Sailors held by Iran are disciplined

U.S. Navy report: 10 in two crews derelict in duties

WASHINGTON — The 10 U.S. sailors captured and humiliated by Iran after mistakenly steering their boats into Iranian waters in January were beset not just by poor judgment and faulty equipment.

They also showed a remarkable lack of curiosity about potential dangers in one of the world’s more dangerous waterways, according to an in-depth Navy investigation.

In deviating from their Persian Gulf route from Kuwait to Bahrain — without asking approval or notifying superiors — they passed an island to their east and wondered whether it might be Saudi territory, rocks or oil platforms. The crews of both boats consulted their navigation systems, which depicted the mass as a purple dot.

Despite being unsure of their surroundings, the sailors did not adjust their on-board navigation displays to enlarge the purple dot; if they had, they would have seen it was labeled Farsi Island, a well-known base for the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.

“No crew members on either (boat) utilized a paper navigational chart in order to plot their exact location or to identify the island they had seen, even though the charts were available” on their boats, known as Riverine Command Boats, the investigation report said. No crew member logged the fact they had seen the island.

“Crew members lacked navigational awareness, proper communication with higher authority, and appreciation of the threat environment throughout the transit,” the report said.

The trouble for Riverine Command Boats 802 and 805, each with five sailors aboard, began before they left port in Kuwait on Jan. 12 on a short-notice, 300mile journey to Bahrain. They were delayed, unprepared, poorly supervised and ill-suited for the mission, the report said.

Six officers and three enlisted sailors have been disciplined or face disciplinary action. The report said the boat captains and crews were “derelict in performing their duties.” It also cited their “lack of preparedness and war fighting toughness.”

The partially censored Navy report cited instances of unnamed sailors violating the military’s code of conduct while in captivity. One sailor made “statements adverse to U.S. interests” during interrogation. A different sailor encouraged crew members to eat food offered to them while being videotaped.