US Navy submarine sinks Iranian corvette
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that an Iranian warship was sunk near Sri Lanka by a torpedo launched by a US Navy submarine, the first such sinking of an enemy ship since World War II.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine was joined by Hegseth at the Pentagon to provide an update to reporters on “Operation Epic Fury” in Iran.
“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth said. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War Two. Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department. We are fighting to win.”
An Iranian vessel was “effectively neutralized” in a Navy “fast attack” using a single Mark 48 (Mk 48) torpedo, Caine said. The US Navy achieved “immediate effect, sending the warship to the bottom of the sea.”
“The Iranian Navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Combat ineffective, decimated, destroyed, defeated. Pick your adjective,” Hegseth said. “In fact, last night we sunk their prize ship, the Soleimani. Looks like POTUS got him twice. Their navy, not a factor. Pick your adjective. It is no more.”
Moreover, the US and Israel will soon achieve “complete control” over Iranian airspace after Iran’s missile capabilities were drastically diminished in the four days of fighting, Hegseth told reporters.
Shahid Soleimani class
Hegseth said that the Iranian warship sunk by the US Navy was a Shahid Soleimani class corvette. The flagship was named for Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who the US killed in a January 2020 drone strike.
According to Wiki, the Shahid Soleimani class (Persian: شهید سلیمانی, romanized: Shahid soleimani, lit: martyr Suleimani) are the principal surface combatant ship of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy of Iran. These ships were being built by various shipyards in Bushehr, Qeshm and Bandar Abbas and are operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy of Iran.
MK 48
The MK 48 Heavyweight Torpedo plays a vital role in advancing the US Navy’s mission of undersea dominance. More than just hardware, it features cutting-edge software engineering that enables it to find and strike targets when and where it matters most. These five facts offer a deeper look at how the MK 48 helps keep the Navy mission-ready beneath the surface.
The MK 48 Guidance and Control Section uses both passive and active sonar and digital electronics to detect, classify, localize, and intercept targets. Operators can guide it in real time to update targeting and adjust its path using submarine fire control information. If the wire is cut or lost, the MK 48 will switch to fully autonomous homing.
The MK 48’s digital guidance system is one of the early systems to use advanced signal processing and decision-making algorithms. The MK 48 can be launched individually or as a coordinated launch to engage multiple threats simultaneously.
