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Belligerents: IRAN vs. IRAQ
Battle type: Air - Naval - Commando
Year: 1980*
*In connection with the Iran - Iraq War. ------ [1]
Outcome: decisive Iranian victory (destroyed much of Iraqi naval capability in a single day) - a masterstroke.
BRIEF
"Despite the destructive effect of the Revolution, the service that had been renamed as the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN) still was able to demonstrate its high combat capabilities in the war with Iran. Particularly, on 28 – 30 November 1980 the IRIN, utilizing its pre-revolution contingency planning, conducted a remarkable, Western-type raiding operation Morvarid (Pearle), in which Combined Joint Task Force 421 (naval, air and commando) caught Iraqis by complete surprise, leaving two offshore oil terminals destroyed and inflicting heavy losses in ships and aircraft." - Jahangir Arasli [2]
In Operation Morvarid on November 28, 1980, Iranian air force and navy units successfully defeated Iraqi naval* and air units in addition to destroying Iraqi oil terminals, oil installations, and surface-to air-missile sites in the Al-Faw peninsula.
*over 80% of Iraqi naval vessels.
HEROES
IRIN Combattante II missile boat Peykan - although a casualty - shall be noted for its heroics in Operation Morvarid.
"Iran purchased 12 Combattante II missile boats from France, seeing them delivered between 1974 and 1981. These 275 ton displacement boats, officially named Kaman in Iranian service, have a top speed of 37.5 knots. They represented some of Iran's most modern vessels of Western origin. Two were lost in combat, one to Iraqi forces in 1980 and another to US forces in 1988." - GLOBAL SECURITY ------ [3]
ACCOUNT
Credit to TOM MUFFIN ------ [4]
Before the onset of the rainy season in 1980 brought a break in the fighting Iranians showed one more time what kind of operations their regular armed services were still capable of. After the technicians of the IRIAF and the IRIAA prepared as many planes and helicopters as possible, on the afternoon of the 28 November Phantoms and Tigers began a new series of strikes against Iraqi airfields around Basrah, and during this operations shot down one defending MiG-21. So began the Iranian operation Morvarid. During the night hours of the 29 November 1980, at least six ships of the Islamic Revolutionary Iran Navy's (IRINA) Task Force 421 landed a party of Marine Commandos on the Iraqi oil terminals at Mina al Bakr and Khor-al-Amaya. The swift operation, supported by AH-1J Sea Cobras, AB.214 Isfahans and CH-47C Chinooks of the IRIAA, took the enemy completely by surprise. During the short gun fight, most defenders were gunned down. After that, the Marines placed a large number of bombs and mines before being evacuated by helicopters. A series of fierce explosions shattered the air, as further Iraqi oil installations - and very important early warning bases - were going up in flames.
At the same time, two Iranian missile boats of the Combattante II class, Peykan and Joshan, blocked the entrance into the ports of Al Faw and Umm Qasr and shelled both facilities, where meanwhile over 60 foreign ships were blocked.
The Iraqi Navy was compelled to react, and in the morning, two groups of her P183 (NATO Code P-6) motor-torpedo boats, and five P205/205A (NATO Code Osa I/II) fast-attack crafts started a counterattack. Both Iranian and Iraqi ships exchanged intensive missile fire, with Iranian BGM-86 Harpoon missiles scoring several hits and sinking two Osas. After a while, however, Peykan was attacked by three further Osa II boats and the crew called the IRIAF for help. Immediately, two Phantoms, both armed with six AGM-65A Maverick air-to-ground missiles, were scrambled from Bushehr and send to the north. However, they couldn't reach the scene of the naval battle before Peykan succumbed to the hits of two SS-N-2 Styx surface-to-surface missiles. Outraged, two Phantoms crews opened fire at every Iraqi ship that could be found: three Iraqi Osa IIs as well as four P-6s could be sunk in less than five minutes! One of them got three Maverick-hits and exploded in a brillinat fireball. Couple of minutes later, four F-4Ds from Shiraz bombed the port of Al Faw and adjacent depots and magazines with laser-guided bombs, while surrounding Iraqi SAM-sites were hit by F-4Es and F-5Es. The Iraqis, already shattered by the massive destruction of their facilities and heavy losses, claimed one Phantom as shot down by SAMs, but the damaged plane managed to land at Bandar Musharaf.
