We have been following the evolution of the Biden Gaza pier disaster right from the beginning announcement, Biden to Announce Plans to Build Port in Gaza for Humanitarian Aid Shipments, to planning, Gaza Pier Will Take Around 60 Days and 1,000 Troops to Complete, to criticism of that plan, Biden’s Gaza Floating Port Plan Generating Concern Among Military Professionals.
That criticism, including this gem, “I don’t know a single maritime professional who thinks this is a good idea given the location and conditions ashore, but orders are orders,” was, it turns out, totally justified.
First, the concept itself was ridiculous, given the fact that it was entirely predictable that Hamas would steal any aid provided before it could get to the Palestinian “civilian” population, meaning that the plan had nothing to do with aiding the Palestinians, as the few decent Republicans in Congress, and Professor Jacobson, recognized:
Second, even while it was under construction, the stupid Gaza pier came under attack: Report: Gaza Terrorists Attack U.S. Humanitarian Pier During Construction Work:
Talking about biting the hand that feeds. Palestinian terrorists on Wednesday attacked the U.S. pier being constructed off the coast of Gaza, the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reported.Gaza “terrorists launched mortars at the maritime construction site, damaging several pieces of engineering equipment,” the TV channel revealed. ” In addition, one person was slightly injured while running to a protected area.”The U.S. military is involved in the construction of the floating dock. It is unclear if American servicemen or civilian contractors were present at the site during the terrorist attack.This is not the first time Palestinian terrorists have targeted humanitarian efforts to help the Gazans. In the past, Hamas terrorists have used delivery of food supplies to ambush Israeli troops. Terrorists have repeatedly attacked IDF soldiers, assisting civilians to evacuate the combat zones.
Again, totally predictable.
Third, three American servicemen were recently injured, one of them critically, off the coast of Gaza working to get supplies to the pier: U.S. Soldier Critically Injured During Gaza Pier Operation, 2 Other Service Members Hurt:
A U.S. soldier assigned to the Gaza pier mission was seriously injured on Thursday and medically evacuated to Israel, two defense officials confirmed to USNI News.The soldier was working on the staging platform two miles off the coast of Gaza, where trucks filled with aid packages are driven from cargo ships onto Army watercraft, the defense officials told USNI News. At the time of the injury, the roll-on roll-off cargo ship MV Benevides was attached to the platform.Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, told reporters on Thursday that a total of three service members were injured in non-combat-related incidents at sea.“Three injuries, two were very minor injuries and those individuals returned to duty. One individual is undergoing care at a local Israeli hospital,” Cooper told reporters during a Thursday Pentagon briefing.
Typical Biden spokesperson minimizing extremely serious injuries a U.S. soldier.
Fourth, there are conflicting reports about whether any aid has yet to reach Palestinian civilians at all, From the Gray Lady last week: No Gaza Aid Delivered Through U.S.-Built Pier Has Been Distributed, Pentagon Says:
None of the food and supplies that have entered the Gaza Strip through a U.S.-built temporary pier in its first five days of operation have been distributed to Palestinians by aid organizations, Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, said at a news briefing on Tuesday.General Ryder said that 569 metric tons of aid had made it onto Gaza’s shore, but that those supplies had yet to be parceled out by humanitarian organizations.On Saturday, hungry crowds looted several World Food Program trucks transporting aid that had been delivered through the pier, prompting the agency to suspend deliveries of aid arriving at the pier on Sunday and Monday.General Ryder also said that after discussions with Israel and the United Nations, alternative routes for the safe movement of staff and cargo had been established. The aid is now being taken to warehouses for further distribution, he said.“We do anticipate that assistance will be distributed in the coming days, of course, conditions permitting,” he said.
Fifth, bad, but not very bad, weather has caused a small Army tug boat transporting a portion of the pier to Ashkelon, Israel for safe harbor to run aground. A larger Army vessel sent to pull the tug off the beach also ran aground, as have two other small Army tugs near the Gaza pier: Four US vessels run aground near Gaza pier:
Heavy seas battered the US maritime humanitarian mission to Gaza on Saturday, US Central Command (Centcom) said, with four vessels serving a floating aid delivery pier breaking free from their moorings….Two of the affected vessels were now anchored on the beach near the pier and the other two were beached on the coast of Israel near Ashkelon, Centcom said, adding that efforts to recover the vessels were under way with assistance from the Israeli navy.
