Operation Praying Mantis
Iranian frigate Sahand attacked by US Navy aircraft
| date | April 18, 1988 |
|---|---|
| place | Persian Gulf |
| output | US Navy victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Troop strength | |
| 1 aircraft carrier, 4 destroyers, 1 cruiser, 3 frigates 1 amphibious transport dock |
2 frigates, 1 gunboat, 6 Boghammar speedboats, 2 McDonnell F-4s |
| losses | |
|
1 helicopter (destroyed), |
1 frigate (sunk), |
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Iraqi Invasion (1980)
Entegham - Kaman 99 - Khorramshahr - Sultan 10 - Scorch Sword - Abadan - Kafka - Ashkan - Morwarid - Dezful
Standoff (1981) Tavakol - Susangerd - H-3
Iranian offensives for the liberation of Iranian territory (1981–82)
Sam-ol-A'emeh - Tariq al-Qods - Fath ol-Mobin - Beit ol-Moqaddas - liberation of Khorramshahr
Iranian offensives in Iraq (1982–84)
Ramadan - Muslim Ibn Aqil - Muharram ol-Harram - Dawn 1 - Dawn 2 - Dawn 3 - Dawn 4 - Dawn 5 - Kheibar - Kurdish Uprising - Dawn 6 - Dawn 7 - Hawizeh Marshland
Iranian offensives in Iraq (1985-87)
Badr - Dawn 8 - 1. al-Faw - Dawn 9 - Karbala 1 - Karbala 2 - Karbala 3 - Fath 1 - Karbala 4 - Karbala 5 - Karbala 6 - Karbala 7 - Karbala 8 - Karbala 9 - Karbala10 - Nasr 4
Last year of the war (1988)
Beit ol-Moqaddas 2 - Anfal - Halabdscha - Zafar 7 - Tawakalna ala Allah - 2nd al-Faw - Shining Sun - 40 stars - Mersad
Tanker War
Earnest Will - Prime Chance - Eager Glacier - Nimble Archer - Praying Mantis
International Incidents
USS Stark - Iran Air Flight 655
Operation Praying Mantis (German: Fangschrecke or Gottesanbeterin ) was the code name used by the American military for a naval battle that took place on April 18, 1988 between the armed forces of the United States Navy and the Navy of Iran in the Persian Gulf. The starting point was the run-up of an American warship a few days earlier on a sea mine which the USA ascribed to Iran. The operation ended in the defeat of the Iranian Navy; US troops sank several Iranian ships and destroyed two oil drilling platforms that served as the command center for Iranian units. It was the largest operation at sea involving the US Navy since the end of the Korean War . Some of the Iranians used American military technology that had been procured by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi before the Islamic revolution .
history
Foreplay and planning
During the Iran-Iraq war , Iraq and Iran had already attacked tankers several times. For this reason, the US launched Operation Earnest Will , which was supposed to force the transport of oil in the Gulf through the constant presence of US air and naval units. On April 14, 1988, the American frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) ran into a sea mine of the type M-08 while on patrol northeast of Qatar and was badly damaged. A few days after the incident, naval divers recovered other mines from the minefield. The serial numbers matched those of mines found on September 21, 1987 on the Iranian mine- layer Iran Ajr . This ship had been observed laying mines by a helicopter launched by the frigate USS Jarrett (FFG-33) , whereupon it was first shot at by the helicopter and picked up by Navy SEALs a day later . Nine mines were found on board. The twelve Iranian crew members were flown to the USS La Salle (AGF-3) for questioning. The Iranian ship was sunk on September 26th.
In the days after April 14, then US President Ronald Reagan met with his military advisors. In particular, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , Admiral William J. Crowe , convinced the President to order attacks on Iranian warships. However, Reagan decided that the US Navy should only attack two oil drilling platforms for the time being; only if the Iranian armed forces then set units on the march, they should also be attacked.
Under the command of Rear Admiral Anthony A. Less , the Joint Task Force Middle East , which coordinated the actions of all units of several US armed forces in the Gulf, formed three so-called surface action groups (German: combat group from surface ships ). These consisted of three units each, in detail:
| SAY Bravo | SAY Charlie | SAG Delta |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Additional protection for all three groups was provided by fighter jets belonging to the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) based in the Gulf .
attack
The attack on the Iranian armed forces began at 8 a.m. local time. The SAG Bravo , supported by helicopters, began after a radio alarm with gun and rocket fire on the Sassan oil drilling platform , Charlie group a few minutes later on the Sirri platform . These platforms were located in the northern Gulf, east of the Qatar peninsula, and served as command and coordination centers for attacks on tankers passing through the Gulf. At around 09:25 a.m., two CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters of the US Marine Corps took off from the Trenton . One of the helicopters landed on the Sassan , where Marines captured documents and eventually blew up the platform. The second helicopter was unable to land on the Sirri platform as it caught fire from the fire.
At around 11:30 a.m., the Iranian missile speedboat Joshan ( Kaman class ) approached SAG Charlie and fired an anti-ship missile AGM-84 Harpoon at the Wainwright . This deflected the missile from its target by means of chaff . The Wainwright and Simpson fired six standard missiles and a harpoon, which set the Joshan on fire. The American units approached the ship and sank it with gunfire. A short time later, the Wainwright fought off two Iranian warplanes of the type McDonnell F-4 Phantom .