Further formations of Iranian Phantoms and Tomcats joined the scene, covering the withdrawal of Joshan and the rest of the Task Force 421. Phantoms first hit one Iraqi oil rig, where one SA.321GV Super Frelon helicopter, armed with AM.39 Exocet missile, was parked. The helicopter and the rig got three Maverick hits and were blown to pieces.
At that moment, two groups of Iraqi MiG-23MS interceptors and one of MiG-23BN fighter-bombers appeared on the scene. The following air battle over Mina al Bakr terminal was at least as lethal as the naval clash minutes before: Iranian Phantoms, free of their heavy bomb-loads, turned into MiG-23MSs and shot three of them down, loosing one of their airplanes in the process. The second Iraqi formation of four MiG-23BNs attacked Joshan, but lost two of its members to SA-7 missiles, fired by the crew of the patrol craft. The third MiG was then despatched by AIM-7F-4 Sparrows of Iranian Tomcats. Shortly afterward, the operation Morvarid, a full-fledged success for Iranians, was terminated. In less than 12 hours, they managed to sink up to seven motor-torpedo boats and missile crafts - or almost 80% - of the Iraqi Navy, destroy the oil terminals at Mina al Bakr and Khor-al-Amaya, and block the port of Al Faw. The Iraqis also lost one MiG-21, six MiG-23MS and MiG-23BNs and one Super Frelon. The IRIAF suffered a loss of one F-4E shot down and one damaged.
The operation Morvarid actually marked the end of the first phase in the war between Iraq and Iran in which both sides mounted their - then - most modern equipment in a full-scale fighting. After that the conflict was actually sustained with constrained, episodic action interspersed with bouts of feverish combat. Generally speaking the Iraqi military planers, particularly Saddam Hussein, failed to make a correct assessment of the capabilities of their troops and badly underestimated the enemy. Iraqi armed forces were capable of achieving only limited objectives, such as securing a part of the Shatt al Arab or severing Dezful from the rest of Iran. But as they tried to capture Khoramshahr and Abadan and at the same time attacked Ahwaz and Dezful, they lost valuable time as well as the advantage of the surprise. The first two cities suffered badly, but were actually not crucial if the Iraqi intention was to deprive Iran of precious Khuzistan oil and secure an entrance into the Gulf. However, the failure to capture Dezful and its vital Vahidyeh air base, and thus cut off Iranian supply lines, was in due course to lead to Iraq's expulsion from Khuzistan.
CALLBACK
One of the most intense air-naval battles since World War II ------ [5]
On September 22, 1980 Saddam Hussein launched Iraq into a full-scale invasion of Iran—hoping to capitalize on Iran’s instability due to the Iranian Revolution.
Khorramshahr and Abadan, two major Iranian port cities just across and downstream the Shatt-al-Arab river from the major Iraqi oil-exporting port of Basra, were priority targets. The Shatt-al-Arab ran into the Persian Gulf and its lucrative oil shipping lanes.
Iraqi forces were supported by two oil rigs at Mina al-Bakr (today, al-Basrah Oilt Terminal) and Khor al-Omayah, both on the tip of the al-Faw peninsula. These mounted early-warning radars that kept the Iraqi Air Force alerted to Iranian air operations. They also supported raids by Iraq’s Soviet-built missile and torpedo boats on Iranian shipping.
The Iranian Navy’s mission was clear cut: take out both oil rigs.
The Iran-Iraq War by Pierre Razoux and Iran at War: 1500-1988, Dr. Kaveh Farrokh provide some of the few Western accounts of one of the most intense air-naval battles since World War II.
The Iranian navy assigned three of her La Commandante class missile boats—Joshan, Gordouneh and Paykan—to the job. The small, German-built 265-ton boats had a crew of thirty and could race at a brisk 41 miles per hour. Each mounted a single 76-millimeter dual-purpose (anti-surface and anti-air) gun turret, a rapid-firing 40-millimeter flak cannon, and two twin-rail missile launchers armed with American-built Harpoon missiles. Additional air defense was provided by crew members on deck hefting SA-7 shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles.
