The moment an American submarine launched a torpedo and sank an Iranian warship

On March 4, the Pentagon released a video, apparently filmed from the periscope of a US submarine, showing the Iranian navy’s IRIS Dena corvette operating in the Indian Ocean. A few seconds later, a loud explosion rang out, creating a huge column of water that threw the stern of the Dena ship high, causing the warship to break apart and sink into the sea.

That was the moment the US fast attack submarine launched a Mk 48 torpedo to sink Dena, a corvette with a displacement of about 1,500 tons of the Iranian navy, according to Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine.

This was the first time since World War II that an American submarine launched a torpedo to sink an enemy ship. This is also the first time the US has attacked Iranian forces outside the Middle East since the conflict broke out on February 28.

During a press conference at the Pentagon on February 4, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that the Dena corvette was sunk in international waters in the Indian Ocean.

Modern heavy anti-ship torpedoes such as the Mk 48 are designed to cause maximum damage by hitting targets deep below sea level. The explosive force from the nearly 300 kg warhead of the Mk 48 torpedo is strong enough to “knock out” a warship and twist its hull, even causing it to break in half and sink quickly.

The Dena ship is on its way back to Iran after participating in the Milan naval exercises with India in the Bay of Bengal on February 18-25. The ship sent a distress signal at dawn on March 4 in waters about 40 km south of Galle port in southern Sri Lanka.

Less than an hour later, a Sri Lankan rescue ship approached the Iranian warship in distress, but the Dena ship had completely sunk by then and only an oil slick remained.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said the Dena ship had a total of 180 sailors. The Sri Lankan Navy rescued 32 sailors, recovered more than 80 bodies, the rest are missing.

IRIS Dena is an Iranian Moudge-class corvette, developed from the Alvand class. They are among the most modern and powerful surface warships that the Iranian navy possesses.

Iran’s Alvand-class warships and similar variants are also targets of US attacks in the ongoing “Horrible Rage” campaign. The Pentagon said at least 20 Iranian warships were attacked and disabled.

Retaliatory raids between the US – Israel and Iran in recent days have killed at least 1,045 people in Iran. Fighting also left at least 17 people dead in Israel, Kuwait and many Middle Eastern countries.