In the early afternoon Iranian attack speedboats type Boghammar an oil field off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on. In this, the Panamanian flag ship Scan Bay , which had 15 American citizens on board, and the British tanker York Marine were attacked . The Enterprise then turned off Grumman A-6 Intruders , which dropped cluster bombs on the fleeing boats. One of the boats was wrecked while the others escaped and headed for Abu Musa Island .
Meanwhile, the Iranian frigate Sahand left the port of Bandar Abbas to shadow SAG Delta , which was staying in the waters around Iran's largest naval port to prevent possible counter-attacks. The Sahand fired anti-aircraft missiles at around 3:30 p.m. at two A-6s operating over Delta , but they missed their targets. The Iranian warship was then attacked by the A-6 with two harpoon and four laser-guided bombs , which Joseph Strauss fired another harpoon. The attacks of the A-6 already set the ship on fire. Several hours later, the burned-out wreck sank.
Another frigate, the Sabalan , Bandar Abbas , left around 5 p.m. This ship was one of the main targets of the operation for Admiral Crowe, as it had repeatedly attacked tankers in previous years. The Sabalan also attacked an A-6 with three missiles without getting a hit. The A-6, in turn, dropped a 500-pound bomb, which hit the funnel and destroyed the engine rooms, leaving the Sabalan immobile in the water. However, the approval to sink the Sabalan was not given because the Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci , Admiral Crowe and the commander of the United States Central Command , George B. Crist , did not want to let the conflict escalate further. Iranian tugs pulled the frigate into port.
Result
Figures on the losses on the Iranian side have not been released; on the American side, two Marine Corps soldiers were killed. The two soldiers' Bell AH-1 Sea Cobra helicopter , belonging to the Trenton but conducting reconnaissance flights from the Wainwright , crashed about 15 miles southwest of Abu Musa on the evening of April 18. The pilots' bodies and the wreckage of the helicopter were recovered in May. No combat damage was found on the wreck.
For the US Navy, Operation Praying Mantis was the largest operation at sea since the Korean War and, at the same time, a propaganda success. It showed that the Navy's response to hostile actions could be planned in a matter of days. According to the Navy, only one of the weapons used missed its target, while the missiles used by the Iranian ships were deflected away from their targets by electronic countermeasures and chaff. US President Ronald Reagan said in a press conference after the operation: “ They must know that we will protect our ships, and if they threaten us, they'll pay a price. ”(German:“ You must be aware that we protect our ships, and if they threaten us, they will pay a price for it ”).
Iran, however, lost a large part of its navy. Also in the spring of 1988, Iraq recaptured the al-Faw peninsula . Since Iran also increasingly fell into international isolation as a result of the Praying Mantis and Earnest Will events and arms purchases became more difficult, the country accepted a ceasefire agreement with Saddam Hussein's Iraq on July 18, 1988, based on a proposal by the United Nations . On August 20, 1988, the First Gulf War ended when the armistice came into force.
Legal aftermath
In 1992, Iran filed a complaint with the International Court of Justice , denying the attacks on the oil platforms as part of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations and Consular Rights between the United States of America and Iran (German: "Agreement on amicable and economic relations and consular rights between the United States of America and Iran ”) should clarify.
On November 6, 2003, the International Court of Justice ruled the legality of the attacks. It was decided by a 14-2 vote that the operation was not required to safeguard the essential security interests of the United States under Article XX, Section 1 (d) of the Agreement. This paragraph only allows acts of war for direct self-defense interests. A ship running into a mine is not enough to start a military operation of this magnitude. Despite this, Iran's claim for reparations payments was rejected as the operation did not constitute a breach of the obligation to free trade between the parties' territories under Article X, paragraph 1. This was justified by the fact that the platforms were not producing any oil that could have been delivered to the USA, as an American embargo of October 29, 1987 prevented this. A counterclaim by the USA, which demanded compensation for attacks on tankers according to this article, was rejected by 15: 1 votes. The reason was that none of the ships were trading between Iran and the United States. The fundamental objection of the USA that Iran makes shipping in the Gulf unsafe was not recognized either.
literature
- Bradley Peniston: No Higher Honor: Saving the USS Samuel B. Roberts in the Persian Gulf . Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2006, ISBN 1-59114-661-5 .
- Jack Sweetman: American naval history: an illustrated chronology of the US Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-present . Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2002, ISBN 1-55750-867-4 .
- Craig L. Symonds: Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History . Oxford University Press, USA 2005, ISBN 0-19-517145-4 .
- Valves closed . In: Der Spiegel . No. 17 , 1998 ( online ).
- David F. Winkler: Article ( Memento of October 10, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) In: Sea Power, Sept. 2003
Web links
- Timing in tabular form and photographs (Engl.)
- Video clip of the USN public affairs office about Praying Mantis (Engl.)
- International Court of Justice ruling on the illegality of the operation and a summary from The Daily Star (Bangladesh )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Symonds (2005), p. 296 f.
- ^ A b Sweetman (2002), p. 261.
- ↑ Symonds (2005), p. 297.
- ↑ John H. Cushman Jr .: US Strikes 2 Iranian Oil Rigs and hits 6 Warships in Battles over Mining sea lanes in Gulf. In: New York Times . April 19, 1988 (English).
- ↑ Text of the agreement read in parstimes.com (Engl.)
