Stalin Organs

As we all have no doubt heard by now, Al Qaeda is claiming credit for firing three rockets at the USS Queerbarge Kearsarge. I expressed some doubt at various blogs that it was the target by wondering how they could possibly miss a target that is 600 feet long and rises forty or more feet out of the water at the flight deck, and 150 feet at the superstructure, and is tied to a dock, i.e. parked, to boot

Well, I take it all back. I was just watching Confused News Network and now I know.

The rockets were WWII Russian "Katyusha" missiles. They are deployed from a towed launcher that contains multiple rockets in a rack, maybe twenty of 'em. They're three or four feet long and have no guidance once they leave the launcher. It is an "area fire" weapon and as such is impossible to aim with precision. It is pointed in the approximate direction and angled upward for range in the "I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth I know not where" mode. To hit anything with it, the Russians fired thousands of them in a barrage. They make a terrific back blast and a huge cloud of dust when they go off. As soon as it is fired, the truck hooks the launcher up and hauls ass as it is sure to draw counterbattery fire. The U.S. had a very similar weapon.

Wehrmacht soldiers called 'em "Stalin Organs" and they did indeed play a deadly tune.

It's my guess that the rockets were left over from the Soviet Union's involvement in Egypt, but I certainly wouldn't rule out that these fanatics towed them overland from Afghanistan behind a Nissan pickup. Hopeless, but it gave them something to do.

The chance of hitting a specific target with only three antique examples of a crude, even for its time, device is highly dependent on Allah's good intentions towards the mission. It would be like trying to take a shower with three drops of water.