The first two attacks on the rigs were only moderately successful, however. In Operation Operation Kafka on October 28, Paykan provided air defense while Joshan bombarded al-Omayah and Gordouneh pummeled al-Bakr. Though the Iranian boats dodged Iraqi anti-ship missiles fired at excessively long range and shot down three Iraqi fighters, their guns overheated bombarding the oil rigs without putting either out of action.
A follow up-attack three days later (Operation Ashkan) had similar results: though damaged, the platforms and their valuable radars proved too resilient to the ship’s 3” guns.
Later in November, Iraqi artillery blasted the Iranian oil terminal Abadan, halving Tehran’s fuel production. Suffering from the economic sting, the Iranian military realized that Iraq was even more vulnerable to such attacks.
Heartened by their earlier success at fending off Iraqi air and sea forces, the Iranian Army, Navy and Air Force hatched a more ambitious plan that would require closer interservice coordination.
In Operation Morvarid (“Pearl”) not only did they hope to take the Iraqi radars out of the picture but also Baghdad’s vital oil infrastructure. They also hoped to destroy the Iraqi Navy in the process.
The operation began on November 28 with a diversionary strike by Iranian F-5 and F-4 jets on Iraq’s Basra airbase while the Joshan and Paykan resumed bombarding the two platforms. When two 235-ton Iraqi Osa II missile boats launched their cigar-shaped P-15 Termti missiles at long range, the Iranian vessels successfully evaded before dispatching the boats with their more reliable Harpoon missiles.
Then in the early hours of November 29, Iranian Chinook helicopters swooped down on the platforms accompanied AH-1J Sea Cobra gunships. An EC-130 electronic warfare plane orbited overhead, jamming any distress signals.
While Sea Cobra crews equipped with night-vision goggles strafed the platform’s deck with 20-millimeter cannon fire, Iranian commandoes roped down from the Chinooks and stormed the rig in a blaze of assault rifle fire, killing or capturing their crews while sustaining twelve casualties.
The commandoes then rigged the platforms with explosive charges, used shoulder-fired missiles to fire at two Iraqi-jets, then made their escape in six amphibious hydroplanes as the platforms blew sky high.
At that point, the greater strength of the Iraqi Navy’s Osa missile boats and 25-meter long P-6 torpedo boats came rushing to the scene, looking to avenge the platform’s destruction in blood. The Iranian missile boats, running low on ammunition, did their best to use the wrecked oil platforms for cover from a flurry of Iraqi missiles.
Things had gotten hairy in the air as well as squadrons of twin-engine MiG-23BN fighter bombers and MiG-23MF interceptors roared into the battles alongside French-built Super Frelon naval helicopters armed with Exocet missiles.
The Paykan dodged several missiles before she received a glancing hit by a 5,700-pound Termit missile that exploded nearby. Her deck gun nonetheless managed to down a heavy Su-22 attack jet that went soaring overhead. She then fired her last Harpoon missile and sank another Iraqi boat, but was struck by a missile fired by an Iraqi helicopter.
Still, the Iranian naval command denied requests from its boat commanders to withdraw. That’s because their job was to pin the Iraqi Navy down so it could be hit by a counterstroke that was inbound from the Iranian Air Force.
Phantom jets came howling down to the Paykan’s rescue and quickly sank two or three of the P-6 torpedo boats using Maverick missiles. Later that day, an Iraqi naval detachment from Umm Qasr including an amphibious ship and three small patrol boats was destroyed by another Phantom strike.
A separate flight of F-4 Phantoms and F-5 Freedom Fighters struck Basra itself, knocking out surface-to-air missile batteries that might impede the air attack, and destroyed several more boats and landed Frelon helicopters.
Their intervention was too late for the damaged Paykan. While MiGs and helicopters swarmed around her, two Osas closed in four the kill, firing four Termit missiles at short range. Two struck, their thousand-pound warheads finally annihilating the battle-scarred boat.
