Remember, It's Never a War Crime the First Time.
America Obliterates Half Of Iran's Navy In 8 Hours! - Operation Praying Mantis
- Thread starter SoonerP226
- Start Date
Remember, It's Never a War Crime the First Time.
Fun fact, I was on the Samuel B. Roberts two days before it hit the Iranian mine. FWIWW, Bravo Group was supported by the USS Trenton, which is a LPD troop carrier. That's where the Marines who boarded the Sassan oil platform came from. I did not enjoy my time on that boat. 
Seal Team 2 was assigned to board the Sirri platform, but it was way too hot after the bombardment so that was canceled. They were NOT happy they didn't get to board the oil platform. They were operating in coordination with Charlie Group, but they originated from a Delta Group asset. By the time the Iranian attack craft Joshan fired a Harpoon at the USS Wainright, the SEALs were already back with Delta Group. (It's odd that the French manufactured Joshan was equipped with Harpoon missiles rather than Exocets.) The Joshan missed, Charlie Group didn't.
The missiles the Iranians fired at Delta Group were in fact Chinese sourced Silkworms, not Harpoons. They were fired from land-based batteries, not attack craft. It wasn't night when they fired those, it was broad daylight. The USS Gary took those out with countermeasures and return fire, which included SM-2 surface to air missiles and AA gunfire. I watched the last Silkworm missile impact the water about 500 meters aft of the Gary after they disabled it (the Gary was our picket ship at the time). We were the original target of the Silkworm missiles, but the Gary charged between us and the missiles at flank speed, saving our bacon!
Immediately after the battle, Sen. Richard "Dick" Lugar stated that Iran DIDN'T fire any Silkworms that day. He lied. All live fire was over by sunset and despite a few feints, no one else was shot at by either side. It was tense the next few days, but ultimately cooler heads prevailed.
The two pilots and Cobra we lost were from HMLA-167, which is the unit I was detached to/from. I wish he could've talked about this more in the video, but it's understandable. As far as I know, we still don't know exactly what happened to the Cobra crew. It was estimated they hit the water at nearly 200 mph and everything was completely obliterated. The theory was they were attempting to evade enemy fire when they hit the water.
Overall, this video is a mostly accurate depiction of what happened that day. It remains the largest US naval battle since WWII and is the largest naval battle since WWII for any combatants as far as I know. It was a CRAZY day and indeed a bit confusing, do to all the moving parts and intensity.
Seal Team 2 was assigned to board the Sirri platform, but it was way too hot after the bombardment so that was canceled. They were NOT happy they didn't get to board the oil platform. They were operating in coordination with Charlie Group, but they originated from a Delta Group asset. By the time the Iranian attack craft Joshan fired a Harpoon at the USS Wainright, the SEALs were already back with Delta Group. (It's odd that the French manufactured Joshan was equipped with Harpoon missiles rather than Exocets.) The Joshan missed, Charlie Group didn't.
The missiles the Iranians fired at Delta Group were in fact Chinese sourced Silkworms, not Harpoons. They were fired from land-based batteries, not attack craft. It wasn't night when they fired those, it was broad daylight. The USS Gary took those out with countermeasures and return fire, which included SM-2 surface to air missiles and AA gunfire. I watched the last Silkworm missile impact the water about 500 meters aft of the Gary after they disabled it (the Gary was our picket ship at the time). We were the original target of the Silkworm missiles, but the Gary charged between us and the missiles at flank speed, saving our bacon!
Immediately after the battle, Sen. Richard "Dick" Lugar stated that Iran DIDN'T fire any Silkworms that day. He lied. All live fire was over by sunset and despite a few feints, no one else was shot at by either side. It was tense the next few days, but ultimately cooler heads prevailed.
The two pilots and Cobra we lost were from HMLA-167, which is the unit I was detached to/from. I wish he could've talked about this more in the video, but it's understandable. As far as I know, we still don't know exactly what happened to the Cobra crew. It was estimated they hit the water at nearly 200 mph and everything was completely obliterated. The theory was they were attempting to evade enemy fire when they hit the water.
Overall, this video is a mostly accurate depiction of what happened that day. It remains the largest US naval battle since WWII and is the largest naval battle since WWII for any combatants as far as I know. It was a CRAZY day and indeed a bit confusing, do to all the moving parts and intensity.
He left out the best part, IMHO, which is actually in Hornfischer's Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors (about the Battle Off Samar, in which the original USS Samuel B. Roberts fought). After the Sammy B got hit by the Iranian mine, a sailor singlehandedly got the auxiliary generator going, doing a job that normally took three sailors, including what is called a "suicide start," and kept the electricity going to power the lights and pumps.
The guy who kept the pumps running was a 31 year old Petty Officer who'd never been to the Navy's school to learn the advanced techniques he needed to know to keep the pumps running. When the skipper asked him about it afterward, he replied (as related by Hornfischer):
The guy who kept the pumps running was a 31 year old Petty Officer who'd never been to the Navy's school to learn the advanced techniques he needed to know to keep the pumps running. When the skipper asked him about it afterward, he replied (as related by Hornfischer):
The finest tradition of the Navy, indeed. As Hornfischer put it,
Love this guy’s videos
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