IRIS Bayandor (81)

Bayandor (Persian: بایندر‎) is a corvette of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy named after Gholamali Bayandor, and the lead ship of her class. Launched in 1963 and commissioned into the Southern Fleet in 1964, Bayandor was transferred to Iran by the United States under the Mutual Assistance Program.[1]

History
Iran
Name: Bayandor
Namesake: Gholamali Bayandor
Operator: Islamic Republic of Iran Navy
Builder: Levingston Shipbuilding Company
Laid down: 20 August 1962
Launched: 7 July 1963
Completed: 15 May 1964
Commissioned: 18 May 1964
Refit: 1970; 1978; 2011–2013
Identification:
Status: In active service
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type: Bayandor-class corvette
Displacement:
  • 914 tons standard
  • 1,153 tons full load
Length: 84 m (276 ft)
Beam: 10.1 m (33 ft)
Draft: 3.1 m (10 ft)
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h)
Range:
  • 2,400 nmi (4,000 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h)
  • 4,800 nmi (9,000 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h)
Complement: 140
Notes: [1][2]

Construction and commissioning

Bayandor was built by the American shipyard Levingston Shipbuilding Company at Orange, Texas. She was laid down on 20 August 1962 and launched on 7 July 1963 on Sabine River, being completed on 15 May 1964.[2] Her commissioning took place three days later on 18 May 1964.[1]

Service history
Dar es Salaam
Muscat
Colombo
Mumbai
Cochin
Jakarta
Guam
Singapore
New York
Known port calls made by Bayandor during her service

In September 1964, Bayandor docked at Brooklyn Navy Yard for a three-day visit to New York City.[3]

On 12 January 1968, Bayandor was dispatched to Greater Tunb, in response to British-encouraged flying of the Ras Al Khaimah flag at the island. While she was anchored about one mile east of the Tunbs, a Shackleton of the Royal Air Force spotted her. The British aircraft approached close to Bayandor, and subsequently was aimed by the ships' guns. Following the event, the British mission at Trucial States became prepared to deploy the Trucial Oman Scouts, however Bayandor was not in the area by 13 January.[4][5]

Bayandor and her sister ship Naghdi (82) arrived at The Ship Repair Facility in Guam on 10 April 1970 for an overhaul that took six months and costed Iran $1–1.5m. In the way home, the two made port calls to Subie Bay, Singapore, Colombo, Sri Lanka and Cochin, India.[6] An alleged dump of 50,000 gallons of fuel in the sea by the ships prior to the repair stirred a local controversy.[7] The two undergone another major repair in the same base in 1978.[8]

During Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988), her home port was in Bushehr Naval Base along with her three sister ships.[9]

On 13 October 1996, American cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG-64) bumped into Bayandor in north of Persian Gulf, however neither of the ships suffered from a serious damage.[10]

In the 11th deployment of Iran since 2009, Bayandor left home on 29 December 2010 for the Gulf of Aden, returning on 29 January 2011 after 31 days.[11]

Starting in 2011, she undergone a major refit that was completed on 11 June 2013, during which a new 76mm Fajr-27 gun and Noor AShM launchers were installed.[11][12] She was also fitted with a new fire control system, while its engines, heat exchangers, and fuel and oil systems had been overhauled.[13] According to Anthony H. Cordesman, "weapons control, search/track radars, and sonars have not been fully modernized since the mid-1960s, although some aspects of the electronic warfare capabilities, communications, and battle management systems in the Bayandor seem to have been upgraded".[14]

After the refit and trials, she was teamed up with the replenishment ship Bandar Abbas (421) as the 31st naval group, for an anti-piracy operation also as far afield as Bab-el-Mandeb. The deployment took 120 days, lasting from 16 July to 13 November 2014. The two ships saved six merchant vessels from Somali pirates, including a Chinese container ship on 14 September 2014.[11]

