For the first time since World War II, a torpedo launched from a U.S. Navy submarine struck a vessel in combat, sending the Iranian frigate Iris Dena to the bottom of the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka.
The submarine, which the Pentagon has yet to identify, carried out the attack on Wednesday. Later that morning, the Defense Department released a video of a single torpedo detonating under the Iris Dena’s stern, sending a large plume of water skyward. The frigate’s hull can be seen tearing apart along its port quarter above the waterline.
At a Pentagon briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the sinking “quiet death,” while Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke about it more dispassionately, saying the torpedo achieved “immediate effect.”
Sri Lankan officials said they had rescued 32 Iranian sailors from the Iris Dena, which is believed to have had a crew of 180.
The Navy referred questions about the submarine attack to U.S. Central Command.
According to the U.S. Navy’s History and Heritage Command, the last American sub to fire a torpedo at an enemy vessel was the U.S.S. Torsk, which sank a 750-ton Japanese vessel on Aug. 14, 1945.
That ship, a patrol escort called the CD-13, was off the Japanese port of Maizuru when it spotted the Torsk via sonar. According to a Navy history of the engagement, the American submarine fired one torpedo in response, dived to 400 feet and launched a second torpedo. Both weapons struck the CD-13, killing 28 of its crew members.
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U.S. Submarine Launches First Torpedo in Combat Since World War II
