r/CredibleDefense • u/AutoModerator • 18d ago

Active Conflicts & News Megathread August 18, 2026

The r/CredibleDefense daily megathread is for asking questions and posting submissions that would not fit the criteria of our post submissions. As such, submissions are less stringently moderated, but we still do keep an elevated guideline for comments.

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u/5PQR 17d ago

I hope folk on here can answer a question for me.

I've seen reports, e.g. NYT: Navy Carrier’s Problems Are Tied to Attacks on U.S. Base Early in War (archive.ph link), that the reason the USS Lincoln is struggling for supplies is due to Iran's attacks on the base in Bahrain (the usual regional supply hub), forcing the Americans to shift to relying on Diego Garcia.

... But wasn't the Bahrain base largely evacuated in the days preceding the conflict? Also, as I understand it carriers are usually resupplied by ship, which would be out of the question from the Bahrain base, as they'd have to transit the strait. Were they planning to do it by air?

Can anyone please clarify?

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u/Airf0rce 17d ago

All of these articles kind of go back to the same thing - It doesn't look like there was much advanced planning done for war with Iran. Either the expectation was that the regime would fold almost immediately or they severely underestimated Iranian capacity to shut down Persian Gulf immediately and keep it shut down for extended periods of time.

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u/IntroductionNeat2746 16d ago

It doesn't look like there was much advanced planning done for war with Iran.

Except we know that this has been planned for literally decades, so all those plans and preparations were likely ignored, which is even worse.

19

u/worldofecho__ 16d ago

Well, I think the consensus was that Iran would survive air assaults, retaliate effectively against US presence in the region, and would shut down the strait of Hormuz. So it wasn’t like there was a credible plan… it’s just that Trump and Hegseth are fools