Along with refusing to help the United States escort oil tankers and other shipping through the Straits of Hormuz, the Europeans have also turned down President Trump’s request for minesweepers. “We defend all these countries, and then I ask them: ‘Do you have any minesweepers?'”
The President knows the US does not have any minesweepers. The US Navy did not like them and got rid of them.
Belatedly the Navy invented a sort of alternative, putting a mine countermeasure package onboard some littoral combat ships. But the LCS is a big fat ship that cannot safely escort ships, nor can it destroy mines. It must operate in a standoff capacity – it has an aluminum and steel hull and big engines that can trigger off underwater mines.
As a result, you will not see any LCS vessels escorting oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.
The last group of minesweepers the US had were Osprey-class minehunters. These ships were manufactured at Avondale Shipyards in Savannah, Georgia partnered with the Italian firm Intermarine. The design was Italian and based on Italy’s successful Lerici class minehunters. Eight Ospreys were built at Avondale between 1990 and 1996; four more were built elsewhere in the United States under a technology license.
The Lerici class vessels were exported to a number of countries including Algeria, Egypt, Greece, Finland, Australia, Taiwan and India. Built between 1985 and 1996 (the later ones were an upgraded version sometimes listed as Gaeta class) While Italy now plans a new minehunter, the Lerici class ships remain in service.
Europe has plenty of countermine ships, either minesweepers (they find the mines) or minehunters (they find and destroy the mines).
In 2012 I urged the US Navy to reconsider retiring the American Osprey class ships. At one time, there were twelve Osprey mine hunters in the U.S. Navy; two were home ported in Bahrain. All have been decommissioned and a number have been sold.
Two (MHC 51 and MHC 54) ​w​ere berthed in Beaumont, T​exas in 2012.​ MH-51 was marked for disposal. MH-54 was sold for scrap. MHC 52 and MHC 53 ​w​ere transferred to Greece. MHC 55 and 59 ​w​ere sold to Taiwan. MHC 56 and 57 were offered to Lithuania but not sold.​ Later these two vessels were sold to India. MHC 58 and MHC 62 ​were sold to Turkey and MHC 61 ​w​as​ sold to Egypt​ while MH-62 sold for scrap.
​Consider the case of MH-62 which the Navy scrapped. Called the USS Shrike, it served between 1992 to 2007, or only 15 years. The typical service life of a US warship is 30 years, and the timeline can often be extended if needed. It was the last Osprey class ship manufactured in the United States.
The result of the divestment is the US Navy lost much of its mine hunting and mine disposal skills.
Ospreys have fiberglass hulls to minimize the chance of setting off a magnetic mine, and very quiet trolling engines. Equipped with excellent sensors, they played a major role in clearing Soviet-type mines placed in the Gulf by Iraq during the First Gulf War. They not only cleared transit waterways, but also proved effective at clearing mines from harbors, including Basra, and have significant advantages over helicopter anti-mine systems.
MHC-61 Raven operated in the North Arabian Gulf and participated in exercises in the Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Other ships of the class, such as Cardinal (MHC-60), Heron (MHC-52), and Pelican (MHC-53), were active around this time, though the Raven is the most specifically mentioned in 2003 Iraq operations. (MH-60 and 61 were transferred to Egypt; MH-52 and MH-53 were sent to Greece.)
Greece says it will not participate in any military operations near Iran, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced. The Egyptians decommissioned their minesweepers in 2025-2026.
The Europeans have between 150 and 170 active minesweepers and minehunters. They have experienced operators and well trained crews, and they practice their trade as part of NATO requirements.
NATO conducts specialized mine countermeasures (MCM) operations using standing naval forces to ensure maritime safety and security, focusing on locating and destroying naval mines, particularly in the Baltic and Black Seas. Operations in both areas in the framework of the Ukraine war and tensions with Russia suggest that Europe is not adverse to conducting military operations under the NATO flag against what they perceive as their main adversary.
But despite a deep mine countermeasures capability, Europe is willfully withholding support of the United States in keeping the Straits of Hormuz, an international waterway, open. The European argument, as Italian Prime Minister Meloni put it, that doing so is a first step to involvement in the Iran war, does not align with previous escort operations to keep waterways open in the Gulf and Red Sea.
The Europeans are deliberately withholding vital equipment needed to keep international shipping lanes open. That is the bottom line, no matter what blabber comes from the EU and its members.
The broader implication of these political moves by the European Union is to undermine confidence in the western, US-led alliance system that has assured Europe’s security since 1949, and well before that taking into account World War II.
The US did not need to declare war on Germany and Hitler or save the British from extinction. Nor does the US need to come to Europe’s aid or provide vital help if the US chooses not to do so. After all, the war in Europe was not America’s war.
For sure, the EU’s policy is damaging European security by mal-treating the United States and withholding vital support.
One can be sure there will be a reckoning.
Stephen Bryen is a former US deputy under secretary of defense. This article first appeared on his Substack, Weapons and Strategy, and is republished with permission.