Meanwhile, a swirling air battle had broken out between the MiGs and Phantom fighters, the latter also were supported by advanced F-14 Tomcat fighters with powerful AWG-9 radars.
Claims about who shot down what vary wildly. Iran lost between one and three Phantoms to ground fire and MiGs. Around six MiG-23s were destroyed by both Phantoms and missile boats, and one MiG was shot down by a Tomcat as the Iraqi pilot made an attack run on the Joshan.
In exchange for sinking the Paykan, the Iraqi Navy lost five Osa missile boats and four P-6 torpedo boats—roughly 80% of its strength. It would play little role for the remainder of the war, leaving it up to the Iraqi Air Force to launch attacks on Iranian shipping.
Even more significantly, the loss of the terminals cut Iraqi oil production to just 17% of its pre-war yield: from 3.25 million barrels per day to just 550,000 barrels. As Hussein had bitten off way more than he could chew by invading Iran, he would increasingly have to take out huge loans from neighboring Arab states to buy the vast quantities of military equipment Iraq needed to stay in the fight.
Eight years later, the Iranian Navy itself saw much of its own combat strength destroyed by the U.S. Navy’s Operation Praying Mantis—which ironically mirrored the Operation Morvarid in several striking respects. U.S. Navy surface ships bombarded two Iranian oil platforms used as military staging grounds and radars; both were boarded by troops from helicopters and subsequently demolished, and airpower subsequently sank much of the Iranian’s Navy’s strength—including the battle-hardened Joshan.
MEDIA
References
[1] Overview in this link: https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/iran-iraq-war
[2] Quoted from this link: https://www.marshallcenter.org/MCPU.../F_Publications/occPapers/occ-paper_10-en.pdf
[3] More information in this link: https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/kaman.htm
[4] Quoted from this link: http://www.iinavy.org/morvarid.html
[5] Quoted from this link: https://nationalinterest.org/print/blog/buzz/operation-morvarid-how-iran-destroyed-iraq’s-navy-1-day-using-lots-us-made-jets-82806
FURTHER READING
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Morvarid
Battle type: Air - Naval - Commando
Year: 1980*
*In connection with the Iran - Iraq War. ------ [1]
Outcome: decisive Iranian victory (destroyed much of Iraqi naval capability in a single day) - a masterstroke.
BRIEF
"Despite the destructive effect of the Revolution, the service that had been renamed as the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN) still was able to demonstrate its high combat capabilities in the war with Iran. Particularly, on 28 – 30 November 1980 the IRIN, utilizing its pre-revolution contingency planning, conducted a remarkable, Western-type raiding operation Morvarid (Pearle), in which Combined Joint Task Force 421 (naval, air and commando) caught Iraqis by complete surprise, leaving two offshore oil terminals destroyed and inflicting heavy losses in ships and aircraft." - Jahangir Arasli [2]
In Operation Morvarid on November 28, 1980, Iranian air force and navy units successfully defeated Iraqi naval* and air units in addition to destroying Iraqi oil terminals, oil installations, and surface-to air-missile sites in the Al-Faw peninsula.
*over 80% of Iraqi naval vessels.
HEROES
IRIN Combattante II missile boat Peykan - although a casualty - shall be noted for its heroics in Operation Morvarid.
"Iran purchased 12 Combattante II missile boats from France, seeing them delivered between 1974 and 1981. These 275 ton displacement boats, officially named Kaman in Iranian service, have a top speed of 37.5 knots. They represented some of Iran's most modern vessels of Western origin. Two were lost in combat, one to Iraqi forces in 1980 and another to US forces in 1988." - GLOBAL SECURITY ------ [3]
ACCOUNT
Credit to TOM MUFFIN ------ [4]
Before the onset of the rainy season in 1980 brought a break in the fighting Iranians showed one more time what kind of operations their regular armed services were still capable of. After the technicians of the IRIAF and the IRIAA prepared as many planes and helicopters as possible, on the afternoon of the 28 November Phantoms and Tigers began a new series of strikes against Iraqi airfields around Basrah, and during this operations shot down one defending MiG-21. So began the Iranian operation Morvarid. During the night hours of the 29 November 1980, at least six ships of the Islamic Revolutionary Iran Navy's (IRINA) Task Force 421 landed a party of Marine Commandos on the Iraqi oil terminals at Mina al Bakr and Khor-al-Amaya. The swift operation, supported by AH-1J Sea Cobras, AB.214 Isfahans and CH-47C Chinooks of the IRIAA, took the enemy completely by surprise. During the short gun fight, most defenders were gunned down. After that, the Marines placed a large number of bombs and mines before being evacuated by helicopters. A series of fierce explosions shattered the air, as further Iraqi oil installations - and very important early warning bases - were going up in flames.