On 20 January 2016, the 38th naval group comprising Bayandor, the replenishment ship Bushehr (422) and the landing ship Lavan (514), left home for a multi-purpose anti-piracy, flag, intelligence collection and training mission that included crossing the Bab-el-Mandeb for a voyage to the Red Sea, as well as crossing equator for a port call to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on 1 March 2016.[11] The ships navigated 7,600 nmi (14,100 km) in total and returned on 2 April 2016 after 73 days of sailing.[11]

Along with her sister Naghdi and the amphibious ship Tonb (513) of the 50th naval group, she decked at Colombo, Sri Lanka and Mumbai, India during another multi-purpose anti-piracy, flag and training mission. The deployment started on 30 January 2018 and ended on 17 March 2018.[11]

As part of the 60th naval group with Lavan and Bushehr, between 20 January and 16 March 2019 she sailed 5,600 nmi (10,400 km) in the Arabian Sea for anti-piracy operations and then made another visit to Colombo. The three vessels also anchored at Muscat, Oman during the mission.[11] In late February 2019, she participated in Velayat 97 wargame as an intelligence collector vessel.[11] Bayandor made security patrols in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden and between May and July 2019, navigating some 2,350 nmi (4,350 km) in the same formation of vessels, this time as the 62nd group.[11]

Supported by the fleet replenishment oiler Kharg (431), she departed home on 30 January 2020 in a voyage to cross the Strait of Malacca. The two ships of the 66th naval group anchored at Port of Tanjung Priok between 25 and 28 February to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Indonesia–Iran relations.[11]

See also

References
  1. Saunders, Stephen; Philpott, Tom, eds. (2015), "Iran", IHS Jane's Fighting Ships 2015–2016, Jane's Fighting Ships (116th Revised ed.), Coulsdon: IHS Jane's, p. 394, ISBN 9780710631435, OCLC 919022075
  2. Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen; Budzbon, Przemysaw, eds. (1996), "Iran", Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1947–1995, Conway Maritime Press, p. 184, ISBN 978-1557501325
  3. "Iran Warship Here; Boom!!", Daily News, New York, p. 173, 17 September 1964
  4. Mobley, Richard A. (2003), "The Tunbs and Abu Musa Islands: Britain's Perspective", Middle East Journal, Middle East Institute, 57 (4): 630–631, JSTOR 4329943
  5. Mobley, Richard A. (Autumn 2003), "The Royal Navy, Iran, and the Disputed Persian Gulf Islands", Naval War College Review, U.S. Naval War College Press, 56 (4): 110, JSTOR 26394035
  6. "6 Month Stay: Iranian Ships Depart Guam", Pacific Daily News, Agana Heights, Guam, p. 26, 26 September 1970
  7. Go, Janet (30 April 1970), "The Log: Iranian Ships", Pacific Daily News, Agana Heights, Guam, p. 21
  8. Murphy, Joe (26 September 1978), "Pipe Dream", Pacific Daily News, Agana Heights, Guam, p. 18
  9. Razoux, Pierre (2015). The Iran-Iraq War. Translated by Nicholas Elliott. Harvard University Press. Appendix D, p. 528. ISBN 978-0-674-91571-8.
  10. Silverstone, Paul H. (1996), "Naval Intelligence", Warship International, International Naval Research Organization, 33 (4): 395–396, JSTOR 44891801
  11. Nadimi, Farzin (April 2020), "Iran's Evolving Approach to Asymmetric Naval Warfare: Strategy and Capabilities in the Persian Gulf" (PDF), The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (Policy Focus) (164), Appendix E: IRIN’s Long-range Task Forces And Naval Visits Abroad, pp. 64–74, retrieved 15 July 2020
  12. Silverstone, Paul H. (December 2013), "Naval Intelligence", Warship International, International Naval Research Organization, 50 (4): 310, JSTOR 44894714
  13. Jeremy, Binnie (1 August 2013), "Iranian Navy Unveils Refurbished Corvette", IHS Jane's Navy International, 118 (6), ISSN 2048-3457
  14. Cordesman, Anthony (2016), "The Gulf: How Dangerous is Iran to International Maritime Security?", in Krause, Joachim; Bruns, Sebastian (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Naval Strategy and Security, Routledge, p. 107, ISBN 9781138840935
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