Four US Minesweepers Are Being Sent To The Strait Of Hormuz Within The Month
Michael Kelley
BusinessInsider.com
3-29-2012
Four Navy minesweepers will be sent to the Persian Gulf in late April, as reported by Barbarra Starr at CNN.
The additional deployments are part of an effort by Gen. James Mattis, head of the U.S. Central Command, to boost American military capability in the region in the face of Iranian threats to shut down the Strait of Hormuz.
From CNN:
“We are moving four more mine sweeps to the theater,” [Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, told the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month]. “That’ll make eight. We are moving airborne mine countermeasure helicopters. That’ll take us to eight in theater. And … those, working with the British mine sweeps there, which we exercise with frequently, sets us up a little bit there.”
Each of the ships – the USS Sentry (MCM 3), USS Devastator (MCM 6), USS Pioneer (MCM 9) and USS Warrior (MCM 10) – carries a crew of about 60. All are equipped to detect and neutralize mines.
The Navy this month also sent to the region four additional MH-53 Sea Dragon helicopters, which also have the capability to locate and destroy mines.
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