assigned to the strike group.

(Courtesy of DoD - American Forces Press Service - Taken from a USS John C. Stennis Public Affairs news release)