Operation Morvarid () was an operation launched by the

Iranian Navy The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN; ), also referred as the Iranian Navy (abbreviated NEDAJA; ), is the naval warfare service branch of Iran's regular military, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (''Artesh''). It is one of Iran's two maritim ...

and

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

against the

Iraqi Navy The Iraqi Navy (), is the naval warfare service branch of the Iraqi Armed Forces, Armed forces of Iraq. Formed in 1937, initially as the ''Iraqi Coastal Defense Force,'' its primary responsibilities was the protection of Iraq's coastline and off ...

sites on 27 November 1980 in response to Iraq positioning radar and monitoring equipment on the Mina Al-Bakr and Khor-al-Amaya oil rigs to counter Iranian air operations. The operation resulted in a victory for Iran, which managed to destroy both oil rigs as well as much of the

and inflicted significant damage to Iraqi ports and airfields.

Background

In late November, the Iranians decided to respond to the Iraqi destruction of the

Abadan Refinery The Abadan refinery ( ''Pālāyeshgāh-e Ābādān'') is an oil refinery in Abadan, Iran near the coast of the Persian Gulf. History Built by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later BP) on the basis of a lease obtained in 1909, it was completed in ...

by neutralizing the Kohr al-Amaya and Mina al-Bakr offshore oil terminals. As a result of these attacks, it was planned that Iraq's navy would be drawn into the open sea where Iran's air force and navy would destroy it.

Battle

On 27 November 1980, after Iranian technicians prepared as many aircraft and helicopters as possible, Iranian

F-4 Phantoms The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American Tandem#Aviation, tandem two-seat, twinjet, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic aircraft, supersonic jet interceptor aircraft, interceptor and fighter-bomber that was developed by ...

and

F-5 Tiger II The Northrop F-5 is a family of supersonic light fighter aircraft initially designed as a privately funded project in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation. There are two main models: the original F-5A and F-5B Freedom Fighter variants, and th ...

s attacked Iraqi airfields around

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

. During the night of 28 November, six ships of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy's Task Force 421 deployed Iranian marines on the Iraqi oil terminals at Mina al Bakr and Khor-al-Amaya. The marines, supported by Army Aviation's AH-1J Cobras,

Bell 214 The Bell 214 is a medium-lift helicopter derived from Bell Helicopter's ubiquitous UH-1 Huey series. The Bell 214ST shares the same model number, but is a larger, much-modified twin-engine derivative. Design and development The original d ...

s and CH-47C Chinooks, eliminated most Iraqi defenders during a short firefight, then deployed a large number of bombs and mines. They were then evacuated by helicopter and left the Iraqi oil installations and early warning bases in flames. At the same time, two Iranian ''Kaman''-class (La Combattante II type) missile boats (''Paykan'' and ''Joshan'') blockaded the ports of

Al Faw Al-Fāw (; sometimes transliterated as ''Fao'') is a port town on Al-Faw Peninsula in Iraq near the Shatt al-Arab and the Persian Gulf. The Al Faw Peninsula is part of the Basra Governorate. History The town lies at the south-east end of the ...

and

Umm Qasr Umm Qasr (, also transliterated as ''Um-qasir'', ''Um-qasser, Um Qasr. Kurdish: ئومقەسڕ, Ûmqêsir'') is a port city in southern Iraq. It stands on the canalised Khawr az-Zubayr, part of the Khawr Abd Allah estuary which leads to the P ...

, blocking 60 foreign ships and shelling both facilities. In response, the

deployed P-6

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

s and Osa II-class mssile boats for a counter-attack. The boats engaged the two Iranian missile boats which managed to sink two Osas with

Harpoon missile The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). The AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) and later AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack M ...

s. The remaining three Osa-class missile boats continued to attack the missile boat ''Paykan''. The crew of the ''Paykan'' called IRIAF for assistance which sent two F-4s (each armed with six

AGM-65 Maverick The AGM-65 Maverick is an air-to-ground missile (AGM) designed for close air support. It is the most widely produced precision-guided missile in the Western world, and is effective against a wide range of tactical targets, including armor, a ...

missiles). By the time they arrived, however, ''Paykan'' had been sunk after being hit by two Iraqi

P-15 Termit The P-15 ''Termit'' (; ) is an anti-ship missile developed by the Soviet Union's Raduga design bureau in the 1950s. Its GRAU designation was 4K40, its NATO reporting name was ''Styx'' or SS-N-2. China acquired the design in 1958 and created at ...

missiles. In response, the F-4s targeted the remaining Iraqi ships and sunk three Osa IIs and four P-6s. Soon four more Iranian F-4s arrived from Shiraz Air Base, bombed the port of Al Faw, and, together with F-5s, destroyed the surrounding Iraqi SAM sites. One Iranian F-4 was downed while another was hit and damaged by an Iraqi SA-7 surface-to-air missile but managed to return to base. At this time, the Iranian

F-14 Tomcat The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic, twin-engine, tandem two-seat, twin-tail, all-weather-capable variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experi ...

formations joined the battle and, together with several F-4s, covered the withdrawal of Task Force 421 and bombed the Iraqi oil rigs. Next, they attacked the Mina al Bakr terminal. An Iraqi Su-22 attacked ''Paykan'', which managed to shoot it down with its 76-mm gun turret. The Iraqis scrambled four MiG-23 Floggers to defend the terminal. Shortly after, an Iranian F-14 downed one of the MiGs, forcing the other three to flee.

Aftermath

The destruction of Iraqi SAM sites and radar and monitoring equipment made it possible for the IRIAF to attack via southern Iraq again. The Iranian missile boat ''Joshan'' which took part in this operation was later sunk during

Operation Praying Mantis 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. On 14 April, the American guided missile frigate stru ...

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

warships.

References

External links

Operation Pearl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morvarid 1980 Military operations of the Iran–Iraq War in 1980 Naval battles of the Iran–Iraq War November 1980 in Asia Naval aviation operations and battles 1980 building bombings Airport bombings in Iraq Iranian airstrikes during the Iran–Iraq War Airstrikes in Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War History of Basra Governorate Naval bombing operations and battles Attacks on airbases in Iraq Military operations involving airports Attacks on military installations in 1980

Background

Battle

Aftermath

See also

References

External links