Big Halali in the North Atlantic!

[Skybird]

Could not help myself but grinned wide from ear to ear when reading it.

https://thedefensepost.com/2019/01/0...-ocean-sahand/


(The original link that i had posted, rotates its latest stories in and out, and so I replaced the link with another one on the same story. Quote below is from the first link, however).

“By their continuous presence in international waters, Iranian naval forces aim to implement the orders of commander-in-chief of the armed forces (Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei), wave the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran, thwart the Iranophobia plots, and secure shipping routes,” Hassani said.

Made my day!

[Jimbuna]

Yeah, right.

[Skybird]

They call that thing a destroyer!?

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/431...o-the-Atlantic

Corvette. Small frigate at best.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irania...e_Sahand_(2012)

Pirates of the North Atlantic, beware - The Persians are coming! Pirates of the Venez... err, Caribean - relief! The Persians are coming!

I hope they know what the Atlantic is like at this time of the year. There is a reason why it is the Indian ocean getting called "Stiller Ozean", and not the Atlantic.

[Aktungbby]

WELL NOW WE HAVE SOMETHING ELSE TO SINK! WE SANK THE FIRST 'SAHAND' IN 1988 <ENLARGES

Located by two American A-6E Intruders of Attack Squadron VA-95 steaming roughly 16 kilometres (10 mi) southwest of Larak Island, she was hit by two Harpoon missiles and four AGM-123 Skipper II laser-guided missiles. A pair of Rockeye cluster bombs from the aircraft and a single Harpoon from the destroyerUSS Joseph Strauss finished off the ship. Left heavily aflame, dead in the water and listing to port, Sahand burned for several hours before fire reached her ammunition magazines and they detonated, sinking the ship in over 660 feet (200 metres) of water southwest of Larak Island, 45 of her crew were killed
Iran has commisioned a Moudge-class frigate named Sahand in memory of the original Sahand.

[em2nought]

That's a purty ship, it'd be a shame if it mysteriously vanished.

[Kapitan]

Iran is good in defense only the navy will not fare to well in international waters alone, im skeptical of their supply network and also their capability for extended operations beyond territorial waters, from my last reading it doesn't look like Iran has much in the way of Oiler's and stores ships from my recollection it has one modified Ol class oiler from the 1970's which was purchased from the UK.

However the Iranians have conducted extended operations in the gulf of Aden working with the international community against Somali pirates and they do have small dry stores ships and a capable vessel for fuel that is ocean going, given the size and cost of the operation any patrol in the Atlantic i would say would be a small affair and limited in its operational scope.

A Moje class frigate in January 2018 sank in the Caspian sea due to running aground in poor weather perhaps they are some what limited in their capabilities in ocean going deployments.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Kapitan

from my recollection it has one modified Ol class oiler from the 1970's which was purchased from the UK.

That could well be the Kharg, I worked on her for a few months.

[Kapitan]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

That could well be the Kharg, I worked on her for a few months.

Yes just looked it up looks like its still in active service it also shows your age Jim

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Kapitan

Yes just looked it up looks like its still in active service it also shows your age Jim

Aye, born July 1957 and served my apprenticeship as a fitter in the yards 1973-1977 before going to sea after that as an Engineering Officer.

[Kapitan]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Aye, born July 1957 and served my apprenticeship as a fitter in the yards 1973-1977 before going to sea after that as an Engineering Officer.

Very nice indeed its a shame our RFA has shrunk so much back in 2004 it was 24 ships today down to 11 think nelson would turn in his grave if he saw the navy today so small

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Kapitan

Very nice indeed its a shame our RFA has shrunk so much back in 2004 it was 24 ships today down to 11 think nelson would turn in his grave if he saw the navy today so small

I cringe when I think of the fact that we have more Admirals than ships

[Kapitan]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

I cringe when I think of the fact that we have more Admirals than ships

Personally i do think we should have built at least 8 type 45's (12 would have been nice) i also think the cutting of type 26's down to 8 from 13 is also going to leave us short and reliant on the type 31 which is unlikely to be as capable as the type 26, i think personally 13 type 26's would have been the best course of action.

I personally also think the carriers should have been CATOBAR in order to have cross deck capabilities with the USN and Marine Nationale France.

Another gripe i have is that we should have built a replacement type for the Upholders we don't need a class as numerous as the Oberons but 4 SSK's would do.

Do we need 22 mine warfare vessels? i would have cut them down to about 8 or 10 and built some off shore patrol craft for work in home waters and Gibralter Falklands and Persian gulf area.

With the sale of HMS Ocean to Brazil id have replaced her only because of the lessons learnt in 1995 with RFA Argus and how unsuited she was to that role i dont think there would be any need to go much bigger than Oceans size so something like the Mistral would be about right and only one of them.

Obviously im in favour of keeping our SSBN fleet all 4 of them and the replacement and not to mention the 7 Astute class submarine

As for the RFA we should have up scaled that for the above dream fleet to bring it back to around 20 ships.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

That could well be the Kharg, I worked on her for a few months.

Originally Posted by Kapitan

Yes just looked it up looks like its still in active service it also shows your age Jim

Well if Jimbuna was aboard, that could be considered...precious khargo?!!

[Jimbuna]

I think the time has long ago come when we aren't able to cover all the areas we used to be able to.

Cut your cloth to meet your capabilities.

[Catfish]

Usually any ship can go anywhere in international waters.
Is anyone officially at war with Iran?