TBD on Ning

Rust Bucket...

International waters are, well, international, and protected as such by maritime law with unhindered passage allowed to non-belligerents. These very laws the American Naval forces have used in the past as in the example of John Paul Jones, and the founding of our navy. And that Navy, the American Navy, is the uncontested queen of the open seas, and has been for decades, particularly since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Once we believed in a 3-mile protected limit, as to unrestricted shipping, to make sure, in part, we had access to everyone else's coasts, or at least a justification, and also had the advantage of being the range of our coastal guns. Then we believed in the 12-mile limit, because it protected our resources from someone else using them, and then now we believe in the continental shelf as a limit of what we control, in that resources are our resources, and they are ours; first, last and always.

There always has been comfort in seeing the flag, the American flag, especially when overseas in some place foreign. The American flag has been carried throughout the centuries by our ships in whatever port they are in, or being on the high-seas. Just ask the Japanese, how happy they were to see our flag when Commodore Perry and his fleet sailed into Tokyo harbor in 1856, uninvited, and the Japanese were probably just as thrilled to see the flag when the Allied fleet, with the battleship, U.S.S. Missouri, sailed into that same harbor in 1945 to accept their surrender, invited and to end WWII.

So, is there a story here? Like, say, The Hunt for Red October? Probably not. Or, is this a crisis like the naval blockaded of Cuba in 1962, again, no, no way. But what it is, is, a tweak of the nose, a spit into the wind, a show of force by the Grand Duchy of Fenwick, so to speak.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been reported(and yes, this could be something the Onion would cook up) will sail one of their naval ships, a 1972 vintage frigate and a support ship, in the coastal waters near New York City, or some other American east coast city. yet undetermined or otherwise indicated.

As a threat to America and Americans, of course, you got to be kidding. But then again, the Iranians are not amused by the use of the 'Persian' Gulf as an American Navy bathtub. And yes, we can remember the attack on the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen in the waning days of President Clinton's second administration, so maybe, not so funny after all.

Of course, the Iranians have the right to put their ships wherever they would like, subject to maritime law. And one would think, the Port of New York would welcome them, and Iranian sailors, in a naval tradition longer than the history of the United States.

And of course, wherever the Iranians send their ships, we will follow them, closely; on the water, under the water, in the air and in space. Any Iranian ship and the lives of their sailors on board those ships have and will have their very breathing recorded, along with a deep and constant threat analysis, and if necessary, any threat posed by such a ship or ships, responded to.

So, as a matter of practical survival, our Navy would in two minutes or so, sink such a threat to the bottom of whatever waters them are in, and that would be followed with a sincere, diplomatic letter of condolences sent to Tehran, maybe.

Tags: Duchy, Fenwick, Grand, Iran, Naval, Peter, Sellers, The, of, ships