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Operation Praying Mantis
Part of Iran-Iraq War
Iranian frigate IS Sahand (74) attacked by aircraft of U.S. Navy Carrier Air Wing 11 after the guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck an Iranian mine.
Date April 18, 1988 Location Persian Gulf Result U.S. Navy victory
Belligerents
United States Navy	Iranian Navy
Strength
1 aircraft carrier, 1 amphibious transport dock 4 destroyers 1 guided missile cruiser 3 frigates	2 frigates 1 gunboat 6 Boghammar speedboats (estimated) 2 F-4 fighters
Casualties and losses
1 Helicopter destroyed 4 U.S. Marines KIA	1 frigate sunk 1 gunboat sunk 3 Boghammar speedboats sunk 1 frigate damaged 2 platforms damaged
Cited by United States Naval Academy Prof. Craig L. Symonds as being decisive in establishing U.S. naval superiority.

Operation Praying Mantis was an April 18, 1988 attack by U.S. naval forces in retaliation for the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf and the subsequent damage to an American warship.

On April 14, the guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck a mine while sailing in the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Earnest Will, the 1987-88 convoy missions in which U.S. warships escorted reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers to protect them from Iranian attacks. The explosion put a 25-foot hole in the Roberts' hull and nearly sank it. The crew saved their ship with no loss of life, and Roberts was towed to Dubai on April 16.

After the mining, U.S. Navy divers recovered other mines in the area. When the serial numbers were found to match those of mines seized along with the Iran Ajr the previous September, U.S. military officials planned a retaliatory operation against Iranian targets in the Gulf.

The battle, the largest for American surface forces since World War II, sank two Iranian warships and as many as six armed speedboats. It also marked the first surface-to-surface missile engagement in U.S. Navy history.

The attack by the U.S. helped pressure Iran to agree to a ceasefire with Iraq later that summer, ending the eight-year conflict between the Persian Gulf neighbors.

The battle

On April 18, 1988, the Americans responded with several groups of surface warships, plus aircraft from the carrier USS Enterprise. The action began with coordinated strikes by two surface groups. One group, consisting of two destroyers and the amphibious transport dock USS Trenton, attacked the Sassan oil platform, while the other, which included a guided missile cruiser and two frigates, attacked the Sirri oil platform. U.S. Marines from Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) 2-88 fast-roped onto the Sassan platform, gathered intelligence, and set explosives to disable it.

Iran responded by dispatching Boghammar speedboats to attack various targets in the Persian Gulf, including an American-flagged supply ship and a Panamanian-flagged ship. After these attacks, A-6E Intruder aircraft from the VA-95 "Green Lizards" were directed to the speedboats by an American frigate. The two aircraft, piloted by Lieutenant Commander James Engler and Lieutenant Paul Webb, dropped Rockeye cluster bombs on the speedboats, sinking one and damaging several others, which then fled to the Iranian-controlled island of Abu Musa.

Action continued to escalate. Joshan, an Iranian Combattante II Kaman-class fast attack craft, challenged USS Wainwright (CG-28) and Surface Action Group Charlie, firing a Harpoon missile at them. The USS Simpson (FFG-56) responded to the challenge by firing four Standard missiles, while USS Wainwright (CG-28) followed with two Standard missiles. The attacks destroyed the Iranian ship's superstructure but did not immediately sink it, so USS Bagley (FF-1069) fired a Harpoon of its own, which missed. The three ships of SAG Charlie closed on the Joshan, destroying it with naval gunfire.

Two Iranian F-4 fighters then approached the USS Wainwright, which fired a few Standard missiles at the approaching fighters, driving them away.

Fighting continued when the Iranian frigate Sahand departed Bandar Abbas and challenged elements of an American surface group. The frigate was spotted by two VA-95 A-6Es while they were flying surface combat air patrol for USS Joseph Strauss (DDG-16).

Sahand fired missiles at the A-6Es, and the Intruders replied with two Harpoons and four laser-guided Skipper bombs. Joseph Strauss added a Harpoon. Most, if not all, of the U.S. weapons hit the Iranian ship.

Fires blazing on Sahand's decks eventually reached her magazines, causing an explosion that helped sink the ship. Despite the loss of Sahand, one of Iran's most modern ships, the Iranian navy continued to fight. Late in the day, a sister ship, Sabalan, departed from its berth and fired a surface-to-air missile at several A-6Es from VA-95. Intruder pilot Engler dropped a laser-guided bomb on Sabalan, leaving the ship dead in the water. The Iranian frigate, stern partially submerged, was taken in tow by an Iranian tug. VA-95's aircraft, as ordered, did not continue the attack. Engler was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by Admiral William J. Crowe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for these actions against the Sabalan and the Iranian gunboats.

