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274,580 views|Aug 3, 2020,07:50am EDT
Iran Accidentally Sinks Fake Aircraft Carrier In Wrong Place
H I SuttonContributor
Aerospace & Defense
I cover the changing world of underwater warfare.
The saga of Iran�s fake aircraft carrier, intended as a propaganda coup, is turning into an own goal. The Iranian armed forces, particularly the IRGC-N (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy) delight in attacking the mock U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. It makes their war games more dramatic. And it may be intended to symbolize that they could, if called upon, sink an American carrier. The carrier itself, actually an elaborate target barge, is not intended to sink, however. It is meant to be reusable and has been symbolically �destroyed� twice already. But now it really has sunk. And in very much the wrong place.
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The location of the sinking will likely create a serious headache for the Iranian Navy and IRGC-N. It is just outside the harbor entrance to Bandar Abbas, near to the main approach channel.
The water there is approximately 45 ft deep, which is shallow. This makes it worse for Iran because it cannot be left to sink. It is so shallow that other ships face a very real risk of catastrophic damage if they sail over it. In fact, at least as of a couple of days ago, it was partly above water. This is a serious shipping hazard.
So it will have to be salvaged. But the effort required, and time, will strain Iranian resources. Although Iran has recovered vessels and aircraft from the sea, it does not appear to have a serious salvage capability to call on. This may be why it appears abandoned in the satellite imagery. Last year Iran did recover substantial parts of the U.S. Navy Global Hawk drone it shot down. But there are serious doubts as to whether any of this was salvaged from the depths. Floating wreckage is one thing, dismantling a large sunken vessel is another.
With such a bad place to have a wreck, it will be telling of Iranian capabilities if it is left there a long time.
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Iran fires missile at mock Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Amir Vahdat, The Associated Press and Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press
1 day ag



TEHRAN, Iran (AP) � Iran�s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard fired a missile from a helicopter targeting a replica aircraft carrier in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, state television reported on Tuesday, an exercise aimed at threatening the U.S. amid tensions between Tehran and Washington.
The drill, in a waterway through which 20 percent of all traded oil passes, underlines the lingering threat of military conflict between Iran and the U.S. after last summer saw a series of incidents targeting oil tankers in the region. In January, a U.S. drone strike killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad and Tehran responded by firing ballistic missiles targeting American forces in Iraq.
While the coronavirus pandemic has engulfed both Iran and the U.S. for months, there have been increasing signs of a confrontation as America argues to extend a yearslong U.N. weapons embargo on Tehran that is due to expire in October. A recent incident over Syria involving an American jet fighter approaching an Iranian passenger plane also has renewed tensions.
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Iran Moves Mock Aircraft Carrier to Sea Amid US Tensions
27 Jul 2020
The Associated Press | By Jon Gambrell
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates � Iran has moved a mock aircraft carrier to the strategic Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S., satellite photographs released Monday show, likely signalling the Islamic Republic soon plans to use it for live-fire drills.
An image from Maxar Technologies taken Sunday shows an Iranian fast boat speed toward the carrier, sending waves up in its wake, after a tugboat pulled her out into the strait from the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.
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Amid tensions with US, Iran builds fake aircraft carrier to attack
Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press
2 days ago

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates � As tensions remain high between Iran and the U.S., the Islamic Republic appears to have constructed a new mock-up of an aircraft carrier off its southern coast for potential live-fire drills.
The faux foe, seen in satellite photographs obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, resembles the Nimitz-class carriers that the U.S. Navy routinely sails into the Persian Gulf from the Strait of Hormuz, its narrow mouth where 20 percent of all the world�s oil passes through.
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