As a former Navy enlisted and Navy officer, I am disappointed with the capture of our two riverine boats and crews by the Iranians in the Persian Gulf.

I understand one of the boats had a navigation problem, either mechanical or human error, and it wandered into Iranian waters. But why couldn’t the other boat tow it away from Iranian waters?

Furthermore, why wasn’t a warship accompanying the two small boats as they traversed waters in close proximity to an unfriendly country?

Why didn’t the riverine boats communicate their problems to their commanding officer, who should have been monitoring their transit from Kuwait to Bahrain? If they did communicate their situation, what were the instructions they received from higher command?

It appears to me the personnel on the riverine boats and the command hierarchy viewed the movement of the boats as a routine operation, and they were caught off guard by the problems encountered, and they were not prepared to conduct contingency operations. It reminds me of the capture of the USS Pueblo off of North Korea many years ago.

This incident could embolden the Iranians and other unfriendly countries to test our military prowess.

 

Donald A. Moskowitz

Londonderry, New Hampshire