Iranian state media published a photo of the frigate Sahand lying on its side in the port of Bandar Abbas. The navy said the ship had rolled over on Sunday, July 7, 2024, as it was being repaired at the wharf. Hospitals took in several people with minor injuries.
IRNA, the official news agency, quoted a navy statement: “As Sahand was being repaired at the wharf, it lost its balance due to water ingress.” The statement added that the ship was “being returned to balance quickly.” It gave no time for the accident.
The recovery did not hold. On Tuesday, Iran’s Nournews agency reported that the frigate had gone under. “The Sahand warship, which was rebalanced on the water with great difficulty on Monday, has now sunk after the rope holding the ship broke,” it said.
An upgraded ship
The Sahand was among Iran’s newest warships, a Moudge-class frigate launched in 2018 and upgraded in 2021 with better radar, more air-defense missiles and twice its original anti-ship missile capacity. That year it sailed to Russia for a naval parade. The upgrades came after the trip.
Some analysts think the added weaponry played a part. Marine Insight noted that the changes “may impact the vessel’s stability.” A hull that is narrow and loaded with heavy weapons is easier to tip, Breitbart reported, and the Sahand was said to carry far more ordnance than other ships of its class. Iran has not announced a cause beyond the water ingress.
One theory came from further afield. Iran International, a news site run by the opposition, quoted unnamed security analysts who suggested an Israeli cyberattack might have sunk the ship. Nothing in the reporting backs that up.
Salvage and a history of accidents
The Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex said the Sahand might still be repaired. Saltwater is hard on electronics, though, and ships have been scrapped after similar accidents. The Norwegian frigate Helge Ingstad was decommissioned because fixing its saltwater-damaged systems cost too much.
Iran’s navy has been here before. The Damavand, another Moudge-class frigate, sank in the Caspian Sea in January 2018 after hitting a seawall. In June 2021 the Kharg went down in the Gulf of Oman after catching fire. Breitbart also reported that a third frigate, the Talayieh, rolled over and sank at Bandar Abbas in December 2021, before it was formally commissioned.
The name itself carries weight. The first Sahand, a British-built Alvand-class frigate, was destroyed by US forces in April 1988 during Operation Praying Mantis. All 45 of its crew members died.
Sources
- Iranian Navy Warship Capsizes During Repairs At The Port Of Bandar Abbas
- Iranian warship capsizes during repairs in port of Bandar Abbas
- Iran Sinks Its Own Warship During Repairs
Sources
- Iranian Navy Warship Capsizes During Repairs At The Port Of…
- Iranian warship capsizes during repairs in port of Bandar Abbas
