The U.S. Navy on Thursday released its official report on the January capture of 10 U.S. sailors by Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf. The sequence of events points to a cascading series of errors, bad leadership, poor seamanship and a breakdown of basic military discipline.
The sailors will receive non-judicial punishment in the incident, which came hours before President Obama gave his State of the Union address and as he planned to tout the nuclear deal with Iran.
Here’s a timeline of events, based on the official report.
Evening of Jan. 11: The commodore of Commander Task Force 56 directed a naval riverine unit to prepare to execute a transit of two riverine command boats on a 300-mile trip from Kuwait to Bahrain at 8 a.m. on Jan 12.
The riverine boats had never traveled that far before and it would require a meet-up with a U.S. Coast Guard refueling cutter. While the mission was demanding, the boats were needed in Bahrain for a training exercise on Jan 15.
Many individuals of the riverine squadron who would operate the boats voiced concerns over a trip of this length, saying the boats had “limited capability.” However, the CTF commodore believed the transit could be completed if adequate force protection measures and communications precautions were in place.
The CTF commodore believed “navigation is navigation” and this wasn’t a concern “because the [riverine boat] is a boat, and a boat floats.”
Jan. 11, 4 p.m.: The riverine boat commander received orders to execute the plan.
The boat captain, a junior officer the only officer among the 10 who would make the transit, again voiced concerns that the crew hasn’t taken the riverine boats that far and hadn’t conducted refueling at night. To make matters worse, the riverine boat’s captain failed his previous navigation test and hadn’t passed since one year before. In addition, the captain failed to look at an overview map and didn’t conduct a patrol briefing before leaving.
Jan. 12, 6 a.m.: The riverine boats were launched to test mission readiness. An initial oil problem and secure satellite communications problem caused the boats to be delayed four hours.
11:48 a.m.: With the oil problem fixed, the captain gives the all clear to proceed leaving without the secure communications.
12:40 p.m.: CTF commodore gives permission for the boat commander to continue the planned mission.
2:41 p.m.: Kuwait Tactical Operations Center passes control of the boats to Bahrain Tactical Operations Center, but Bahrain didn’t get this message. At this point, the boat captains and the two operations centers are unaware the boats went into Iranian waters.
3:30-4:30 p.m.: The boat crews visually identify islands with a fire burning on one. However, they didn’t believe it to be Iranian territory. On their navigation system a purple dot is displayed where the islands seem to be, based on visuals. Nevertheless, the captain didn’t zoom in on the GPS display where he would’ve seen that it says “Farsi Island” right next to the purple dot. Not knowing they are inside Iranian territory, the crew continues around Farsi Island to meet up with the refueling boat.
4:00-4:15 p.m.: One of the riverine boats lost oil pressure in the engine, the same problem encountered before leaving Kuwait. The boats went dead at 4:12 p.m., 1.6 miles from Farsi Island, inside of Iranian waters. However, unaware they are in hostile waters, the boat captain didn’t order the crew to arm themselves for protection.
4:20-4:30 p.m.: Crewmembers observed two small boats approaching from Farsi Island. Meanwhile, the currents shifted, pushing the U.S. sailors toward Farsi Island.
Originally, the boat captain “didn’t suspect any ill intent from the [Iranian] boats.” But at 800-1,000 yards out, the captain saw guns on the ships and they were “at speed” and “moving fast.” At 300 yards away the Iranians uncovered heavy guns. The U.S. sailors were “frantically” shifting between driving the boat, manning their weapon, and talking on the radio.
As the Iranian boats closed in, the boat captain yelled, “Hey, I’m sorry, this was an accident, we didn’t mean to be here, our boat broke down, we’re just trying to continue to Bahrain.” Under customary international law, Iran isn’t allowed to interfere with an innocent passage of a boat.
The rules of engagement state, “Unit Commanders always retain the inherent right and obligation to exercise self-defense in response to a hostile act or demonstrated hostile intent.” Nevertheless, the U.S. boat captain ordered his sailors to drop their weapons.
4:28 p.m.: The boat’s engineer repaired the broken engine and the captain gave the call to “go, go, go” over the radio. The U.S. boats started moving in an attempt to escape but the coxswain refused the captain’s orders, leaving the boat to slow to an idle. Iranian boats proceeded to maneuver in front of the U.S. boats. Rather than force the coxswain to keep moving, the boat captain “acquiesced.” The sailors had to stop, leaving the boat captain to “talk his way out.” The actions were described to investigators as a “surrender” and “capture.”
Once aboard the U.S. boats, the Iranians took pictures of the sailors on their knees, tore down the U.S. flag, and replaced it with Islamic Revolutionary Guard flag.
5:53 p.m.: All vessels arrive at Farsi Island. The US crew were blindfolded and escorted to a holding room.
Interrogations began and Iranians detainers pressed about a “mother ship” and how the Navy boats could get as far as they did from Kuwait. Navy crewmembers replied, “Yeah I wish you could tell my people that because we told them these boats can’t do that.”
After interrogations, the sailors were given dinner. While eating, a detainer secretly began filming them. Once the U.S. boat captain noticed, he demanded they stop, which they did.
Throughout the night, sailors were individually interrogated and asked about different naval capabilities and ship positions, among other things. Some answered truthfully, while others, like the captain, lied and deflected questions.
Jan 13: The captured sailors awoke to the noise of an inbound helicopter. A detainer entered the sailors’ room and told them they would be released if the sailors ate breakfast and made a prewritten statement on Iranian television.
Little did the sailors know, the U.S. had already negotiated their unconditional release.
The sailors proceeded and the boat captain read the prewritten statement. However, the boat captain dodged certain language in the script. The detainer was unsatisfied with the boat captain changing words. Eventually the captain read the script saying, “We went into Iranian waters, it was our fault, and Iran treated us with great hospitality.”
Following the statement, the sailors were released into U.S. custody.
