The Navy is desperate to be able to broadcast good news, any
good news and they’re not at all above spinning (or lying, if you prefer a more
accurate term) to try to claim success.
Consider this latest announcement about mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
I flat out don’t believe this – not that I don’t believe the Navy has cleared mines but that I don’t believe there were ever any mines to begin with. In all the time this conflict has been going on, there has never been a single authenticated report of a mine sighting. No photos. No nothing. We’ve had extensive documentation of every other weapon, facility, ship, airfield, attack or whatever that Iran had and tried to use but not one instance of a documented mine. The only possible conclusion is that there were never any mines to begin with.
The Navy is attempting to claim credit for removing
something that never existed.
Further, I’ve been unable to find any documentation that a
MCM-LCS was ever deployed to the strait during this conflict and, in fact, some
LCS were removed from the area, early on, and relocated to the Pacific. We have no functional Avenger class vessels
left and I’ve seen no reports of any of the few remaining MH-53E MCM helos
being deployed, if there are any still deployable given that they are long past
retirement age. So, what did the Navy
use to clear these purported mines?
___________________________
I have just been informed by the United States Navy that all mines have been removed and/or detonated from within the International Waters of the Strait of Hormuz.[1]
I flat out don’t believe this – not that I don’t believe the Navy has cleared mines but that I don’t believe there were ever any mines to begin with. In all the time this conflict has been going on, there has never been a single authenticated report of a mine sighting. No photos. No nothing. We’ve had extensive documentation of every other weapon, facility, ship, airfield, attack or whatever that Iran had and tried to use but not one instance of a documented mine. The only possible conclusion is that there were never any mines to begin with.
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2026/08/25/trump-all-mines-now-cleared-from-strait-of-hormuz-n2206040
Obviously, the Navy used CG(x) equipped with autonomous, super duper mine sweepers
ReplyDeleteYou may well be right here CNO, but it’s a bit murky because all we have in terms of publicly available evidence is classified U.S. intelligence quoted by ‘anonymous officials’, rather than eg photographs of mines in situ or of recovered/detonated mines.
ReplyDeleteExample - early in the war CBS claimed multiple U.S. officials ‘familiar with the intelligence assessment’ had said U.S. forces had identified ‘at least’ 10 Iranian Mayan 3 and 7 type mines in the Strait and also that the Navy had been clearing a safe route. They warned shipowners that the normal route could be “extremely hazardous” because of all these mines, so to steer clear.
Not sure why the Navy would be making these claims if they didn’t believe them to be true, but it’s the Navy, so who knows?
Thing is, at the end of the day, sea mines are effective if folks believe that they’re there, even if they’re not.
"familiar with the intelligence assessment’"
DeleteAnonymous sources, "familiar" with intel assessments ... that's like a story told by a friend who heard it from a friend who claimed to ...
That's not even a credible rumor. That's just wild speculation.
Again, use logic and common sense. If there really were mines and the Navy really had identified them, wouldn't they have used photos or other evidence to further "prove" Iran's evil on the world stage? Think about the various conflicts we've been involved in. The military or the world media has shown us every aspect in photos and, often, full color video. Why not mines? Because they didn't exist.
"Not sure why the Navy would be making these claims if they didn’t believe them to be true, but it’s the Navy, so who knows?"
You're not going to make me recite the endless list of lies and exaggerations the Navy has told, are you? It's the Navy. They're incapable of telling simple truth.
Makes sense, but we’re trying to get oil thru the SoH, right? So why would the Navy tell shipowners that the Strait was mined if they knew it wasn’t and never had been?
DeleteFor me that’s a head scratcher, but what would I know?
An excess of caution?
Delete"So, what did the Navy use to clear these purported mines?"
ReplyDeleteWell, I believe we have some dolphins trained to find mines. Perhaps the dolphins and some divers?
The USN has a ultra MEGA classified super duper top secret team of minesweeping mermaids!
ReplyDeleteHM-15 in Norfolk, the last MH-53 squadron, was never even put on alert for a possible deployment, let alone sent a Det. That I can say with absolute certainty, since I have someone "on the inside ;) " attatched to the squadron...
ReplyDeleteThe squadron is still functional and active btw, with almost all birds fully "up", although its scheduled to shutter in '29. Rumors have persisted about it being moved up to next year, but there's no solid date as of yet.
Delete"I have someone "on the inside"
DeleteThanks for the info! Given the scarcity of MCM assets in the Navy, that would seem to support the contention that there were no mines.
The Iranian mines are quantum mines,
ReplyDeleteif you sweep for mines, you find mines
if you don't sweep for mines, there are no mines.
Schrodinger's mines?
DeleteThat kinda makes sense, it's a wave function.
DeleteTrondude
I found this short video about Iranian mini-subs of interest.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGspXolrAvI
I've heard nothing about them in this war.
I found it of no interest. It contained no new information and was blatantly biased. Like mines, any mini-subs Iran had are either destroyed by now or otherwise non-functional and not a threat. If Iran had any such capability, don't you think they would have used it by now?
DeleteOfftopic but…..
ReplyDeletehttps://www.militarytimes.com/industry/techwatch/2026/08/27/15000-operational-days-lost-in-10-years-due-to-us-submarine-maintenance-delays-gao/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sUT193IjDk But "Max Burner" says we have super duper mine clearing vaporware....(its akin to Hitler's phantom divisions protecting Berlin.
ReplyDeleteSo sailors with phones can photograph their living conditions fir weeks but can't snag a pic of a single mine
ReplyDeleteThese mines - if they existed - were likely seabed mines - anchored to the ocean floor or tethered and floating slightly above it. They can be triggered by the magnetic signature of a passing ship, acoustic noise from the engines or propellers and pressure changes caused by the vessel passing overhead and can remain active for decades after a conflict.
ReplyDeleteRemoval - MCM - requires sonar, remotely operated vehicles, divers, and specialized minesweeping vessels -US Navy capabilities in this field are limited to non-existent.
So if the Iranians claim to have placed a couple dozen mines somewhere along the shipping routes there’s not really likely to be any hard evidence of this one way or another.