Aboard The Cruiser Vicksburg In The Persian Gulf — Officials aboard the cruiser Vicksburg spotted and photographed two surfaced Iranian Kilo-class submarines in the Persian Gulf a few weeks ago, the ship's skipper told U.S. Navy Secretary Donald Winter during a visit to the ship on Nov. 24
The Russian-designed diesel-electric attack subs were tracked and photographed by sailors onboard the Mayport, Fla.-based ship, said Capt. Chip Swicker. Crew members showed Winter the photographs of the surfaced subs. The Vicksburg did not communicate with either of the subs, Swicker said.
"They watched us and we watched them," he said.
Crew members aboard the cruiser didn't consider the encounters hostile, although it wasn't clear if the Iranian boats surfaced within view of the cruiser or if the U.S. warship happened to see the Iranian subs while they were already running on the surface. Iran has a fleet of three Kilo-class SSKs, according to Jane's Fighting Ships.
Swicker indicated the Vicksburg was close enough to Iranian waters at the times of the encounters that crew members didn't consider it out of the ordinary to see Iranian navy vessels. Winter, accompanied by a Navy Times reporter, was aboard the ship as part of a nine-day trip through Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf.
The Vicksburg crew told Winter about their encounters less than a week before Iran's top navy commander claimed it was expanding its undersea fleet. On Wednesday, Iran said it was launching its own, new, home-built submarine, reportedly called the Ghadir. Iranian officials boasted that the small diesel-electric sub would "give a crushing answer to enemies when needed thanks to domestically-made equipment" and could fire missiles that could hit Israel.
The incidents recalled an encounter in October 2006 when a Chinese Song-class attack submarine surfaced near the carrier Kitty Hawk in the Western Pacific. Some analysts at the time called the act provocative, and pointed out the vulnerability of surface ships while they are shadowed by foreign submarines. It wasn't clear whether Iranian sailors were attempting to send such a message to the Vicksburg.
The Vicksburg is wrapping up a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf, where since August it has conducted maritime security operations. The ship is due back in Mayport in January.
Command Master Chief (SW) William Powell told Navy Times that the ship has spent much of its deployment patrolling the waters from the oil platforms in the northern Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman in the south. The ship has conducted several compliant boardings, but had not encountered any hostile ships during its time on the water, Powell said.
The Vicksburg is one of several ships from 20 different nations that patrol the waters of the Middle East, including the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea to the south.
"The amount of activity is increasing" in the waters surrounding the Middle East, including East Africa, said Capt. George Cox, chief of staff for Combined Maritime Forces in the region. Several other nations are considering participating in patrols in the Arabian Sea, he noted.
Legitimate fishing vessels populate the waters under Cox's oversight, where coalition naval forces focus on protecting the flow of oil out of the Persian Gulf. Occasionally ships will catch small-time pirates stealing a fishing dhow's Global Positioning System unit, he said.
"We always want more forces, but we have plenty to take care of the [oil platforms] and do some patrols of the waterways," Cox explained.
The captain said the fishermen in the region "love us." Fishing vessels follow naval ships around for protection, Cox said.
"I just wish they'd tell al-Jazeera," he added, referring to the pan-Arab satellite news channel based in Qatar.
Another goal of foreign naval forces in the region is building indigenous coast guard capabilities, Cox said.
He cited progress made by Combined Task Force 150, which is responsible for the Arabian Sea, Red Sea and waters off the Horn of Africa, in training and working in collaboration with the Yemeni coast guard.
Yemen is particularly concerned with human trafficking. Boats full of refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia come across the Gulf of Aden into the desert nation on the southwestern Arabian peninsula. Warships in the region report the positions of suspected vessels carrying human cargo, then the Yemenis capture the ships when they arrive in port, Cox explained.
Further, the six or seven coalition ships that patrol the area work to show presence and deter pirates, he added. However, beyond responding to calls for help, it is a difficult to task to battle pirates who stay close to territorial waters on the Somali coastline, Cox said.
Lt. John Gay, a spokesman for 5th Fleet, said that searching for pirates in the Arabian Sea is like "trying to find a needle in a haystack" and added that piracy is primarily a "law enforcement issue."
U.S. Cruiser Spots 2 Iranian Subs in Persian Gulf
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