Maine Destroyer’s Opening Fire Was Rare Use Of Lethal Force In Iran Naval Blockade: ‘Business Insider’

The Navy destroyer blasting an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel’s engine room in the north Arabian Sea over the weekend shows rare use of force that speaks to the U.S  willingness to fully enforce its blockade on Iran, analysts say.

Business Insider published an analysis of the USS Spruance, built in Bath, Maine, fired a five-inch gun Sunday on the cargo vessel.

The news outlet accompanied its piece with stunning video of how the attack played out, from warnings to the actual MK 45 shots being fired.

“U.S. forces train to escalate from warnings to disabling fire, but they don’t often have to carry it out in routine sanctions enforcement,” writes Chris Panella. “The strike on the ship is an unusual case where the playbook moved from training to reality.

Unlike the situation with Venezuela earlier in the year, where U.S. forces chased a dark fleet tanker across the Atlantic before ultimately boarding it, this incident saw the Navy turn to force and shed light on its blockade enforcement procedures, Panella said.

President Trump said in a Truth Social post that the engagement “didn’t go well” for the Iranian-flagged ship, the MV Touska, adding that the Navy “stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole” in the engine room.

The 510-foot Spruance built by Bath Iron Works in 2010 intercepted the Touska, an Iranian-flagged vessel that was caught transiting the Arabian Sea, sailing toward Iran at 17 knots.

The Navy warned the Touska multiple times that its transit was in violation of the U.S. blockade of Iran, Central Command said in a statement.

Evaluating vessels for contraband or potential blockade violations is standard procedure, Bradley Martin, a former Navy captain and RAND researcher, told Business Insider.

“As the ships approach, crews are questioned about their origin, destination, and cargo, and, in many cases, that information is enough to clear them to continue or simply turn them away,” Panella reported.

“If the Navy determines that a vessel needs to be boarded, the next step is usually a compliant boarding in which U.S. sailors check manifests and cargo with the ship’s permission.”

In the case of the Touska, the vessel “failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period,” CENTCOM said, prompting the next step in the interdiction process.

The Navy directed the Touska’s crew to evacuate the engine room and then fired several rounds from the MK 45 through the vessel’s hull into its engine room, disabling the propulsion.

“Since in this case the vessel tried to run the blockade altogether, use of force to disable the vessel is an authorized procedure,” Martin told Panella. “It’s been rare in sanctions enforcement, but it is the expected step.”

Navy video footage showed the Spruance sailing alongside the Touska. Unidentified Navy sailors could be heard commanding the cargo ship’s crew to vacate the engine room. “We’re prepared to subject you to disabling fire.”

Chasing and boarding a large vessel like the Touska in a noncompliant boarding is difficult because of its size and speed and the risk that the crew could be hostile, according to Panella.

The difficulty in this kind of situation, Bryan Clark, a former Navy officer, said, is determining the vessel’s intent as it approaches the strait.

The procedures followed in this case – from warnings to shooting out the engine – are similar to what the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy do with alleged drug trafficking vessels. Suspected traffickers are handled through the same step-by-step escalation.

If the vessel doesn’t comply with orders, the Coast Guard will disable its engine and board it.

This situation was “a different scale and entry point,” said Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, adding that shooting the engine makes the noncompliant boarding of the nearly 900-foot-long Touska easier.

“Disabling the engines also has the effect of denying the crew the possibility of getting away, and it reduces their likelihood of resisting the boarding.”

After the cargo ship was disabled,  Marines boarded it.