Operation Praying Mantis

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Operation Praying Mantis
Part of the Iran–Iraq War
The Iranian frigate Sahand attacked by aircraft of U.S. Navy Carrier Air Wing 11 after the guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck an Iranian mine
Date 18 April 1988 Location Persian Gulf, Iranian territorial waters Result United States victory
Belligerents
United States	Iran
Commanders and leaders
Rear Adm. Anthony A. Less[1]	IRIN Commodore Mohammad-Hossein Malekzadegan[2]
Strength
1 aircraft carrier 1 amphibious transport dock 4 destroyers 1 guided missile cruiser 3 frigates AH-1T attack helicopters A-6E Intruder attack jets	2 frigates 1 missile boat 6 Boghammar speedboats (estimated) 2 F-4 fighters ZU-23 guns on 2 platforms
Casualties and losses
2 killed 1 helicopter crashed (cause unknown)	1 frigate sunk (45 crew killed)[3] 1 gunboat sunk (11 crew killed)[3] 3 speedboats sunk 1 frigate crippled 2 platforms destroyed[4] 1 fighter damaged Total: 56 killed 2 ships and 3 boats sunk

Operation Praying Mantis was the 18 April 1988 attack by the United States on Iranian naval targets in the Persian Gulf in retaliation for the mining of a U.S. warship four days earlier.^[5]

On 14 April, the American guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck a mine while transiting international waters as part of Operation Earnest Will, the 1987–88 effort to protect reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers from Iranian attacks during the Iran–Iraq War. The explosion pierced the hull and broke the keel of the Samuel B. Roberts, which nearly sank but was saved by its crew with no loss of life.

After the serial numbers of mines recovered in the area were found to match those of mines seized on an Iranian barge the previous September, U.S. military officials planned a retaliatory operation. On 18 April, the attack destroyed, damaged, or sank two Iranian oil platforms, three warships, several armed boats, and two fighter jets. Two U.S. Marine aviators died when their helicopter crashed into the Gulf.

The attack pressured Iran to agree to a ceasefire with Iraq later that summer, ending the eight-year Iran-Iraq War.^[6]

Later, Iran sued the United States, claiming that the attacks had breached the countries' 1955 Treaty of Amity. On 6 November 2003, the International Court of Justice dismissed the claim but ruled that Operation Praying Mantis and the previous October's Operation Nimble Archer "cannot be justified as measures necessary to protect the essential security interests of the United States of America."^[7]

Praying Mantis was the largest of the U.S. Navy's five major surface engagements since World War II.^[a] It saw the U.S. Navy's first exchange of anti-ship missiles with opposing ships, and its only sinking of a major surface combatant since World War II.

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