May 16-2014
The US Navy says Iran’s mockup of the USS Nimitz is listing in its dockyard and looking like it might sink even before it is launched.
The Pasdar maritime arm last week boasted that it would sink the mockup in a naval exercise, although officials said a few months ago that the mockup was intended for use in a movie about the evils of the US Navy.
But last week, Admiral Ali Fadavi, who commands the Pasdar maritime arm, which operates inside the Persian Gulf but not outside, spoke at length about his desire to sink an American aircraft carrier.
“Aircraft carriers are the symbol of America’s military might,” he said. “The carriers are responsible for supplying America’s air power. So, it’s natural that we want to sink the carriers.”
Actually, the United States has more combat airpower stationed at land bases across the Persian Gulf from Iran. It was very odd that Fadavi appeared unaware of that.
Fadavi boasted, “We have been making and sinking replicas of US destroyers, frigates and warships for many years, and we have sunk the replicas of their vessels in 50 seconds through a series of operational measures,”
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said imagery of the mock-up within the last 30 days showed it was listing about 30 degrees.
“We are wholly unconcerned about the Iranians’ mockup of an American ship,” Warren said, joking with a CBS reporter: “My guess is you could sink the mockup in 50 seconds.”
Warren wouldn’t even go so far as to refer to the Iranian mockup as a “vessel.”
The Tasnim news agency reported that “an investigation” has found that the Nimitz-class carriers used by the US could be seriously damaged or destroyed if 24 missiles were fired simultaneously.
An American Navy official in the Persian Gulf was dismissive of the Iranian claims, and of the simulated carrier in particular.
“Whatever Iran hopes to do with the mockup, it is likely to have zero impact on US Navy operations in the Gulf,” said Cmdr. Jason Salata, a spokesman for the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, which is based in Bahrain.
“Firing weapons at a stationary structure floating on pontoons is not a realistic representation of having the capability to target a 100,000-ton warship … maneuvering at speeds in excess of 30 knots,” he said.