At the same time, two Iranian missile boats of the Combattante II class, Peykan and Joshan, blocked the entrance into the ports of Al Faw and Umm Qasr and shelled both facilities, where meanwhile over 60 foreign ships were blocked.
The Iraqi Navy was compelled to react, and in the morning, two groups of her P183 (NATO Code P-6) motor-torpedo boats, and five P205/205A (NATO Code Osa I/II) fast-attack crafts started a counterattack. Both Iranian and Iraqi ships exchanged intensive missile fire, with Iranian BGM-86 Harpoon missiles scoring several hits and sinking two Osas. After a while, however, Peykan was attacked by three further Osa II boats and the crew called the IRIAF for help. Immediately, two Phantoms, both armed with six AGM-65A Maverick air-to-ground missiles, were scrambled from Bushehr and send to the north. However, they couldn't reach the scene of the naval battle before Peykan succumbed to the hits of two SS-N-2 Styx surface-to-surface missiles. Outraged, two Phantoms crews opened fire at every Iraqi ship that could be found: three Iraqi Osa IIs as well as four P-6s could be sunk in less than five minutes! One of them got three Maverick-hits and exploded in a brillinat fireball. Couple of minutes later, four F-4Ds from Shiraz bombed the port of Al Faw and adjacent depots and magazines with laser-guided bombs, while surrounding Iraqi SAM-sites were hit by F-4Es and F-5Es. The Iraqis, already shattered by the massive destruction of their facilities and heavy losses, claimed one Phantom as shot down by SAMs, but the damaged plane managed to land at Bandar Musharaf.
Further formations of Iranian Phantoms and Tomcats joined the scene, covering the withdrawal of Joshan and the rest of the Task Force 421. Phantoms first hit one Iraqi oil rig, where one SA.321GV Super Frelon helicopter, armed with AM.39 Exocet missile, was parked. The helicopter and the rig got three Maverick hits and were blown to pieces.
At that moment, two groups of Iraqi MiG-23MS interceptors and one of MiG-23BN fighter-bombers appeared on the scene. The following air battle over Mina al Bakr terminal was at least as lethal as the naval clash minutes before: Iranian Phantoms, free of their heavy bomb-loads, turned into MiG-23MSs and shot three of them down, loosing one of their airplanes in the process. The second Iraqi formation of four MiG-23BNs attacked Joshan, but lost two of its members to SA-7 missiles, fired by the crew of the patrol craft. The third MiG was then despatched by AIM-7F-4 Sparrows of Iranian Tomcats. Shortly afterward, the operation Morvarid, a full-fledged success for Iranians, was terminated. In less than 12 hours, they managed to sink up to seven motor-torpedo boats and missile crafts - or almost 80% - of the Iraqi Navy, destroy the oil terminals at Mina al Bakr and Khor-al-Amaya, and block the port of Al Faw. The Iraqis also lost one MiG-21, six MiG-23MS and MiG-23BNs and one Super Frelon. The IRIAF suffered a loss of one F-4E shot down and one damaged.
