The ''Nahang'' () is an

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian-made class of

midget submarine A midget submarine is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, from which they are launched an ...

designed for shallow water operations. Only one

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

of this class is known to be completed, although its characteristics have remained unclear.

History

Iran had shown interest in midget submarines in the 1980s. According to the ''Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships'', Iran assembled a midget in

Bandar Abbas Bandar Abbas (, ) is a city in the Central District of Bandar Abbas County, Hormozgan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. Bandar Abbas is a port on the southern coast of the country, on the Persian ...

that was completed in 1987 in an unsuccessful attempt. Iran reportedly purchased a second midget of another design from

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

, delivered in 1988. It is alleged that by 1993, nine midget submarines –able to displace 76 tons surfaced and 90 tons submerged, with a top speed between and – were imported from North Korea. Existence of ''Nahang'' was first known in April 2006. On 6 March 2006, Iranian state television announced that ''Nahang 1'' has been commissioned into the Southern Fleet. Later that year in late August, she participated in the third phase of Zarbat-e Zolfaghar wargame. Two other submarines in the class were allegedly planned, but building further units is considered unlikely. In April 2017,

Bellingcat Bellingcat (stylised bell¿ngcat) is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). It was founded by British citizen journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in Ju ...

reported that for the first time in years, satellite imagery suggests ''Nahang'' had been deployed for a mission.

Description

There is not much confidently known about characteristics of the class. According to ''

Jane's Fighting Ships ''Janes Fighting Ships'' is an annual reference book of each country's warship, navy and coast guard, along with their weapons and aircraft. Included are ship names, construction data, size, speed, range, complement, engineering, armament, a ...

'', the class displaces when at the surface and while submerged. Alternate estimates for surfaced and submerged displacement are and respectively while the number given goes as high as ., ''Jane's'' mentions the approximate dimensions as for length, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

of . and are top speeds reported for the submarine. ''Nahang'' is reportedly unarmed and not fitted with torpedoes, however there are contradicting reports suggesting it has a pair of 533mm

torpedo tubes A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

in drop collars and can carry and lay four MDM-6 or EM-52

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are ...

s. ''Nahang'' may be utilized as a

mothership A mother ship, mothership or mother-ship is a large vehicle that leads, serves, or carries other smaller vehicles. A mother ship may be a maritime ship, aircraft, or spacecraft. Examples include bomber aircraft, bombers converted to carry exp ...

for

swimmer delivery vehicle A diver propulsion vehicle (DPV), also known as an underwater propulsion vehicle, sea scooter, underwater scooter, or swimmer delivery vehicle (SDV) by armed forces, is an item of diving equipment used by scuba divers to increase range underwa ...

s and a platform for

special operation Special operations or special ops are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment." Special operations ma ...

s. The submarine has no

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

on the report of ''Jane's'', but another account suggests that she is equipped with active/passive sonar on her bow. The machinery installed for propulsion is unknown. Other apparatus reportedly installed include a

mast Mast, MAST or MASt may refer to: Engineering * Mast (sailing), a vertical spar on a sailing ship * Flagmast, a pole for flying a flag * Guyed mast, a structure supported by guy-wires * Mooring mast, a structure for docking an airship * Radio mas ...

with electronic warfare support capabilities (similar to Russian-made 'Stop Light' type) and surface search and

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...

radar.

References

External links

''Nahang''-class Midget Submarine at GlobalSecurity.org9xx ''Nahang'' - 2007 at cmano-db.com
{{Weapons of Iran Submarine classes of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy Midget submarines Experimental submarines Ships built by Marine Industries Organization

History

Description

See also

References

External links