Iranian frigate ''Sahand'' ( fa, سهند) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

-made Vosper Mark V class

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

(also known as the ) commissioned as part of a four-ship order. The ship was originally called ''Faramarz'', named after a character in

Ferdowsi Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi ( fa, ; 940 – 1019/1025 CE), also Firdawsi or Ferdowsi (), was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a sin ...

's ''

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50 ...

''. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution it was renamed ''Sahand'', after the

Sahand Sahand ( fa, سهند), is a massive, heavily eroded stratovolcano in East Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran. At , it is the highest mountain in the province of East Azarbaijan. Sahand is one of the highest mountains in Iranian Azerbaijan, ...

volcano.

Construction

On 10 May 1970, she was damaged by fire while

fitting out Fitting out, or outfitting, is the process in shipbuilding that follows the float-out/launching of a vessel and precedes sea trials. It is the period when all the remaining construction of the ship is completed and readied for delivery to her o ...

Service history

The

Iranian Navy , ''Daryādelān''"Seahearts" , patron = , motto = fa, راه ما، راه حسین است, ''Rāh-e ma, rāh-e hoseyn ast''"''Our Path, Is Hussain's Path''" , colors = ...

ship was sunk in

Operation Praying Mantis Operation Praying Mantis was an attack on 18 April 1988, by the United States Armed Forces within Iranian territorial waters in retaliation for the Iranian naval mining of the Persian Gulf during the Iran–Iraq War and the subsequent damage t ...

on 18 April 1988. Located by two American A-6E Intruders of Attack Squadron VA-95 steaming roughly southwest of

Larak Island Larak Island (also Lark Island) is an island off the coast of Iran, which has been one of Iran's major oil export points since 1987. The narrowest part of the Strait of Hormuz at distance of lies between the island and the Omani-owned Quoin Is ...

, she was hit by two

Harpoon missile The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). The AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) and later AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack ...

s and four

AGM-123 Skipper II AGM-123 Skipper II is a short-range laser-guided missile developed by the United States Navy. The Skipper was intended as an anti-ship weapon, capable of disabling the largest vessels with a 1,000-lb (450-kg) impact- fuzed warhead. Design The A ...

laser-guided missiles. A pair of

Rockeye ''Rockeye'' is the fifth album by the British band, The Outfield. It was the band's second album to be released under the MCA label. "Going Back" became a hit single in South Africa on Adult Contemporary radio and the opening track, "Winning It ...

cluster bombs from the aircraft and a single Harpoon from the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

finished the destruction of the ship. Left heavily aflame, dead in the water and listing to port, ''Sahand'' burned for several hours before fires reached her ammunition magazines and they detonated, sinking her in over of water southwest of Larak Island. 45 members of her crew were killed. Iran has commissioned a named ''

'' in memory of the original ''Sahand''.

Notes

References

* Alvand-class frigates Ships built in Southampton 1969 ships Shipwrecks in the Persian Gulf Maritime incidents in 1988 Ships sunk by US aircraft Frigates sunk by aircraft Iran–Iraq War naval ships of Iran Naval magazine explosions {{mil-ship-stub

Construction

Service history

See also

Notes

References