The operation Morvarid actually marked the end of the first phase in the war between Iraq and Iran in which both sides mounted their - then - most modern equipment in a full-scale fighting. After that the conflict was actually sustained with constrained, episodic action interspersed with bouts of feverish combat. Generally speaking the Iraqi military planers, particularly Saddam Hussein, failed to make a correct assessment of the capabilities of their troops and badly underestimated the enemy. Iraqi armed forces were capable of achieving only limited objectives, such as securing a part of the Shatt al Arab or severing Dezful from the rest of Iran. But as they tried to capture Khoramshahr and Abadan and at the same time attacked Ahwaz and Dezful, they lost valuable time as well as the advantage of the surprise. The first two cities suffered badly, but were actually not crucial if the Iraqi intention was to deprive Iran of precious Khuzistan oil and secure an entrance into the Gulf. However, the failure to capture Dezful and its vital Vahidyeh air base, and thus cut off Iranian supply lines, was in due course to lead to Iraq's expulsion from Khuzistan.
CALLBACK
One of the most intense air-naval battles since World War II ------ [5]
On September 22, 1980 Saddam Hussein launched Iraq into a full-scale invasion of Iran—hoping to capitalize on Iran’s instability due to the Iranian Revolution.
Khorramshahr and Abadan, two major Iranian port cities just across and downstream the Shatt-al-Arab river from the major Iraqi oil-exporting port of Basra, were priority targets. The Shatt-al-Arab ran into the Persian Gulf and its lucrative oil shipping lanes.
Iraqi forces were supported by two oil rigs at Mina al-Bakr (today, al-Basrah Oilt Terminal) and Khor al-Omayah, both on the tip of the al-Faw peninsula. These mounted early-warning radars that kept the Iraqi Air Force alerted to Iranian air operations. They also supported raids by Iraq’s Soviet-built missile and torpedo boats on Iranian shipping.
The Iranian Navy’s mission was clear cut: take out both oil rigs.
The Iran-Iraq War by Pierre Razoux and Iran at War: 1500-1988, Dr. Kaveh Farrokh provide some of the few Western accounts of one of the most intense air-naval battles since World War II.
The Iranian navy assigned three of her La Commandante class missile boats—Joshan, Gordouneh and Paykan—to the job. The small, German-built 265-ton boats had a crew of thirty and could race at a brisk 41 miles per hour. Each mounted a single 76-millimeter dual-purpose (anti-surface and anti-air) gun turret, a rapid-firing 40-millimeter flak cannon, and two twin-rail missile launchers armed with American-built Harpoon missiles. Additional air defense was provided by crew members on deck hefting SA-7 shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles.
The first two attacks on the rigs were only moderately successful, however. In Operation Operation Kafka on October 28, Paykan provided air defense while Joshan bombarded al-Omayah and Gordouneh pummeled al-Bakr. Though the Iranian boats dodged Iraqi anti-ship missiles fired at excessively long range and shot down three Iraqi fighters, their guns overheated bombarding the oil rigs without putting either out of action.
A follow up-attack three days later (Operation Ashkan) had similar results: though damaged, the platforms and their valuable radars proved too resilient to the ship’s 3” guns.
Later in November, Iraqi artillery blasted the Iranian oil terminal Abadan, halving Tehran’s fuel production. Suffering from the economic sting, the Iranian military realized that Iraq was even more vulnerable to such attacks.
Heartened by their earlier success at fending off Iraqi air and sea forces, the Iranian Army, Navy and Air Force hatched a more ambitious plan that would require closer interservice coordination.
In Operation Morvarid (“Pearl”) not only did they hope to take the Iraqi radars out of the picture but also Baghdad’s vital oil infrastructure. They also hoped to destroy the Iraqi Navy in the process.
The operation began on November 28 with a diversionary strike by Iranian F-5 and F-4 jets on Iraq’s Basra airbase while the Joshan and Paykan resumed bombarding the two platforms. When two 235-ton Iraqi Osa II missile boats launched their cigar-shaped P-15 Termti missiles at long range, the Iranian vessels successfully evaded before dispatching the boats with their more reliable Harpoon missiles.
Then in the early hours of November 29, Iranian Chinook helicopters swooped down on the platforms accompanied AH-1J Sea Cobra gunships. An EC-130 electronic warfare plane orbited overhead, jamming any distress signals.
While Sea Cobra crews equipped with night-vision goggles strafed the platform’s deck with 20-millimeter cannon fire, Iranian commandoes roped down from the Chinooks and stormed the rig in a blaze of assault rifle fire, killing or capturing their crews while sustaining twelve casualties.
