US submarine launches its first torpedo in combat since World War II

Since 1991, Navy subs have launched scores of cruise missiles in combat, but the torpedo attack off Sri Lanka is a return to form after 80 years

By John Ismay

 

For the first time since World War II, a torpedo launched from a US Navy submarine struck a vessel in combat, sending the Iranian frigate Iris Dena to the bottom of the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka.

 

The submarine, which the Pentagon has yet to identify, carried out the attack on Wednesday. Later that morning, the Defence Department released a video of a single torpedo detonating under the Iris Dena’s stern, sending a large plume of water skyward. The frigate’s hull can be seen tearing apart along its port quarter above the waterline.

 

At a Pentagon briefing, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth called the sinking “a quiet death,” while Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke about it more dispassionately, saying the torpedo achieved “immediate effect.”