{"id":4530871,"date":"2026-07-08T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/?p=4530871"},"modified":"2026-07-20T16:48:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T14:48:42","slug":"operation-praying-mantis-1988-one-day-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-praying-mantis-1988-one-day-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Praying Mantis: The Navy&#8217;s One-Day War"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style><\/p>\r\n<p>At 07:55 on the morning of 18 April 1988, a voice crackled from the destroyer USS Merrill across the VHF band, first in Farsi, then in English: the occupants of the Sassan gas and oil separation platform had five minutes to leave. On the steel decks above the green water of the Persian Gulf, men scrambled for the tugboats tied up alongside. Others ran the opposite way, towards a twin-barrelled 23 mm gun, and trained it on the American destroyer 4,600 metres (5,000 yards) away.<\/p>\r\n<p>At 08:04, time expired. The Merrill's 127 mm (5-inch) gun flashed. The Iranian 23 mm opened up in reply and was silenced by a direct hit. The one-day war had begun, and by sunset the US Navy would fight its largest surface action since 1945.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f5f5f5; padding: 20px 24px; border-radius: 8px; margin: 8px 0 28px;\">\r\n<p style=\"margin: 0 0 10px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 17px;\">Quick Facts<\/p>\r\n<ul style=\"margin: 0; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 1.8;\">\r\n<li>18 April 1988, Persian Gulf \u2014 US retaliation four days after USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) struck an Iranian mine on 14 April<\/li>\r\n<li>The mine tore a 4.6 m (15 ft) hole in the hull and broke the frigate's keel; the crew saved the ship with no loss of life<\/li>\r\n<li>Three Surface Action Groups plus A-6E Intruders of VA-95 from USS Enterprise (CVN-65)<\/li>\r\n<li>Iranian losses: frigate Sahand sunk, missile boat Joshan sunk, frigate Sabalan crippled, two militarised oil platforms destroyed<\/li>\r\n<li>US losses: two Marine aviators killed in the crash of an AH-1T Sea Cobra near Abu Musa<\/li>\r\n<li>Largest US Navy surface engagement since World War II, and its first ship-versus-ship anti-ship-missile exchange<\/li>\r\n<li>In 2003 the International Court of Justice dismissed Iran's compensation claim but criticised the platform attacks<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin: 24px 0 8px;\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0; border-radius: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5ihmIxZtMBQ\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-no-lazy=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n<p style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; font-style: italic; margin: 0 0 24px;\">The Operations Room reconstructs the one-day war of 18 April 1988, minute by minute.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The road to that morning ran through the Tanker War. Since 1987, under Operation Earnest Will, the US Navy had escorted reflagged Kuwaiti tankers through a Gulf seeded with mines and patrolled by Iranian small craft. On 14 April 1988, the guided-missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts, transiting international waters, struck an M-08 contact mine. The blast blew a 4.6 m (15 ft) hole in her hull, flooded the engine room and broke her keel. Her crew fought fire and flooding for hours and saved the ship. Nobody died. It was close.<\/p>\r\n<p>Divers found more mines nearby. Their serial numbers matched mines seized the previous September from an Iranian minelayer. Washington ordered a proportional response, and planners aboard the command ship USS Coronado in Bahrain worked through the night of 16-17 April. The objectives were precise: neutralise the militarised Sassan and Sirri platforms, and sink the Iranian frigate Sabalan or a suitable substitute.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">Three Surface Action Groups<\/h2>\r\n<p>Rear Admiral Anthony Less, commanding the Joint Task Force Middle East, divided his force into three Surface Action Groups. SAG Bravo, with the destroyers Merrill and Lynde McCormick and the amphibious ship Trenton carrying a Marine air-ground task force, took Sassan. SAG Charlie, built around the cruiser USS Wainwright with the frigates Simpson and Bagley and a SEAL platoon, took Sirri. SAG Delta, with Jack Williams, O'Brien and Joseph Strauss, hunted the Sabalan. Overhead waited the aircraft of Carrier Air Wing 11 from USS Enterprise, holding station 220 km (120 nautical miles) outside the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\r\n<p>At Sassan, after the gunfire ceased, Marine AH-1T Sea Cobras suppressed the last resistance and CH-46 and UH-1 helicopters roped a raid force onto the platform. The Marines recovered a wounded survivor, weapons and intelligence, then rigged roughly 680 kg (1,500 lb) of plastic explosive. The remote detonation turned the platform into a torch.