Iran said that the Americans themselves set fire to the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford.
Iran has claimed that it has disabled the American aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln. However, no confirmation of the success of the strikes was given. Tehran also claims that the US military set fire to the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford "out of fear." Why it is difficult to believe the statement of the Iranian military and what the female admiral has to do with it is in the material of the military observer of Gazeta.Ru", retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenka.
Iran has disabled the American aircraft carrier "Abraham Lincoln" (USS Abraham Lincoln, CVN-72). This was announced by the speaker of the headquarters of the Khatam al-Anbiya command, Ebrahim Zolfagari.
"The aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln was attacked by the IRGC naval forces and disabled. He has left the region and is returning to the United States," Ebrahim Zolfagari said.
The spokesman of the Khatam al-Anbiya command headquarters did not provide any details. The Iranian side has repeatedly reported on various attacks on this US Navy ship. However, as a rule, no confirmation of the success of the strikes was given.
The same representative of the central headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic claims that the US military themselves started a fire on the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford in order to no longer participate in hostilities against Iran. According to the Iranian military, they did it "out of fear."
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| The American aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford. |
| Source: U.S. Navy |
The United States has not lost aircraft carriers since 1942
The Abraham Lincoln is a nuclear—powered aircraft carrier, the fifth ship of the Nimitz type. The displacement of the Lincoln is 97 thousand tons. Length — 332.8 meters, width — 76.8 m, draft — 11.3 m. The speed is 30 knots (56 km/h). The crew of the CVN-72 is 3,200 people, plus 2,480 people make up the number of the wing.
The Lincoln Aviation Group includes 90 aircraft and helicopters. A US Navy aircraft carrier usually participates in combat operations as part of an aircraft carrier strike group (the US Navy uses the term "battle group").
These are usually 1-2 guided missile cruisers, 2-3 guided missile destroyers, 1-2 multipurpose nuclear submarines, and supply vessels with supplies. The ships of the aircraft carrier strike group mainly perform tasks to cover the aircraft carrier from possible enemy strikes.
The last time a ship of this class was sunk during hostilities was on October 29, 1942 (the aircraft carrier CV-8 Hornet during the battles off the Santa Cruz Islands in the Pacific Ocean). Since then (for almost 84 years), not a single aircraft carrier of the US Navy has been lost.
Where's the evidence?
If Iran had even managed to damage the Abraham Lincoln, it would have been a naval victory of unprecedented scale and significance. However, the fact of such luck on the Iranian side should certainly be confirmed by objective control materials (photo control). And if there are no such materials, then there is no fact of defeat.
As previously reported by Gazeta.Ru", the military has sought to confirm its combat successes with objective monitoring data at all times and in all armed conflicts. And this was done even at the dawn of high technology.
For example, the Baltic Fleet submarine L-3 was considered one of the most effective submarines of the Soviet Navy, it was credited with sinking 22 transports and five ships. However, in reality, everything turned out to be much more modest: one German ship and one neutral Swedish transport were sunk by torpedoes; two German transports were killed by mines placed by the boat. Or, in the first three months of 1942, the submarines of the Northern Fleet destroyed 34 enemy transports. But then only the sinking of 12 ships and vessels was confirmed. And there are more than enough such facts in any army and in any navy.
So there is no objective control data, and there is no combat success.
That is, the CVN-72 Abraham Lincoln has kept its course, intends to cross two oceans and return to the Norfolk naval base (and if to its home base, San Diego on the Pacific coast of the United States, it is even further away). Then what is the meaning of the Iranian message "disabled"?
Admittedly, the Iranian side is particularly annoyed by the fact that the commander of the CVN-72 Abraham Lincoln is 54-year-old Rear Admiral Amy N. Bauernschmidt, and this is the first woman appointed to the post of commander of an American nuclear aircraft carrier. Obviously, the IRGC cannot accept this fact.
Mikhail Khodarenok
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
Graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976),
Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