Here is some good video and photo evidence of this disaster, off the coast of Ashdod, Israel, which is just north of Ashkelon:
Thanks to the Israelis for helping us avert total disaster.
The mainstream, legacy media has been mostly silent, as Kurt Schlichter noticed:
For me, the most disturbing part of the whole affair is how benign the weather was that caused this debacle.
From the Jerusalem Post: US ship pulls landing craft off Ashdod beach:
A US landing craft that became beached on the Ashdod shore was freed from the sand, a US military official told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.The LCM 8558 landing craft has been working with a US-built floating pier off the coast. It was beached on Saturday after seeking to help free a US army tug that was helping move the floating pier from an area off the Gaza coast to near Ashdod due to adverse weather conditions.The army tug resembles a flat section of the floating pier, so it was initially mistaken for a part of the floating pier.
So how “adverse” were the weather conditions?
The US was moving the floating pier toward an area near Ashdod because of the high swells that emerged on Thursday and Friday. The swells were around 1.5 meters, and winds gusted to some 20 knots.
These higher seas and waves apparently necessitated moving the pier. It is also not the first time the pier has been affected by weather conditions. When it was first constructed near Ashdod, it had to wait to be deployed because of turbulent waters.[emphasis added]
This has to be a joke. Wind that “gusts” to 20 mph or so, meaning that the sustained winds were probably 10-15 mph, was so “severe” that parts of the pier had to be moved to Israel and four Army boats ran aground????
I know I was/am a submarine guy, but we routinely, while on deployment in the North Atlantic, and other places ;), prayed for weather this benign anytime we were near the surface. This is basically like weather slightly worse than what you find at the beach. And if Biden’s $300+ million Gaza pier and supporting vessels can’t take swells 4.5 feet, i.e. up to your chest, high, pardon my French, but who designed and is running this piece of crap???
Well, of course, Schlichter has the answer:
And do yourself a favor and read this brief summary from our favorite Navy blogger, CDR Salamander:
This old operational planner has one bit of advice to Congress in their role of having oversight of the Executive Branch; subpoena the Decision Brief for the Gaza pier operation.This was on the lowest of low scale of military operations, Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Response. There is little to nothing classified about any of this rump of a capability. Call in member of the Joint Staff who were involved in this planning – and I would prefer if you could find a few terminal O5/6 to testify as well. You might actually enjoy some candor.The Commander’s Intent, the Higher Direction and Guidance, the Planning Assumptions, the Constraints and Restraints, the Critical Vulnerability analysis, etc. It is all there. If not, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense should tell the American people to their face.This is a larger issue than anything happening in that impossible corner of the globe. Over the weekend, we saw yet more indications of an empire in decline deteriorating from bad to pathetic.From the time the first load came off the pier, the aid barely made it past 300 meters until it disappeared into Hamasistan.
And now, finally, the worst news of all, from, amazingly enough, CNN: US pier constructed off Gaza has broken apart:
The temporary pier constructed by the US military to transport aid into Gaza broke apart in heavy seas on Sunday in a major blow to the American-led effort to create a maritime corridor for humanitarian supplies into the war-torn enclave, according to four US officials.
Part of the pier, which consists of a narrow causeway to drive aid into Gaza and a wider parking area to drop off supplies transported by ship, disconnected on Sunday, the officials said. The parking area will have to be reconnected to the causeway before the pier can be used again.
The setback came one day after heavy seas forced two small US Army vessels to beach in Israel, according to US Central Command, while another two vessels broke free of their moorings and were anchored near the pier.
The effort to reassemble the causeway and connect it once again to the parking area will resume when sea conditions allow, officials said.
The pier, which cost $320 million, had only begun operating on May 17 when heavy seas forced the maritime shipments to stop one week later on May 24, two days before part of the pier disconnected. It is unclear when shipments will resume.
And now we get even more detail on the weather capabilities of this temporary pier system:
The temporary pier, called the Joint Logistics Over the Shore (JLOTS), requires very good sea conditions to operate. CNN reported previously that JLOTS can only be operated safely in a maximum of 3-foot waves and winds less than approximately 15 miles per hour.
Heavier sea conditions delayed the deployment of the pier for several weeks, as the system sat docked in the Israeli port of Ashdod waiting for favorable conditions.
Are you kidding me???????? Max of 3-foot waves???? Hahahahaha. This is just stupid.
More good stuff from X:
It’s a debacle, and a national embarrassment.
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