cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/45812287
April 11, 2026
U.S. Navy ships sent an unmistakable signal Saturday as they crossed the Strait of Hormuz, challenging Iran’s control over the narrow waterway that will likely determine the outcome of the Middle East war.
The USS Michael Murphy turned on its automatic identification system as it and another destroyer, the USS Frank E. Peterson, transited the strait, breaking the typical protocol of Navy ships sailing with their AIS turned off.
“You just don’t throw AIS on by accident on a Navy ship,” Campbell University professor Salvatore Mercogliano, who specializes in military and maritime history, said on his podcast. “This is purposeful. They wanted to turn this on on the far side of the Strait of Hormuz to demonstrate that they have sailed through.”
According to the article, the ships turned their AIS on before reaching the straight and didn’t actually transit through the gap. Its posturing yes, but it’s them testing the resolve of the ceasefire not them successfully bullying their way through.
No, they turned their AIS on on the far side of the strait to prove they’d transited, they left AIS off while they transited, presumably so as not to give Iran an easy shot if they decided to attack.
Iran claimed (on state media i.e. likely for internal consumption) they successfully turned back the destroyers but the AIS track on the inside of the gulf would seem to bring that claim into question.
That really worked out great…
Iran chose ‘not to accept our terms’, Vance says after negotiations