Operation Eagle Claw

Pangur

Donor
Did the attempt to rescue the US hostages in Iran have any real chance of success and if it had would it have gotten Carter reelected?
 
A successful rescue would have helped but I'm not sure it would have been enough to get Carter re-elected. A little better recon to be aware of the sand conditions at the landing sight and more low level flight training for the helo pilots working in concert with special ops and it could have enjoyed very different results based on what I've read.
 
More helos would've helped as well: OPSEC concerns meant that only eight went aboard U.S.S. Nimitz (CVN-68). Not fear of alerting the Iranians per se, but if the GRU noted more than eight helos on the carrier, they might have guessed the reason for those choppers, and possibly alerted the Iranians. Mission planners early on wanted at least twelve birds, and some even wanted sixteen (some would have been reserve assets).
 
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