The Navy never said specifically where the voices came from, but many were left with the impression they had come from the speedboats because of the way the Navy footage was edited.
I find it fishy that the most sophisticated navy in the world would not know where the transmission came from. Detecting the direction a broadcast is emanating from is not rocket science.
"A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not." - Ronald Reagan 1987
If it is a continuous signal, it should be easy to isolate. If it is a single short transmission, then it poses triangulation problems.
I don't know how fishy the big picture is though. Iranians engaged the US in an asymmetric provocative act. The US remained passive.
Unless it was all staged to make the Iranians look provocative. But if that were the case, then why not carry the lie one step easy step further and say that the transmission locations are known? Unless, of course, we want to look confused over that fact to make it seem like we lack total knowledge over the whole scheme.
Unfortunately, there's no way to remove ambient noise from the deck of a speedboat.
Well, it’s the Super-Monroe Doctrine: “Get off our oil, people who dress funny!” - M. Bouffant
"You're a bad captain, Zarde. People like you only learn by being touched, and hard. And you will greatly disapprove of where these men put their hands." - M. Vanderbeam.
The Iranians are old pros at doing this. They typically use multiple operators on multiple radios to do the harassments err hails. they also try to disguise themselves by referring to themselves as something they aren't i.e. Iranian warship instead of a speedboat or saying they are in an area they aren't. From what i've heard on the incident it sounded pretty typical for the radio chatter. They seemed to be more agressive with the boats this time though. Of the 4 transits I did there we always knew the general area they came from.
All in all though with all the things they've done in the past it was pretty par for the course. I still say seeing an Iranian Huey flying in and out of approach and take off around the carrier during flight ops takes the cake though.
Fetten Mystblayde
Nocturne Mist
To succeed without risk, is to conquer without glory.
Forgot to mention and waited to long to edit...
We always take a passive role when transitting the Straits. It's only 20 miles wide at it's narrowest which puts you in territorial waters of both Iran and Oman. Since both sides have missile systems that reach the other side and everything inbetween you're in radio contact with both during the transit. Iran really doesn't want the US in the gulf so they engage in all kinds of ploys to discourage us from being there, all to their chagrin though.
Fetten Mystblayde
Nocturne Mist
To succeed without risk, is to conquer without glory.
I don't get the big song and dance - it's not like hostile-but-not-at-war nations don't run around taunting each other as a general practice. There were much more aggressive actions during the cold war, from what I remember.
