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April 18

Considering all the saber-rattling that Iran has been doing recently, they would do well to remember that April 18th is coming in just under two weeks time. What significance does April 18th have you ask? Ever hear about Operation Praying Mantis:

Operation Praying Mantis
From Wikipedia
Operation Praying Mantis was the 18 April 1988 action waged by U.S. naval forces in retaliation for the Iranian mining of an American warship.

The 14 April mining nearly sank the guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts, which was sailing in the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Earnest Will, the 1987-88 convoy missions in which U.S. warships escorted reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers to protect them from Iranian attacks. By the time the Roberts was towed to Dubai on 15 April, battered but saved with no loss of life, U.S. planning for the retaliatory operation had already begun in Washington and in the Middle East.

The battle, the largest between surface forces since World War II, sank two Iranian warships and as many as six armed speedboats. The attack by the U.S. may have helped pressure Iran to agree to a ceasefire with U.S-backed Iraq later that summer, ending the eight-year conflict between the Persian Gulf neighbors.

The Iranians mined one of our ships nearly sinking it. We turned around and in four days, launched an offensive that handed the Iranian navy its ass on a plate and disabled several oil facilities. On our side, we lost two Marines who were on a helicopter that crashed in the dark. From the Wikipedia article:

Operation Praying Mantis is one of five American naval engagements cited by United States Naval Academy Prof. Craig L. Symonds in his book Decision at Sea (2005) as being decisive in establishing U.S. naval superiority. The others were the Battle of Lake Erie (1813), the Battle of Hampton Roads (1862), the Battle of Manila Bay (1898), and the Battle of Midway (1942).

If Iran tries this kind of shit again, we can respond in kind. I am sure that Operation Praying Mantis is on the minds of many of our military strategists these days... Posted by DaveH at April 6, 2006 9:20 PM