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin: 0 0 24px;\"><img data-opt-id=147610953  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; border-radius: 6px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/p11-body-sassan-burning.jpg\" alt=\"Sassan platform burning after the attack\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" \/>\r\n<figcaption style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; margin-top: 6px; font-style: italic;\">The Sassan platform's main building burning after the assault. US Department of Defense photo DM-SN-93-00985<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>At Sirri, SAG Charlie's shells found a compressed-gas tank and the platform went up without need of the SEALs. So far the operation had run to the minute. Then Iran answered. Boghammar speedboats raced out to strafe targets in the Mubarak oil field, hitting the American-flagged supply ship Willie Tide, the Panamanian-flagged rig Scan Bay and the British tanker York Marine.<\/p>\r\n<p>Vectored in by a frigate, two A-6E Intruders of attack squadron VA-95 from the Enterprise rolled in on the speedboats with Rockeye cluster bombs, sinking one and driving the rest onto the beach at Abu Musa island. It was the pattern of the day: whatever Iran committed, naval air power met it first. Then the Kaman-class missile boat Joshan came out and pointed her bow at the Wainwright. The cruiser issued a series of warnings, each less diplomatic than the last.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f8f9fa; border-left: 4px solid #5C91FF; padding: 20px 22px; margin: 18px 0 24px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7; display: flex; gap: 20px; align-items: flex-start;\">\r\n<div><em>\u201cStop your engines and abandon ship; I intend to sink you.\u201d<\/em>\r\n<div style=\"margin-top: 10px; font-size: 14px; color: #555;\"><strong>USS Wainwright, SAG Charlie<\/strong> \u2014 final warning to the Iranian missile boat Joshan, 18 April 1988, as recounted by Capt. J. B. Perkins III in Proceedings, May 1989<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>The Joshan's captain replied with his boat's single remaining American-made Harpoon, a leftover from the Shah's arsenal. The missile passed close down the Wainwright's starboard side, seduced by chaff. The reply was clinical: four Standard missiles from the Simpson and one from the Wainwright, all hits. The burning hulk was finished with gunfire. Eleven Iranian sailors died with her.<\/p>\r\n<p>Minutes later, an Iranian <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-4-phantom-ii\">F-4<\/a> Phantom pressed towards the group. The Wainwright fired two extended-range Standards; one detonated close aboard, shredding part of a wing. The Phantom's pilot, flying wreckage, somehow recovered the jet at Bandar Abbas.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">The Intruders Find Their Frigate<\/h2>\r\n<p>In the afternoon, the British-built frigate Sahand sortied from Bandar Abbas and ran southwest at speed. An A-6E of VA-95, flying surface combat air patrol for the destroyer Joseph Strauss, dropped low for visual identification and was met with anti-aircraft fire and missiles. The Intruders answered with Harpoons and laser-guided Skipper bombs; the Joseph Strauss added a Harpoon of her own, timed with the aircraft in the first coordinated air-and-ship Harpoon attack in combat.<\/p>\r\n<p>Nearly everything hit. Fires marched down the Sahand's deck until they reached her magazines, and the explosion took her down with 45 of her crew. She remains the largest warship the US Navy has sunk since the Second World War.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin: 0 0 24px;\"><img data-opt-id=568263463  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; border-radius: 6px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/iranian-frigate-sahand-burning-1988.jpg\" alt=\"Iranian frigate Sahand burning\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" \/>\r\n<figcaption style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; margin-top: 6px; font-style: italic;\">The Sahand ablaze from end to end after the coordinated Harpoon and Skipper attack. US Navy photo<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>Late in the day the Sabalan, the operation's original target, finally came out and fired on the orbiting A-6Es. One Intruder put a 227 kg (500 lb) laser-guided bomb squarely down her funnel. The frigate lay crippled and burning, stern awash. Washington then made a deliberate choice: stop. The Sabalan was allowed a tow home, a signal that the lesson was over. She was repaired and serves in the Iranian navy to this day.<\/p>\r\n<p>The US Navy did not emerge untouched. After dark, an AH-1T Sea Cobra from the Trenton, flying reconnaissance about 24 km (15 miles) southwest of Abu Musa, went into the sea. Its two Marine aviators were killed. Navy divers recovered them in May; the raised wreck showed no confirmed battle damage. They were the operation's only American dead.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin: 24px 0 8px;\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0; border-radius: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gob3lMwkjnw\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-no-lazy=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n<p style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; font-style: italic; margin: 0 0 24px;\">Period news footage of Operation Praying Mantis as it was reported in April 1988.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Iran also fired shore-based Silkworm anti-ship missiles at US ships that day, all of which missed amid decoys and hard manoeuvring. By evening, both sides stood down. In a single day, roughly half of Iran's operational major surface combatants had been sunk or crippled.