IRIS Sahand (1969)

Iranian frigate Sahand (Persian: سهند‎) 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.

For other uses, see Sahand (disambiguation).
For Iranian Moudge-class ship of the same name, see Iranian frigate Sahand (2012).

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:
  • 2 shafts, 2 Paxman Ventura cruising diesels, 3,800 bhp (2,830 kW), 17 knots
  • 2 Rolls Royce Olympus TM2 boost gas turbines, 46,000 shp (34,300 kW), 39 knots (72 km/h)
Speed: 39 knots (72 km/h) max
Range: 5,000 nmi (9,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement: 125-146
Armament:
  • 5 × Sea Killer anti-ship missiles
  • 1 × 4.5 inch (114 mm) Mark 8 gun
  • 1 × twin 20 mm AAA, 2 x single 20 mm AAA
  • 2 × 81 mm mortars, 2 × 0.50cal machine guns, 1 x Limbo ASW mortar, 2 x triple 12.75 in torpedo tubes

Construction

On 10 May 1970, she was damaged by fire while fitting out.[2]

Service history
Sahand burns after strikes by U.S. Navy ships and aircraft on 18 April 1988.

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 off the ship.[3]

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 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
  1. "Faramarz (6132433)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 9 December 2009.
  2. Silverstone, Paul H. (1970), "Naval Intelligence", Warship International, International Naval Research Organization, 7 (4): 315, JSTOR 44887436
  3. "Islamic Republic News Agency". Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2017.

References



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