US Navy to use underwater drones to clear mines in Strait of Hormuz

Two US guided-missile destroyers that have begun operations to clear mines in the Strait of Hormuz will deploy underwater drones in the “coming days,” according to US Central Command (CENTCOM).

On 11 April, USS Frank E Petersen Jr (DDG 121) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) entered the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz as part of a broader mission to “ensure the Strait is fully clear of sea mines previously laid by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC),” the agency said in a news brief.

The move by the US Navy follows a collapse in peace talks between the US and Iran, and a subsequent announcement by President Trump on his social media platform, Truth Social, that the United States would block the Strait of Hormuz to all commercial shipping traffic entering or leaving the Strait. This would include ships that have reportedly paid Iran upwards of US$2M for safe passage through Iranian waters to exit the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has claimed it has laid mines in the normal inbound and outbound navigation channels that lie in international and Omani waters in the Strait. It has also threatened to attack any vessel that attempts to navigate the Strait without first “co-ordinating with the IRGC Navy” and using routes that pass through Iranian waters.

Normally, more than 100 commercial vessels pass freely through the international waterway, carrying everything from ammonia, grain, and helium to about 20% of the world’s crude oil. Since the start of the latest Middle East conflict, Iran has effectively implemented a month-long blockade of the Strait, choking off commercial shipping traffic and stranding approximately 1,100 ships and 20,000 seafarers.

President Trump wrote, “Iran promised to open the Strait of Hormuz, and they knowingly failed to do so. This caused anxiety, dislocation and pain to many people and countries throughout the world. They said they put mines in the water, even though all of their Navy and most of their ‘mine droppers’ have been completely blown up. They may have done so, but what shipowner would want to take a chance?”

CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said the mine-clearing effort was aimed at “establishing a new passage, and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce.”

The US Navy deploys several classes of underwater drones, known as unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), as well as unmanned surface vessels, for mine-countermeasure operations to detect, classify, and neutralise sea mines. One of these is General Dynamics’ Knifefish, a torpedo-shaped, medium-class mine-countermeasure UUV that can be deployed from Littoral Combat Ships or other Navy vessels of opportunity, according to the defence contractor.