What is the number one problems with the Strait of Hormuz? Mines! And where are the navy's mine sweepers? Why sitting in the navy's Philadelphia base!
Trump pulled mine-sweepers from the Middle East and they’re sitting in Philadelphia as the Iran War rages
The IndependentAndrew Feinberg in Washington, D.C.Wednesday 11 March 2026As President Donald Trump warns Iran against using mines to threaten oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. Navy’s purpose-built minesweepers are sitting stateside thousands of miles away with no plans to put them to use while the war rages on.As gas prices in the U.S. continued to skyrocket, Trump on Tuesday took to Truth Social to demand that Tehran “immediately” remove any mines placed in the vital seaway and to do so “forthwith” lest the Iranian military suffer “consequences ... at a level never seen before.” That warning came after multiple news outlets reported Iran had begun mining the strait, a narrow waterway that is the only passage from the Persian Gulf into open ocean.He also threatened to use drone strikes to “permanently eliminate any boat or ship attempting to mine the Hormuz Strait” and boasted of having done so against 10 Iranian “inactive mine-laying boats” in a separate post several minutes later.[...]On Monday, a massive cargo ship, M/V Seaway Hawk, was spotted on camera arriving in Philadelphia carrying a quartet of Avenger-class Mine Countermeasure Ships that were based at U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain as the Navy’s front-line deterrent against mining operations in the Middle East until this past fall, when the last of those ships, U.S.S. Devastator, was decommissioned.
Hey wait a minute! Trump and Hegseth didn't think that they needed the mine-sweepers this time? I say this time because...
The four wood-and-fiberglass vessels, including Devastator, U.S.S. Sentry, U.S.S. Dextrous, and U.S.S. Gladiator, were built in the 1990s had been built in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and ships of that class were first deployed to the Persian Gulf region during Operation Desert Storm.For the next four decades, the U.S. kept minesweepers forward-deployed in Bahrain to deter use of mines in the Gulf region amid fears that Iran could use them to effectively block the narrow chokepoint through which one fifth of the world’s oil supply passes each year.
A good one you two! How many are going to die because you didn't think to send mine-sweepers to protect the tankers!
So without any fan-fair the Cuckoo Award is given to both Trump and Hegseth for their idiocy of not sending mine-sweepers!
Update: 3/15 @ 7:30PM
The navy is finally bring in mine sweepers! After how many weeks?
There still is a question why were mine sweepers positioned before the war? Didn't they think that Iran would mine the straights?Two of the three Littoral Combat Ships that had taken over the minesweeping role in the Middle East have just appeared in Malaysia.TWZJoseph Trevithick, Howard AltmanPublished Mar 15, 2026The U.S. Navy Independence class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) USS Tulsa and USS Santa Barbara, which are configured for minesweeping duties, have appeared in port in Malaysia. Both of these ships were last known to be forward-deployed in the Middle East, having arrived in Bahrain in the past year or so to take the place of a group of now-decommissioned Avenger class mine hunters. Now, as Iranian attacks on commercial ships have caused a virtual halt to maritime traffic through the highly strategic Strait of Hormuz, these ships have emerged thousands of miles away. The extent to which Iran has seeded naval mines in the Strait already is unclear, but this remains a huge threat to the future security of the waterway and will have to be taken into account in any future effort to reopen this critical waterway.[...]USS Tulsa and USS Santa Barbara are among a select number of Independence class LCSs fitted with a mine countermeasures mission package, or “module.” In its current form, the package includes towed mine-hunting sonar for the ships, Common Unmanned Surface Vehicles (CUSV) with mine-sweeping gear, and mine detection and neutralization systems carried by embarked MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters. We will come back to this configuration later on.
Regardless, at least two-thirds of the warships intended to be available for tasking for mine countermeasures missions in the Middle East are presently in a completely different part of the world. As noted, USS Tulsa, USS Santa Barbara, and USS Canberra, were forward-deployed to the region in the first place explicitly to fill gaps left by the decommissioning of four Avenger class mine hunters last year. The former USS Devastator, USS Dextrous, USS Gladiator, and USS Sentry left the region for good aboard a heavy lift ship in January. There are only four Avenger class ships left in active Navy service, all of which are forward-deployed in Japan, and are also slated to be decommissioned in the coming years.
Clowns! Amateurs night at the Pentagon!
8:15PM
And now Britain is sending mine sweepers, The Guardian writes that,
Ministers are drawing up plans to send minesweeping drones to the strait of Hormuz amid concerns in Whitehall that complying with Donald Trump’s demand to send ships could escalate the crisis.The government is considering dispatching aerial minesweepers to help clear the vital waterway of mines in an attempt to allow the flow of oil exports to resume. However, officials said that sending ships, as requested over the weekend by the US president, could worsen the situation given the volatile nature of the war.Keir Starmer will announce tens of millions of pounds to support Britons feeling the impact of higher energy prices at a Downing Street press conference on Monday, where he will also emphasise the importance of de-escalating the crisis.
I want you to notice something... it is not just our price of gas going up, but the whole world!
The situation has put further pressure on the relationship between Trump and Starmer, which has been damaged by the prime minister’s refusal to allow the president to use British bases to launch his initial attack on Tehran.
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