Photos Show San Diego Warships Near Iran
- Newly released U.S. Central Command photos show San Diego-based warships patrolling near Iran to enforce a blockade. - Images include the littoral combat ship USS Canberra operating in the Arabian Sea during the enforcement action. - The public photos illustrate U.S. naval presence and may heighten regional tensions (timesofsandiego.com).
U.S. Central Command has released new photos showing San Diego-based warships enforcing the American blockade on ships entering or leaving Iranian ports. (timesofsandiego.com) One of the images shows USS Canberra, a littoral combat ship homeported in San Diego, patrolling the Arabian Sea during the operation. The Navy says the ship is part of Littoral Combat Ship Squadron One. (timesofsandiego.com) (surfpac.navy.mil) CENTCOM said 23 ships had complied with U.S. orders to turn around since the blockade began, up from 21 a day earlier. The command has also posted images of the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and video of the destroyer USS Michael Murphy diverting a merchant vessel. (wsj.com) (centcom.mil) The photos landed as the Strait of Hormuz crisis worsened on Saturday, April 18. UK Maritime Trade Operations said a tanker master reported that two Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps gunboats approached and fired on a tanker about 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman. (theaviationist.com) (ukmto.org) The blockade now stretches beyond the strait itself. Reporting this week said the U.S. exclusion zone covers the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea east of Hormuz, effectively pushing enforcement out along much of Iran’s coast. (legion.org) (news.usni.org) That helps explain why a San Diego ship built for coastal and open-ocean missions is in the Arabian Sea. The Navy describes the littoral combat ship class as a fast surface combatant designed for maritime security, sea control and deterrence. (surfpac.navy.mil) San Diego’s role could grow in the coming days. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported on April 14 that three San Diego-based warships were already involved and that the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group could double that number later this month. (sandiegouniontribune.com) Iran has said it will keep restricting traffic through Hormuz as long as Iranian-origin and Iranian-destination shipping is threatened. President Donald Trump said on April 17 that the blockade would remain “in full force” until a deal with Tehran is reached. (theaviationist.com) (msn.com) For now, the new images do more than document a deployment. They put named San Diego ships, visible hulls and dated photos on a blockade that is expanding at sea and hardening in public. (timesofsandiego.com)
