For a second day, southerly winds pushed the bulk of the huge oil spill in the Persian Gulf away from the Saudi coast.
Yes, I suppose we could launch them at a given target along the Saudi coast.
Commander Dreyfus had made fast time all along the Saudi coast, where they found the deep ocean quite deserted both on and below the surface.
In some of the sections of the Saudi coast that sustained the worst damage, sediments were found to contain 7% oil.
The tanker crews remained on station, and used the time to refuel the standing fighter patrol on the Saudi coast, exactly routine for night operations.
He said the oil could pose "a very high risk" to water-desalting plants on the Saudi coast.
In Bahrain, an island off the Saudi coast, flashing red warning messages appeared on television.
The desalting plant at Safaniya on the Saudi coast was the first reported closed because of the oil spill that Iraq is blamed for.
Underground freshwater deposits also extend beneath the Persian Gulf to the Saudi Arabian coast.
However, the range of the north-northeast current along the Saudi coast is 8-29 cm/s (3-11.4 in/s).