__NOTOC__ The ''Alvand'' class ( fa, کلاس الوند) or ''Saam'' class ( fa, کلاس سام) was originally a class of four frigates built for the

Imperial Iranian Navy The Iranian Navy traditionally located in the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf, has always been the smallest of the country's military forces. An Iranian navy in one form or another has existed since Achaemenid times in 500 BC. The Phoenician n ...

. They were renamed after the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...

, and served in the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy during Iran-Iraq War. Three still remain in service. A fourth was sunk by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

in 1988.

Development and construction

The ships were built in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

by Vosper Ltd and based on their Mark 5 design with the following arms & equipment:Moore, John ''Jane's Fighting Ships, 1974–75'', pub Jane's Publishing Co Ltd, 1975, -page 175. * ASuW - 1 × quintuple Sea Killer Mk2

surface-to-surface missile A surface-to-surface missile (SSM) or ground-to-ground missile (GGM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea and strike targets on land or at sea. They may be fired from hand-held or vehicle mounted devices, from fixed ins ...

* AAW - 1 × triple

Sea Cat Seacat was a British short-range surface-to-air missile system intended to replace the ubiquitous Bofors 40 mm gun aboard warships of all sizes. It was the world's first operational shipboard point-defence missile system, and was designed so tha ...

surface-to-air missile launcher * ASW 1 × 3 barrelled Anti Submarine Mortar Mark 10 Limbo launcher *Guns - 1 × Mark 8 Mod 0 4.5 inch general purpose & 1 × twin 35mm Oerlikon AA *Electronics -

Plessey The Plessey Company plc was a British electronics, defence and telecommunications company. It originated in 1917, growing and diversifying into electronics. It expanded after World War II by acquisition of companies and formed overseas compani ...

AWS 1 air surveillance radar with on-mounted

IFF In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (shortened as "iff") is a biconditional logical connective between statements, where either both statements are true or both are false. The connective is bicon ...

; 2 × Contraves Seahunter systems (For use with Sea cat, Sea Killer & the 35mm mount); Decca RDL 1 passive direction finding equipment They were refitted in the UK shortly before the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

History

The ships were originally named after characters from Ferdowsi'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 Islamic Revolution they were renamed after mountains in Iran.Military Factory.
/ref> They saw action during the "

Tanker War The Tanker War was a protracted series of armed skirmishes between Iran and Iraq against merchant vessels in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz from 1984 to 1988. The conflict was a part of the larger Iran–Iraq War. Background Prior to ...

" phase of the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...

and proved effective against Iraqi forces. After one was sunk, and other significant losses taken, during

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 ...

they saw little further use as 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 = ...

proved no match for the U.S. Navy.

Upgrades

The Sea Killer missiles were replaced by Chinese made C-802s in the 1990s. The Sea Cats were replaced by the addition of a AA gun. Two triple

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s, two mortars and two 0.50 caliber

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

s were also fitted.

Successors

The is a modified Iranian-built version of the ''Alvand'' class, with five either in service or under construction.

Ships in the class

References

External links

Photos of Alvand-class frigates in Operation Praying Mantis

Sources

*https://web.archive.org/web/20160303224923/http://www.iinavy.org/faramarz.htm *http://www.mafhoum.com/press8/237P2.pdf *https://web.archive.org/web/20041222105239/http://www.ii.uj.edu.pl/~artur/enc/F2.htm {{Alvand class frigate Frigate classes Iran–United Kingdom military relations Ship classes of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy