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1988 – The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
Operation Praying Mantis was an attack by U.S. naval forces within Iranian territorial waters in retaliation for the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf during the Iran–Iraq war and the subsequent damage to an American warship. On 14 April, the guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts had struck a mine while deployed 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. The explosion blew a 25-foot (7.6-meter) hole in the Roberts’s hull and nearly sank it. The crew saved their ship with no loss of life, and Roberts was towed to Dubai on 16 April.
After the mining, U.S. Navy divers recovered other mines in the area. When the serial numbers were found to match those of mines seized along with the Iran Ajr the previous September, U.S. military officials planned a retaliatory operation against Iranian targets in the Persian Gulf.
This battle was the largest of the five major U.S. surface engagements since the Second World War, which also include the Battle of Chumonchin Chan during the Korean War, the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the Battle of Dong Hoi during the Vietnam War, and the Action in the Gulf of Sidra in 1986. It also marked the U.S. Navy’s first exchange of anti-ship missiles by ships.
https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/april-18/
Operation Praying Mantis was an attack by U.S. naval forces within Iranian territorial waters in retaliation for the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf during the Iran–Iraq war and the subsequent damage to an American warship. On 14 April, the guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts had struck a mine while deployed 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. The explosion blew a 25-foot (7.6-meter) hole in the Roberts’s hull and nearly sank it. The crew saved their ship with no loss of life, and Roberts was towed to Dubai on 16 April.
After the mining, U.S. Navy divers recovered other mines in the area. When the serial numbers were found to match those of mines seized along with the Iran Ajr the previous September, U.S. military officials planned a retaliatory operation against Iranian targets in the Persian Gulf.
This battle was the largest of the five major U.S. surface engagements since the Second World War, which also include the Battle of Chumonchin Chan during the Korean War, the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the Battle of Dong Hoi during the Vietnam War, and the Action in the Gulf of Sidra in 1986. It also marked the U.S. Navy’s first exchange of anti-ship missiles by ships.
https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/april-18/
Posted in these groups: 
Military History
Iran
Military History Iran
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 5
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18 April 1983 --- the bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon ...
http://www.military.com/video/operations-and-strategy/terrorism/flashback-1983-us-embassy-bombing/ [login to see] 01/
http://www.military.com/video/operations-and-strategy/terrorism/flashback-1983-us-embassy-bombing/ [login to see] 01/
Flashback - 1983 US Embassy Bombing
The 1983 U.S. embassy bombing was a suicide bombing against the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon on April 18, 1983 that killed over 60 people, mostly embassy staff members and United States Marines and sailors. It was the deadliest attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission up to that time, and is seen by some[who?] as marking the beginning of anti-U.S. attacks by Islamist groups. The attack came in the wake of the intervention of a...
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MAJ (Join to see)
GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad, I stand on the shoulders of heroes. This was a seminal event in steeling my resolve to serve. I was in 7th grade, watching it all on the news in my current events class. My teacher at the time was a true liberal who laid it all at the feet of the "cowboy in the White House," who could never "listen" to others. I didn't want to grow up and be weak or even give the impression of weakness. Ever. Based on this one day, more than all of the other contributing factors, this day gave me a focus that I never lost sight of.
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Look at the size of that hole in the Samuel B Roberts hull! That highly trained crew performed a miracle to save their vessel. Don't give up the ship!
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LTC Jason Mackay
This is the example given about why the Navy doesn't go with small crews. Every Sailor is damage control when it hits the fan
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SGT (Join to see)
I was there for the retaliation. Reagan wasted little time to let Iran know the U.S. would not tolerate this behavior.
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And now, 1SG (Join to see), we're making treaties with them and allowing them to go nuclear!
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1SG (Join to see)
There was once a French Radical during the Revolution there that, seeing a mob rush by, said, "There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader." If we *need* another war in the middle east, a leader would lead the people to it.
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PO3 Bob Walsh
What ever the agreement with Iran turns out to be, Iran will break it when it is to their advantage. A signed agreement or Treaty does not have the same Moral Value or Equivalent in the Middle East as it does in the US and the rest of the World. It matters little weather we have a Genius or an Idiot negotiating with Iran. They lack the understanding of, GOOD FAITH!!!
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