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The Iran Ajr, formerly known as the Arya Rakhsh, was a Japanese-built amphibious assault ship used by Iran to lay naval mines during the Iran-Iraq War. Built in 1978, the 614-ton, 54-meter ship was powered by two diesel engines and featured a bow ramp for unloading cargo.
The Iran Ajr was the focus of one of the most dramatic moments of Operation Prime Chance, the covert part of Operation Earnest Will, the mission to protect U.S.-flagged petroleum-carrying ships in the Persian Gulf.
On 21 September 1987, U.S. forces tracked the ship and dispatched Army helicopters from the Navy guided missile frigate USS Jarrett (FFG-33) to shadow it. When the aviators reported that people aboard the Iran Ajr were laying mines, the U.S. commander in the Persian Gulf ordered the Army pilots to "stop the mining." The helicopters fired on the ship, killing some of the mariners and chasing others into the water. A team of Navy SEAL commandos later boarded the ship, confirmed the presence of mines, and detained the surviving Iranians. On 26 September, they scuttled the ship in international waters.
When the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) struck a mine the following April, Navy explosive ordnance specialists matched the serial numbers of nearby unexploded mines to the ones aboard the Iran Ajr. This evidence of Iranian involvement in the Roberts mining led to the biggest surface-warfare battle since World War II, the retribution campaign of 18 April 1988 called Operation Praying Mantis.
The captured colors of the Iran Ajr are in the U.S. Navy Museum.
See also
External links
- The attack on the Iran Ajr
- Another narration of the attack
- Photos of the captured Iran Ajr and its detainees aboard U.S. Navy warships
Further Reading
- 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.
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