U.S. President Donald Trump expressed enormous dissatisfaction with European NATO partners who are not rushing to send their ships to ensure navigation safety through the Strait of Hormuz amid iranian attacks on tankers and its mining.
Specifically he warned NATO that in case of absence of response to the call for assistance, the Alliance faces a bad future. At the same time, U.S. Navy actions themselves may quite raise corresponding questions, as two American ships best suited for this task were not simply withdrawn by the Pentagon from the region, but ended up over 5,000 km from the Persian Gulf.
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Two U.S. Navy ships USS Tulsa and USS Santa Barbara, Independence-class, which were previously in Bahrain, were spotted in Malaysia at Penang port and photographed, which TWZnoted.
The publication also attempted to obtain official comments from Central Command (CENTCOM), Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) and U.S. Fifth Fleet. However, it could only receive from U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) a brief explanation that these ships are conducting a short logistics stop.
However, the fact is that specifically these trimaran ships from available U.S. Navy assets are ideally suited for navigation safety tasks. They even belong to a specific type of littoral combat ships.
Moreover, USS Tulsa and USS Santa Barbara, according to the publication, belong to a small subversion equipped with mine countermeasure complex. They have towed sonar for mine search, corresponding maritime drones with demining equipment, as well as specially equipped MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters for countering mine threat.
Although these ships are not specialized minesweepers and have known significant shortcomings due to being multifunctional platforms, in any case these are the best currently at U.S. Navy disposal in the region.
Because in 2025 the U.S. Navy decommissioned four Avenger-class minesweepers that were in Bahrain: USS Devastator, USS Dextrous, USS Gladiator and USS Sentry. At the beginning of 2026, these minesweepers were loaded onto specialized transport vessel Seaway Hawk and sent to Philadelphia.
In other words, Washington before starting war against iran first decommissioned specialized mine countermeasure ships kept in a region where significant mining risk existed. Then also withdrew last assets that could combat mines and ensure navigation safety, placing them 5,000 km away.
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