The commandoes then rigged the platforms with explosive charges, used shoulder-fired missiles to fire at two Iraqi-jets, then made their escape in six amphibious hydroplanes as the platforms blew sky high.
At that point, the greater strength of the Iraqi Navy’s Osa missile boats and 25-meter long P-6 torpedo boats came rushing to the scene, looking to avenge the platform’s destruction in blood. The Iranian missile boats, running low on ammunition, did their best to use the wrecked oil platforms for cover from a flurry of Iraqi missiles.
Things had gotten hairy in the air as well as squadrons of twin-engine MiG-23BN fighter bombers and MiG-23MF interceptors roared into the battles alongside French-built Super Frelon naval helicopters armed with Exocet missiles.
The Paykan dodged several missiles before she received a glancing hit by a 5,700-pound Termit missile that exploded nearby. Her deck gun nonetheless managed to down a heavy Su-22 attack jet that went soaring overhead. She then fired her last Harpoon missile and sank another Iraqi boat, but was struck by a missile fired by an Iraqi helicopter.
Still, the Iranian naval command denied requests from its boat commanders to withdraw. That’s because their job was to pin the Iraqi Navy down so it could be hit by a counterstroke that was inbound from the Iranian Air Force.
Phantom jets came howling down to the Paykan’s rescue and quickly sank two or three of the P-6 torpedo boats using Maverick missiles. Later that day, an Iraqi naval detachment from Umm Qasr including an amphibious ship and three small patrol boats was destroyed by another Phantom strike.
A separate flight of F-4 Phantoms and F-5 Freedom Fighters struck Basra itself, knocking out surface-to-air missile batteries that might impede the air attack, and destroyed several more boats and landed Frelon helicopters.
Their intervention was too late for the damaged Paykan. While MiGs and helicopters swarmed around her, two Osas closed in four the kill, firing four Termit missiles at short range. Two struck, their thousand-pound warheads finally annihilating the battle-scarred boat.
Meanwhile, a swirling air battle had broken out between the MiGs and Phantom fighters, the latter also were supported by advanced F-14 Tomcat fighters with powerful AWG-9 radars.
Claims about who shot down what vary wildly. Iran lost between one and three Phantoms to ground fire and MiGs. Around six MiG-23s were destroyed by both Phantoms and missile boats, and one MiG was shot down by a Tomcat as the Iraqi pilot made an attack run on the Joshan.
In exchange for sinking the Paykan, the Iraqi Navy lost five Osa missile boats and four P-6 torpedo boats—roughly 80% of its strength. It would play little role for the remainder of the war, leaving it up to the Iraqi Air Force to launch attacks on Iranian shipping.
Even more significantly, the loss of the terminals cut Iraqi oil production to just 17% of its pre-war yield: from 3.25 million barrels per day to just 550,000 barrels. As Hussein had bitten off way more than he could chew by invading Iran, he would increasingly have to take out huge loans from neighboring Arab states to buy the vast quantities of military equipment Iraq needed to stay in the fight.
Eight years later, the Iranian Navy itself saw much of its own combat strength destroyed by the U.S. Navy’s Operation Praying Mantis—which ironically mirrored the Operation Morvarid in several striking respects. U.S. Navy surface ships bombarded two Iranian oil platforms used as military staging grounds and radars; both were boarded by troops from helicopters and subsequently demolished, and airpower subsequently sank much of the Iranian’s Navy’s strength—including the battle-hardened Joshan.
MEDIA
References
[1] Overview in this link: https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/iran-iraq-war
[2] Quoted from this link: https://www.marshallcenter.org/MCPU.../F_Publications/occPapers/occ-paper_10-en.pdf
[3] More information in this link: https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/kaman.htm
[4] Quoted from this link: http://www.iinavy.org/morvarid.html
[5] Quoted from this link: https://nationalinterest.org/print/blog/buzz/operation-morvarid-how-iran-destroyed-iraq’s-navy-1-day-using-lots-us-made-jets-82806
FURTHER READING
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Morvarid
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