It’s an expansion of the theater of war. Virtually all of modern warfare has taken place on the land and in the air. There haven’t been true naval battles in a long time.
There haven’t been any naval battles, but there have been plenty of naval ships sunk.
It’s an expansion of the theatre of war, because it happened outside Iran. The method doesn’t really matter to the theatre of war. It is different that it was a naval vessel hitting another naval vessel. In the past there have been missiles launched from naval vessels that hit ground or air targets, and plenty of naval vessels sunk by missiles or drones. But, I’m not sure how relevant that is.
It feels different in a few ways to me. One, it feels much more personal and “fuck you in particular.” It’s one thing to lob missiles at a base and fuck whoever happens to be there, but you KNOW there’s a real possibility that you kill every mother effer on that ship if you hit it with a torpedo.
I’m not articulating it very well, but it’s just got a different sort of cruelty that something like shelling an airbase just lacks for me.
I guess I can sort-of see where you’re coming from. Presumably when they’re bombing an airbase they’re trying to hit planes, destroy runways, etc. If you’re in the break room at the time there’s a decent chance you don’t die. If you’re working on a plane, you’re probably dead. But, when you sink a ship, everyone goes into the water and there’s a good chance they’ll die.
To me, the fact that it happened nowhere near Iran is the bigger deal. It means that parts of the world that aren’t aligned with either side in the war now have to wonder what might explode in their own territory.
OTOH, at least when you sink a military ship there won’t be civilian casualties. If the US had actually declared war on Iran, which of course never happened, but if… then another warship is actually a valid target. This isn’t like blowing up an apartment building because a guy on your kill list is in one of the apartments.
To me, the fact that it happened nowhere near Iran is the bigger deal. It means that parts of the world that aren’t aligned with either side in the war now have to wonder what might explode in their own territory.
I skipped right over that but it’s part of it for sure.
Different from smashing their airfields with missiles? Or, is it different because of where it happened?
It’s an expansion of the theater of war. Virtually all of modern warfare has taken place on the land and in the air. There haven’t been true naval battles in a long time.
There haven’t been any naval battles, but there have been plenty of naval ships sunk.
It’s an expansion of the theatre of war, because it happened outside Iran. The method doesn’t really matter to the theatre of war. It is different that it was a naval vessel hitting another naval vessel. In the past there have been missiles launched from naval vessels that hit ground or air targets, and plenty of naval vessels sunk by missiles or drones. But, I’m not sure how relevant that is.
It feels different in a few ways to me. One, it feels much more personal and “fuck you in particular.” It’s one thing to lob missiles at a base and fuck whoever happens to be there, but you KNOW there’s a real possibility that you kill every mother effer on that ship if you hit it with a torpedo.
I’m not articulating it very well, but it’s just got a different sort of cruelty that something like shelling an airbase just lacks for me.
I guess I can sort-of see where you’re coming from. Presumably when they’re bombing an airbase they’re trying to hit planes, destroy runways, etc. If you’re in the break room at the time there’s a decent chance you don’t die. If you’re working on a plane, you’re probably dead. But, when you sink a ship, everyone goes into the water and there’s a good chance they’ll die.
To me, the fact that it happened nowhere near Iran is the bigger deal. It means that parts of the world that aren’t aligned with either side in the war now have to wonder what might explode in their own territory.
OTOH, at least when you sink a military ship there won’t be civilian casualties. If the US had actually declared war on Iran, which of course never happened, but if… then another warship is actually a valid target. This isn’t like blowing up an apartment building because a guy on your kill list is in one of the apartments.
Good points, especially this one:
I skipped right over that but it’s part of it for sure.