‘Whales’ Sail Up ‘the Goo’ to ‘Wally World’

MANAMA, Bahrain — It begins with the “dance of the whales” in the “K-Mart parking lot” and travels up “the Goo” through the “Silkworm envelope” until it reaches “Wally World.”

Translated from Navy slang, that means a convoy of reflagged Kuwaiti tankers assembling off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman and sailing through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf.

With a total of 17 convoys escorted through the Persian Gulf since July 21, U.S. sailors have had time to devise their own lexicon of slang for the operation and the key points of interest along the 650-mile route from outside the Strait of Hormuz to Kuwait.

The “dance of the whales” refers to the maneuvering of the huge tankers into line for the start of a convoy.

The “K-Mart parking lot” is the tanker anchorage off the coastal port of Khor Fakkan, where the dance takes place. The waters there are part of the Gulf of Oman, otherwise known as “the Goo.”

The “Silkworm envelope” is the Strait of Hormuz, or at least that part of it within range of the Chinese-made Silkworm anti-ship missiles that Iran has deployed along its coast.

The missiles, several of which have been fired at Kuwait, in the northern Persian Gulf, but never in the Hormuz passage, have a range of 50 miles.

For reasons that remain obscure, the Persian Gulf itself has been dubbed “Wally World,” a term borrowed from a film starring comedian Chevy Chase.

Other terms include the “penalty box,” an area in the northern Gulf of Oman where U.S. warships cruise while awaiting the start of a convoy.

Also out there in “the Goo,” off the coast of Oman, is the “bear box,” where Soviet vessels anchor when not patrolling or escorting tankers inside “Wally World.”