broncepulido Posted May 2, 2015 Report Posted May 2, 2015 File Name: The Maersk Tigris Incident. 28 April 2015. Alternate History Scenario. File Submitter: broncepulido File Submitted: 02 May 2015 File Category: Middle East The Maersk Tigris Incident, 28 April 2015. Alternate History Scenario. A Harpoon Commander's Edition scenario for the Middle East IOPG Battleset and the HCDB-140909 1980-2015 era Platform Database. Image: An MH-60S Knighthawk flies by the guided-missile destroyer USS Farragut (DDG 99) during a replenishment-at-sea evolution in the Arabian Sea on Dec. 4, 2012. The Knighthawk is attached to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 8 and is assigned to the Military Sealift Command USNS Bridge (T-AOE 10). DoD photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Kenneth Abbate, U.S. Navy.(Released). Origin: DoD and Wikipedia. This scenario is designed to be played from the Blue/US side or from the Red/Iranian side. You should play a few times first the Blue side to avoid spoilers, and only later play the Red/Iranian side. From 28 April 2015 the container ship M/V Maersk Tigris, in operation from 2014, 62292 t DWT, chartered by the Danish company Maersk Line, world's largest container shipping company, and flagged in the Marshall Islands, which the United States bears security responsibility for, in one of the numerous 2014-2015 naval incidents, was intercepted and seized while she was transiting through the Strait of Hormuz sailing from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to Jebel Ali (a UAE port near Dubai) by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) light crafts, after some warning shots over the bridge. The ship was seized, as by the Iranian explanations, because an allegedly unresolved cargo claim over unpaid debts brought by the Iranian company Pars Talaie ten years old (is usual to seize a ship because a court order, but only anchored or in port, never sailing or in transit). But many analyst suspect is only an excuse of the theocratic Supreme Leader of Iran to justify to his people his naval capabilities, after the failure a few days earlier to use sea lanes to send weapons and support to the Yemen Revolutionary Committee and the Shia Islam's sympathizers Houthi fighters faction in the ongoing Yemen 2015 Civil War (Just near 23 April 2015 the Iranian frigate Alborz and the oiler and supply ship Bushehr were escorting nine Iranian cargo vessels off Yemen, but their access to the coast was denied by Saudi, Egyptian and American warships). After the seizure, at current times (2 May 2015) in the real world M/V Maersk Tigris is anchored in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, waiting for the issue solution. On this alternate history scenario the IRGCN fails a first attempt to seize Maersk Tigris, the ship flies and demand support from the near US forces, doing the military engagement inevitable. Is of consideration Iran only compromises his Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) ships to seize Maersk Tigris, and not his regular Navy, probably to avoid escalation in the conflict and in case of failure use IRGCN as scapegoat, saying was IRGCN decision to seize Maersk Tigris. One of the purposes of this scenario is to capture the speed, chaos and flavour of this type of asymmetrical engagements, and to test the swarm attack theories. Enrique Mas, 2 May 2015. Click here to download this file 1 Quote
broncepulido Posted May 2, 2015 Author Report Posted May 2, 2015 Notes: - The starting positions of US forces are mostly speculative. - VP-26 The Tridents was at the incident time actually based in Al Dueid, Qatar. - USS Farragut (DDG-99), USS Typhoon (PC-5), USS Firebolt (PC-10) and USS Thunderbolt (PC-12), all were some 60 nm near to Maersk Tigris (Note: the Cyclone-class patrol ships were equipped with Griffin short range anti-ship missiles from March 2014, with 2xMk60 four missile cannisters each ship. All are based in Manama, Bahrain). Some sources: http://news.usni.org/2015/04/29/pentagon-unclear-why-iran-seized-maersk-tigris-u-s-destroyer-3-patrol-craft-nearby http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/details/ships/shipid:1635726/mmsi:538005749/imo:9694581/vessel:MAERSK_TIGRIS https://gcaptain.com/ais-reply-shows-moment-maersk-tigris-was-picked-from-busy-shipping-lane/ http://gcaptain.com/maersk-tigris-at-anchor-in-bandar-abbas-crew-safe/ http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/04/23/two-iranian-warships-now-escorting-iranian-cargo-ships-off-yemen.html http://gonavy.jp/VP_VP26f.html Quote
broncepulido Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Posted May 3, 2015 3 May 2015 modifications: - Use of the just today issued HCDB-150502 database, to replace Cyclone (1993) with Cyclone (2014), equipped with Griffin light anti-ship missiles (one of the aims of the scenario, to test counter-swarm tactics). - Little text modifications, to add the idea of "is usual to seize a ship because a court order, but only anchored or in port, never sailing or in transit". Quote
Fulton Pollywog Posted May 5, 2015 Report Posted May 5, 2015 Ok using MarineTraffic.COM MAERSK TIGRIS Position Recorded on: 2015-05-03 14:23:59 (UTC) Lat/Lon: 27.03456 / 56.27057 http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/oldshipid:1635726/oldmmsi:538005749/olddate:lastknown# I played once= lost real quick. I cheated and looked at scenario with scenario editor.- impressive use of variability - especially with red units. 1 Quote
broncepulido Posted May 10, 2015 Author Report Posted May 10, 2015 10 May 2015 modification: main title year changed from "2105" to correct "2015" !!! Quote
broncepulido Posted January 15, 2016 Author Report Posted January 15, 2016 Spoiler alert. Considerations about USN SAGs doctrine change: How I suspected and reflected in these two historical scenarios, the US destroyers were operating for years alone and vulnerable, as confirmed in this USNI new report, but the procedure will be changed, and in near term we should count with three destroyers surface action groups: http://news.usni.org/2016/01/13/a-year-into-distributed-lethality-navy-nears-fielding-improved-weapons-deploying-surface-action-group http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2016-01/we-are-headed-right-direction Historical scenario featuring USS Ross (DDG 71) operating alone: http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.php?/files/file/904-new-battle-of-sinop-23-december-2015-alternate-history-scenario/ Historical scenario featuring USS Farragut (DDG 99) operating alone: http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.php?/files/file/873-the-maersk-tigris-incident-28-april-2015-alternate-history-scenario/ Quote
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