PERSIAN GULF - Hunting for Mines Amidst Regional Tensions

"Hunting for Mines in Persian Gulf as Tensions Between Israel and Iran Build" PBS Newshour 9/28/2012

Excerpt

SUMMARY: The U.S. Navy and more than 30 countries went into the Persian Gulf to search and destroy underwater mines. The military exercise is one of many preparations made over Iran possibly placing mines in the Strait of Hormuz should Israel ever attempt to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. Ray Suarez reports.

RAY SUAREZ (Newshour): And we go to the Persian Gulf, where the U.S. Navy and more than 30 other countries just completed the largest exercise ever aimed at hunting and destroying mines in the waters of the Middle East.

The drill comes at an especially tense time. Israel has threatened to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, and Iran in turn promised to mine the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important shipping routes. The Navy invited 20 reporters to cover the military drill.

One of them was our own Dan Sagalyn, who produced this report.

The crew aboard the USS Ponce is a using a drone to search for hostile boats in the Persian Gulf. Video from the so-called ScanEagle is fed back to the command vessel.

COMMENT: Whenever I see videos of Naval carrier operations I get heart-pangs from my 22yr Navy carrier when my squadron deployed aboard the USS Hancock (CVA-19).