US Navy forces must wait for ‘uncontested environment' to clear mines in Strait of Hormuz

US Navy mine-clearing forces use MK 18 UUVs, like the one shown here. (US Navy)

US Navy (USN) forces will have to refrain from full-scale mine-clearing operations in the Strait of Hormuz, according to USN officials. “That's something that can only be done in an uncontested environment,” Admiral Daryl Caudle, chief of naval operations (CNO) testified on 12 May to the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.

“We have a lot of MCM [mine-countermeasures] capacity at the ready,” Adm Caudle testified. “It has already been brought into theatre.” However, he noted, MCM operations “are tedious and slow. It's based a lot on intelligence, to narrow down the areas you need to search.”

Ongoing combat in the region makes such operations difficult or even impossible, according to Adm Caudle.

Testifying on 14 May before the House Armed Services Committee, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said Iranian forces lacked the capacity to sustain naval attacks. “They [Iranian forces] have a lack of command and control,” Cao said. “They have these [attack] onesies and twosies. They are shooting at merchant ships.”

US Central Command (CENTCOM) on 7 May reported: “US forces intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with self-defence strikes as US Navy guided-missile destroyers [DDGs] transited the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman, 7 May.”

CENTCOM added, “Iranian forces launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats as USS Truxtun (DDG 103), USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), and USS Mason (DDG 87) transited the international sea passage. No US assets were struck.”

The command said its forces “eliminated inbound threats and targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking US forces including missile and drone launch sites; command and control locations; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance nodes”.