[The National Interest] Key point: War with Iran could require an intensive demining effort.In the event of war with Iran, the U.S. Navy’s small, aging force of Persian Gulf-based minesweepers would struggle to locate and disarm Iran’s underwater mines.
The consequences for U.S. military operations, not to mention world trade, could be severe.
Four of the Navy’s 11 1980s-vintage Avenger-class minesweepers sail from Bahrain and, if war broke out, would be responsible for clearing the strategic Strait of Hormuz and other important waterways of mines.
But the Avengers suffer from obsolete equipment and a lack of spending. The minesweepers "routinely need repairs," one Navy officer told Pro Publica reporters Robert Faturechi, Megan Rose and T. Christian Miller.
The Navy for years has diverted minesweeping funding into the development of multi-mission Littoral Combat Ships. The LCS were supposed to replace the Avengers, but the new ships have proved expensive, unreliable and unsuitable for many of the missions the Navy hoped they would handle.
The sailing branch in 2016 canceled development of a dedicated minehunting robot for the LCS. All the while, the Avengers slowly have rusted away.