Aftermath

By the end of the operation elements of the American fleet had damaged Iranian naval and intelligence facilities on two inoperable oil platforms in the Persian Gulf, and sank at least six armed Iranian speedboats. Sabalan was repaired in 1989 and has since been upgraded, and is still in service with the Iranian navy. In short, Iran lost one major warship and a smaller gunboat. Damage to the oil platforms was eventually repaired and they are now back in service.

The U.S. side suffered two casualties: the aircrew of a Marine Corps AH-1T Sea Cobra helicopter gunship. The Cobra, attached to the USS Trenton, was flying reconnaissance from the Wainwright and crashed sometime after dark about 15 miles southwest of Abu Musa island. The bodies of Capt. Stephen C. Leslie, 30, of New Bern, N.C., and Capt. Kenneth W. Hill, 33, of Thomasville, N.C., were recovered by Navy divers in May, and the wreckage of the helicopter was raised later that month. Navy officials said it showed no sign of battle damage, though the aircraft could have crashed while trying to evade Iranian fire.

The guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes was called to protect the extraction of the Roberts and arrived a month later. The heightened tensions contributed to the crew of the Vincennes shooting down a commercial airliner on a routine flight, Iran Air Flight 655, killing all 290 crew and passengers on July 3, less than 2 months after their arrival. According to the U.S. government, the Iranian airbus was mistakenly identified as an attacking military fighter. The Iranian government, however, maintains that the Vincennes knowingly shot down a civilian aircraft.

Operation Praying Mantis is one of five American naval engagements cited by United States Naval Academy Prof. Craig L. Symonds in his book Decision at Sea (2005) as being decisive in establishing U.S. naval superiority. The others were the Battle of Lake Erie (1813), the Battle of Hampton Roads (1862), the Battle of Manila Bay (1898), and the Battle of Midway (1942).

On November 6, 2003 the International Court of Justice dismissed Iran's claim for reparation against the United States for breach of the 1955 Treaty of Amity between the two countries. The court also dismissed a counter-claim by the United States, also for reparation for breach of the same treaty. As part of its finding the court did note that "the actions of the United States of America against Iranian oil platforms on 19 October 1987 (Operation Nimble Archer) and 18 April 1988 (Operation Praying Mantis) cannot be justified as measures necessary to protect the essential security interests of the United States of America."

U.S. naval order of battle

Surface Action Group Bravo

• USS Merrill (DD-976) - destroyer
• USS Lynde McCormick (DDG-8) - guided missile destroyer
• USS Trenton (LPD-14) - amphibious transport dock
• Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) 2-88

Surface Action Group Charlie

• USS Wainwright (DLG/CG-28) - guided missile cruiser
• USS Bagley (FF-1069) - frigate
• USS Simpson (FFG-56) - guided missile frigate
• SEAL platoon

Surface Action Group Delta

• USS Jack Williams (FFG-24) - guided missile frigate
• USS O'Brien (DD-975) - destroyer
• USS Joseph Strauss (DDG-16) - guided missile destroyer

Air support

• Elements of Carrier Air Wing Eleven operating from aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65)

References

1. Love, Robert William. History of the U.S. Navy. Harrisburg: Stackpole Books, 1992. ISBN 0811718638 p. 787
2. International Court of Justice. Oil Platforms (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America). Accessed December 12, 2006.

See also

• Operation Prime Chance
• Operation Earnest Will
• Iran Air Flight 655

External links

• Operation Praying Mantis photos: U.S. ships, assault on Sassan platform, Sahand afire
• Operation Praying Mantis video news clip produced by Navy public affairs, aired 30 April 1988
• The Sept. 1987 seizure of the Iran Ajr, an Iranian minelayer
• Attack Squadron 95

Further reading

• Huchthausen, Peter (2004). America's Splendid Little Wars: A Short History of U.S. Engagements from the Fall of Saigon to Baghdad. New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-200465-0.
• Palmer, Michael (2003). On Course to Desert Storm. University Press of the Pacific. ISBN 1-4102-0495-2.
• Peniston, Bradley (2006). No Higher Honor: Saving the USS Samuel B. Roberts in the Persian Gulf. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-661-5. {{cite book}}: External link in |title= (help)
• Sweetman, Jack (1998). Great American Naval Battles. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-794-5.
• Symonds, Craig L. (2005). Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History. USA: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517145-4.
• Wise, Harold Lee (2007). Inside the Danger Zone: The U.S. Military in the Persian Gulf 1987-88. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-970-3. {{cite book}}: External link in |title= (help)

• Naval battles of the Iran-Iraq War
• 1988
• History of Iran
• Military history of the United States 1900-1999
• Naval aviation
• Naval battles involving the United States
• History of the United States (1980–1988)
• Military operations involving the United States
• United States-Iranian relations
• Iran-Iraq War
• Battles involving Iran
• Naval battles involving Iran