<\/p>\r\n<p>The consequences reached beyond the Gulf. Three months later, Iran, exhausted and now certain the United States would fight, accepted the ceasefire that ended the eight-year Iran-Iraq War. The shadow side of the deployment followed within weeks: on 3 July 1988 the cruiser USS Vincennes, sent to the Gulf in the aftermath, shot down Iran Air Flight 655, killing 290 civilians.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"max-width: 550px; margin: 0 auto 28px;\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 400px; border: none; border-radius: 12px; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?id=2045525333282082960&amp;theme=light\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-no-lazy=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">Reckoning and Aftermath<\/h2>\r\n<p>Iran took its case to the International Court of Justice, arguing the platform attacks breached the 1955 Treaty of Amity. Fifteen years of litigation ended on 6 November 2003 with a split verdict: Iran's claim for reparations was dismissed, and so was the American counterclaim. But the court did not let the operation pass unremarked \u2014 its judgment held that the attacks:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f8f9fa; border-left: 4px solid #5C91FF; padding: 20px 22px; margin: 18px 0 24px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7; display: flex; gap: 20px; align-items: flex-start;\">\r\n<div><em>\u201ccannot be justified as measures necessary to protect the essential security interests of the United States of America\u201d<\/em>\r\n<div style=\"margin-top: 10px; font-size: 14px; color: #555;\"><strong>International Court of Justice<\/strong> \u2014 Oil Platforms judgment, 6 November 2003<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>For naval historians, the tactical ledger is less ambiguous. Praying Mantis validated the Harpoon and Standard missiles in combat, proved the value of coordinated air-surface strikes, and demonstrated what a carrier air wing and nine surface combatants could do in eight hours of disciplined escalation. It was measured, it was brief, and it has not been repeated: no navy has fought the US Navy on the surface since.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">Sources: U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Naval History and Heritage Command, Wikipedia, Military.com<\/p>\r\n<!-- mf-faq -->\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-block\"><style>.mf-faq-block{margin:34px 0}.mf-faq-item:not([open]) .mf-faq-answer{display:none !important}.mf-faq-block h2.mf-faq-h{padding-top:22px;margin-bottom:14px}.mf-faq-item{border:1px solid #e2e8f5;border-radius:8px;margin:0 0 10px;background:#fff}.mf-faq-item summary{list-style:none;cursor:pointer;padding:15px 50px 15px 18px;font-weight:600;color:#1a1a1a;position:relative;line-height:1.45;user-select:none}.mf-faq-item summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mf-faq-item summary::after{content:\"+\";position:absolute;right:18px;top:50%;transform:translateY(-50%);font-size:1.5em;font-weight:400;color:#5C91FF;line-height:1}.mf-faq-item[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mf-faq-item[open] summary{border-bottom:1px solid #eef1f8}.mf-faq-item summary:hover{background:#f5f8ff}.mf-faq-answer{padding:14px 18px;color:#333;line-height:1.6}.mf-faq-answer p{margin:0}.mf-faq-answer a{color:#5C91FF}<\/style>\r\n<h2 class=\"mf-faq-h\">Related Questions<\/h2>\r\n<details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>What was Operation Praying Mantis?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>Operation Praying Mantis was a US Navy attack on Iranian naval forces in the Persian Gulf on 18 April 1988. It was launched in retaliation four days after the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck an Iranian mine. It became the largest US Navy surface engagement since the Second World War.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>Why did the US launch Operation Praying Mantis?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>On 14 April 1988 the guided-missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts hit an Iranian mine that tore a 4.6-metre (15 ft) hole in its hull and broke its keel; the crew saved the ship with no loss of life. The mining came during the Tanker War, and the US retaliated four days later.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>What did the US destroy in Operation Praying Mantis?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>US forces sank the Iranian frigate Sahand and the missile boat Joshan, crippled the frigate Sabalan, and destroyed two militarised oil platforms. The action involved three Surface Action Groups plus A-6E Intruder <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/a-4-skyhawk-heinemanns-hot-rod\/\">carrier attack jets<\/a> flying from USS Enterprise.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>Did the US lose anyone in Operation Praying Mantis?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>Yes. Two US Marine aviators were killed when their AH-1T Sea Cobra helicopter crashed near Abu Musa island. It was the only US loss of the day, against heavy Iranian naval casualties. The battle marked the US Navy's first ship-versus-ship anti-ship-missile exchange.