Okay, a little more information is coming out regarding the supposed Iranian provocation of US warships in the Persian Gulf yesterday. The incident involved what were described as Iranian gunboats that closed with three US Navy warships including the Ticonderoga-class, Aegis guided missile cruiser, USS Port Royal shown below.

Now the Port Royal, all 567 feet of her, is armed to the teeth with an unrivalled electronics warfare suite, all manner of missiles, deck guns and, for close-in defence, the Mk. 15 Phalanx gatling gun that can spew out 12.75 mm. depleted uranium rounds at the respectable rate of 4,500 rounds per minute. The Phalanx is designed to take out all manner of threats including supersonic, sea skimming anti-ship missiles.

So what about those lethal Iranian gunboats? Here’s a picture of one of them taken with a telephoto lens from one of the US warships:


If you don’t see any guns on this gunboat, maybe that’s because there don’t seem to be any. It’s a speedboat and, given the lifejackets worn by the crew, it seems they weren’t looking to die that day in a suicide attack either. Video released by the navy shows these tiny boats surfing about in the wakes of the US warships but always keeping a respectable distance away.