The Geneva Conventions say nations have a duty to “take all possible measures” to help rescue victims of shipwrecks. A U.S. submarine left that to Sri Lanka.
I am a former US Army officer. There is no maybe about it. It is a war crime. Even if you can justify the sinking of the ship you can not justify the abandoning of the sailors in the water.
Especially in this case where the US Navy so vastly overpowers the Iranian Navy, there is little chance a US Navy vessel being used to rescue the Iranian sailors would be attacked. It is likely a rescue operation could have easily proceeded without any risk to US personnel.
They only have to rescue if they can and don’t get in danger of being sunk themselves. There’s a reason a submarine was operating in this area and not a surface ship. Iran has plenty of anti ship missiles of different kinds. Submarines have zero defense against these. A submarine on the surface conducting major rescue operations for hours is sitting ducks.
We don’t know enough about the tactical situation to pass judgement.
How about maybe that sub shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Since it was there and then blew up an unarmed ship after a glorified parade, the very least they could do was a rescue operation. If the area was to dangerous, they shouldn’t have fucking been there in the first place.
I am a former US Army officer. There is no maybe about it. It is a war crime. Even if you can justify the sinking of the ship you can not justify the abandoning of the sailors in the water.
Especially in this case where the US Navy so vastly overpowers the Iranian Navy, there is little chance a US Navy vessel being used to rescue the Iranian sailors would be attacked. It is likely a rescue operation could have easily proceeded without any risk to US personnel.
Ughh.
They only have to rescue if they can and don’t get in danger of being sunk themselves. There’s a reason a submarine was operating in this area and not a surface ship. Iran has plenty of anti ship missiles of different kinds. Submarines have zero defense against these. A submarine on the surface conducting major rescue operations for hours is sitting ducks.
We don’t know enough about the tactical situation to pass judgement.
Oh yeah and why were they recording it?
Must have been a really dangerous position they were in /s
Navy submarines run tape on any foreign asset they can see.
Source: 6 years Control Room watchstander on US Virginia class sub.
How about maybe that sub shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Since it was there and then blew up an unarmed ship after a glorified parade, the very least they could do was a rescue operation. If the area was to dangerous, they shouldn’t have fucking been there in the first place.