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>What was the Tanker War?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>The Tanker War was a phase of the Iran\u2013Iraq War in the 1980s in which both sides attacked merchant shipping in the Persian Gulf. From 1987, under Operation Earnest Will, the US Navy escorted reflagged Kuwaiti tankers, drawing American forces into direct confrontation with Iran that culminated in Operation Praying Mantis.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>What were the consequences of Operation Praying Mantis?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>The one-day battle demonstrated overwhelming US naval superiority and effectively ended major Iranian challenges to Gulf shipping. In 2003 the International Court of Justice dismissed Iran's compensation claim but criticised the American attacks on the oil platforms. It sat within a wider pattern of US retaliatory strikes such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/el-dorado-canyon-1986-libya-raid-f-111\/\">raid on Tripoli<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><\/div>\r\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was Operation Praying Mantis?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Operation Praying Mantis was a US Navy attack on Iranian naval forces in the Persian Gulf on 18 April 1988. It was launched in retaliation four days after the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck an Iranian mine. It became the largest US Navy surface engagement since the Second World War.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did the US launch Operation Praying Mantis?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"On 14 April 1988 the guided-missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts hit an Iranian mine that tore a 4.6-metre (15 ft) hole in its hull and broke its keel; the crew saved the ship with no loss of life. The mining came during the Tanker War, and the US retaliated four days later.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What did the US destroy in Operation Praying Mantis?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"US forces sank the Iranian frigate Sahand and the missile boat Joshan, crippled the frigate Sabalan, and destroyed two militarised oil platforms. The action involved three Surface Action Groups plus A-6E Intruder <a href=\\\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/a-4-skyhawk-heinemanns-hot-rod\/\\\">carrier attack jets<\/a> flying from USS Enterprise.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Did the US lose anyone in Operation Praying Mantis?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. Two US Marine aviators were killed when their AH-1T Sea Cobra helicopter crashed near Abu Musa island. It was the only US loss of the day, against heavy Iranian naval casualties. The battle marked the US Navy's first ship-versus-ship anti-ship-missile exchange.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was the Tanker War?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Tanker War was a phase of the Iran\u2013Iraq War in the 1980s in which both sides attacked merchant shipping in the Persian Gulf. From 1987, under Operation Earnest Will, the US Navy escorted reflagged Kuwaiti tankers, drawing American forces into direct confrontation with Iran that culminated in Operation Praying Mantis.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What were the consequences of Operation Praying Mantis?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The one-day battle demonstrated overwhelming US naval superiority and effectively ended major Iranian challenges to Gulf shipping. In 2003 the International Court of Justice dismissed Iran's compensation claim but criticised the American attacks on the oil platforms. It sat within a wider pattern of US retaliatory strikes such as the <a href=\\\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/el-dorado-canyon-1986-libya-raid-f-111\/\\\">raid on Tripoli<\/a>.\"}}]}<\/script><!-- \/mf-faq -->\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f0f4ff; border-left: 4px solid #5C91FF; padding: 16px 20px; margin: 32px 0 8px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0;\">\r\n<p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; font-weight: 600; color: #333;\">Related Posts<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 4px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/centcom-hits-80-targets-overnight-iran-blitz\/\">CENTCOM Hits 80 Targets in Overnight Iran Blitz<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 4px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-opera-osirak-reactor-raid-1981\/\">Eight Jets That Erased a Nuclear Reactor<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 18 April 1988 the US Navy sank an Iranian frigate, destroyed two armed oil platforms and fought its largest surface battle since WWII in one day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":4530458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4530871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Operation Praying Mantis: The One-Day Naval War<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 1988 US forces fought Iran in Operation Praying Mantis, the Navy&#039;s largest surface battle since WWII, all in a single day.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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