facebook-pixel

Letter: Defend American ships on the high seas

In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) pulls into Dry Dock 5 in Yokosuka, Japan on June 15, 2016. The U.S. military says the Navy destroyer collided with a merchant ship off the coast of Japan and says there have been injuries. In a brief written statement, U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii said the Navy has requested assistance from the Japanese Coast Guard. It said June 16. that the USS Fitzgerald collided with a merchant ship 56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka. (Patrick Dionne/U.S. Navy via AP)

I have been reading both in The Salt Lake Tribune and online about the harassment of the United States Navy in various locations around the world. There is one very easy solution to this problem. The president and/or the secretary of defense has to authorize the ships to defend themselves.

I also read an article which told of a drone landing on the HMS Queen Elizabeth, the newest aircraft carrier of the English Navy.

A United States Navy aircraft carrier has multiple anti-aircraft systems which would easily take out any drone that approaches within a dangerous distance. When that happens, take it out.

When one of those idiotic armed speed boats approaches too close to a United States Navy warship, let the ship open fire. A radio warning on “bridge to bridge” or other frequencies, then a shot across the bow, if no change in course, blow it out of the water. It would not be long before the antagonists run out of drones and stupid people to man the speed boats.

Problem solved.

By the way, I am a United States Navy, Vietnam veteran (three tours).

Kevin Greer

West Jordan


By Kevin Greer | The Public Forum