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[SliceSabre]

Remember those sailors who got detained by Iran? Welp here's the result of the investigation.

The sailors were taken Jan. 12 at gunpoint and blindfolded by armed members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard during a trip southeast from Kuwait to Bahrain. The Iranians stopped them after they motored in two 53-foot riverine command boats within about one nautical mile of the Persian Gulf’s Farsi Island, on which Iran has a major military installation. IThe U.S. sailors never realized what island they were nearing, despite having the mapping technology to know better, the investigation found.

The Iranians should have assisted the sailors, who were carrying out what mariners call innocent passage when one of their boats suffered an engine problem, investigating officers found. But a Navy lieutenant and an enlisted petty officer first class in charge of the boats and a detachment commander in Kuwait “were derelict in their duties in that they failed to meet even the most basic requirements of leadership, planning and tactical execution,” the investigation found.

Already, the Navy has removed the commander of the task force involved, Capt. Kyle Moses, and Cmdr. Eric Rasch, who was the No. 2 officer in the unit to which the sailors belong.

The course the boats were supposed to take cut southeast through the Persian Gulf at an established safe distance north of Farsi Island before cutting nearly straight south for a refueling at sea and proceeding on to Bahrain. The sailors deviated from that path by traveling just south of Farsi Island instead in part because they were running behind schedule and wanted to make sure they got to the refueling ship before dark.

-Source

So it looks like while the Iranians weren't exactly by the book in what they did, it never would have happened had the sailors followed orders.

 

[bananas]

The course the boats were supposed to take cut southeast through the Persian Gulf at an established safe distance north of Farsi Island before cutting nearly straight south for a refueling at sea and proceeding on to Bahrain. The sailors deviated from that path by traveling just south of Farsi Island instead in part because they were running behind schedule and wanted to make sure they got to the refueling ship before dark.

Sounds about right.

 

[Ceallach]

Yeah, the IG findings are really interesting. These guys were lying about maintenance, calling in false checkpoints, and generally completely failing at their jobs.

It's embarassing.

Full disclosure: I'm a USN FC1, so I'm not the most impartial party.

 

[blackjaw]

It wasn't just following orders that they failed on, the list of failings in the error chain is disturbingly large