Tuesday  12 January 2016   / Hour 1, Block A: Captain Jerry Hendrix, USN (ret) [LCDR Claude Berube, USNR, biographer, novelist, intelligence officer, professor, and museum director], in re: the future of the US Navy – the last hundred years of US history. Fog of war in the Persian Gulf: Iran has detained ten US sailors, detained between Kuwait and Bahrain by the IRGC – Ira aj Revolutionary Guard Corps. An element of a riverine patrol squadron (these boasts have normally been in the Tigris or Euphrates) was taken to Kuwait for unknown reasons, then sent to Bahrain, where the Fifth Fleet is headquartered.  The 26-ft boats are designed for placid waters, whereas the Persian Gulf  sports 5- or 6-ft waves. At some point, both boats became mechanically disabled, then seem to have drifted to Farsi Island, whose sovereignty is contested.  Then the crew were detained by the IRGC and the ships taken to Farsi Island. Ten sailors: nine male, one female, are being held.  Under international law, the crew is to be kept together; we don't know if this has been followed here.  Commander is a First-Class Petty Officer - unlikely to have a commissioned officer on such small boats - in charge of a group of young sailors in difficult circumstances. / The Navy doesn't have enough ships at present:  . . .  Given eighteen maritime regions, base requirement of around 355 ships; US currently is at 272.  Precipitate retirement of Reagan-era ships.  [Unlike some military threats,] Naval presence requires an actual ship's presence.  To keep one ship up and deployed, need five ships at one time: one deployed, one en route home, one in train to come back out, and [two: ______].  The  Pacific is large; it can take weeks – even months - t0 to get a ship there.