IRIS Sahand (1969)
A starboard bow view of the Iranian destroyer escort ITS Faramarz (DE 74), redesignated as IRS Sahand (F 74)
| |
History | |
---|---|
Iran | |
Name | IIS Faramarz |
Namesake | Faramarz |
Ordered | 1960 |
Builder | Vosper Thornycroft, Woolston[1] |
Yard number | 1080[1] |
Launched | 30 July 1969[1] |
Commissioned | February 1972[1] |
Renamed | Sahand, 1985[1] |
Namesake | Sahand volcano |
Homeport | Bandar-Abbas |
Fate | Sunk in Operation Praying Mantis, 19 April 1988[1] |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Alvand-class frigate |
Displacement | 1,100 tons (1,540 tons full load) |
Length | 94.5 m (310 ft) |
Beam | 11.07 m (36.3 ft) |
Draught | 3.25 m (10.7 ft) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 39 knots (72 km/h) max |
Range | 5,000 nmi (9,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h) |
Complement | 125-146 |
Armament |
|
Iranian frigate Sahand (Template:Lang-fa) was a British-made Vosper Mark V class frigate (also known as the Alvand class) commissioned as part of a four-ship order. The ship was originally called Faramarz, named after a character in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution it was renamed Sahand, after the Sahand volcano.
Construction
On 10 May 1970, she was damaged by fire while fitting out.[2]
Service history
The Iranian Navy ship was sunk in Operation Praying Mantis on 18 April 1988. 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 destroyer USS Joseph Strauss finished the destruction of the ship.[3]
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, turning the ship into a volcano and sinking her in over 660 feet (200 metres) of water southwest of Larak Island. 45 members of her crew were killed.[3]
Iran has commissioned a Moudge-class frigate named Sahand in memory of the original Sahand.
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f "Faramarz (6132433)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 9 December 2009.
- ^ Silverstone, Paul H. (1970), "Naval Intelligence", Warship International, 7 (4), International Naval Research Organization: 315, JSTOR 44887436
- ^ a b "Islamic Republic News Agency" (in Persian). Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
References
- Hiro, Dilip (1991). The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict. London: Routledge Chapman & Hall, Inc. ISBN 0-415-90406-4.