[🇮🇷] Iranian Navy

[Lulldapull]

Iran's first "Drone Carrier" ..going for wet trials..ski Ramp is now done.

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damn that thing is huge

 

[Aryobarzan]

looks like she was converted from a commercial ship. How much do you think TCG Anadolu influenced this decision?

Naturally I don't follow Iranian media, I have no idea if it became news there.

Iranian Drone carrier "S.Bagheri" C-110-4 is indeed an ex TEU carrier ship built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in the year 2000. It is heavily modified at the ISOICO shipyard to become an exclusive drone carrier. Anadolu as I recall was supposed to be an LHD that was re-purposed to become a Drone carrier . In either case having a Drone carrier is the natural progression of any nation that has a significant Drone industry with ambitions to have a "Blue water" navy such as Turkey and Iran..
Note: Panamax ships dimensions are designed to be able to cross Panama Canal..

 

[LegionnairE]

Iranian Drone carrier "S.Bagheri" C-110-4 is indeed an ex TEU carrier ship built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in the year 2000. It is heavily modified at the ISOICO shipyard to become an exclusive drone carrier. Anadolu as I recall was supposed to be an LHD that was re-purposed to become a Drone carrier . In either case having a Drone carrier is the natural progression of any nation that has a significant Drone industry with ambitions to have a "Blue water" navy such as Turkey and Iran..
Note: Panamax ships dimensions are designed to be able to cross Panama Canal..
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TCG Anadolu is still an LHD, the "drone carrier" role is mostly secondary.

But this is an interesting approach, in WWII many aircraft carriers were converted from other warships so most countries built their first aircraft carriers this way. Not a new idea but should be much faster than building a carrier from ground up.

As many people know I hate STOBAR but that flight deck looks longer than the entire TCG Anadolu hull.

Interesting, I like it.

 

[Lulldapull]

Worlds first I guess. Direct hit on a container vessel. I wonder what anti-ship ballistic missile Iran gave to these Yemeni's?

 

[LegionnairE]

Another question is why Iran chose to build the flight deck so low. The ship seems to be much lighter than what the hull was designed for. For efficiency that bulbous bow should be submerged underwater but it looks like it'll remain outside water

if we imagined the red painted part of the hull submerged, we could start to see how low this flight deck really is compared to TCG Anadolu.

The more I look at it, the more it bothers me.

1) couldn't they raise the flight deck?
2) what's inside that superstructre? couldn't it be moved to below decks?
3) where are the elevators?
4) if there are no elevators where's the Hangar?

 

[Lulldapull]

Another question is why Iran chose to build the flight deck so low. The ship seems to be much lighter than what the hull was designed for. For efficiency that bulbous bow should be submerged underwater but it looks like it'll remain outside water

if we imagined the red painted part of the hull submerged, we could start to see how low this flight deck really is compared to TCG Anadolu.

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The more I look at it, the more it bothers me.

1) couldn't they raise the flight deck?
2) what's inside that superstructre? couldn't it be moved to below decks?
3) where are the elevators?
4) if there are no elevators where's the Hangar?

The vessel is empty! its under construction. When the food/ fuel/ cargo/ munitions/ drones/ and thousands of tons of equipment are on board/ installed, the water line would be where its painted anti-rust. And that nose bulb will also be submerged.

 

[Aryobarzan]

The vessel is empty! its under construction. When the food/ fuel/ cargo/ munitions/ drones/ and thousands of tons of equipment are on board/ installed, the water line would be where its painted anti-rust. And that nose bulb will also be submerged.

@LegionnairE
If you look at the TEU ships Silhouette..They are designed to stack up high large number of TEU on the deck (6 below and 8 above deck) . That means low CG for the ship is a design criteria and hence the low flight deck (my best guess)..These are ocean going vessels so they can withstand high "sea states" even with low CG architecture.

The Twitte you copied does mention addition of three major items: "elevators" for below deck access, addition of Flight control tower on the main superstructure and alteration of rear deck (possibly for Helo landing)

Will have to wait for more info but I recall I read somewhere they bought this ship for only $30 million ..If we add $100 million to fully redo the ship (engines too)and another $ 70 million for the add-on alteration we get a total of $200 million price tag..not bad considering that TCG Anadolu probably is somewhere around $ 1 billion dollars..(just guessing).. In any case these ship are just power projection vessels and will be NO 1 target for an enemy because sinking them has a very bad effect on moral..

 

[Lulldapull]

If you look at the TEU ships Silhouette..They are designed to stack up high large number of TEU on the deck (6 below and 8 above deck) . That means low CG for the ship is a design criteria and hence the low flight deck (my best guess)..These are ocean going vessels so they can withstand high "sea states" even with low CG architecture.

The Twitte you copied does mention addition of three major items: "elevators" for below deck access, addition of Flight control tower on the main superstructure and alteration of rear deck (possibly for Helo landing)

Will have to wait for more info but I recall I read somewhere they bought this ship for only $30 million ..If we add $100 million to fully redo the ship (engines too)and another $ 70 million for the add-on alteration we get a total of $200 million price tag..not bad considering that TCG Anadolu probably is somewhere around $ 1 billion dollars..(just guessing).. In any case these ship are just power projection vessels and will be NO 1 target for an enemy because sinking them has a very bad effect on moral..

I believe what that HI Sutton on covert shores is saying that these huge vessels are all FOB's. He suspects the Saviz and that Roudaki are also submarine tenders, where they have a flooding compartment underneath the hull to take a small sub or two along for long range activity, deep in the Indian ocean, far away from Persian gulf for surprise attacks. This thing can carry a hundred drones, FAC's, missiles and a full battalion of troops anywhere and carry a couple of anti-sub warfare choppers too. It's a good initiative.

 

[Lulldapull]

A good 10 minute read:

The 100,000 Ton US Navy Ship That Iran Is Copying - Naval News

The US Navy's gigantic Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) ships are among the largest naval vessels afloat. They are part of America's unrivalled global reach, but they are no longer unique. Iran is testing a similar Forward Base Ship which is comparable in size.

www.navalnews.com

 

[Aryobarzan]

A good 10 minute read:

The 100,000 Ton US Navy Ship That Iran Is Copying - Naval News

The US Navy's gigantic Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) ships are among the largest naval vessels afloat. They are part of America's unrivalled global reach, but they are no longer unique. Iran is testing a similar Forward Base Ship which is comparable in size.

www.navalnews.com

Iam a big fan of taking commercial ship and repurpose them for military applications..FOBs or Carriers are good examples..with today's weapons surface ships do not last very long so keep them at lowcost and make lots of them instead of one big expensive all military vessels.

 

[LegionnairE]

thousands of tons of equipment are on board/ installed, the water line would be where its painted anti-rust.

I'm just curious what thousands of tons of equipment would be on this ship.

Drones aren't that heavy, in fact they are very light, As far as I can tell, she'll take fuel, and that's it.

 

[LegionnairE]

The Twitte you copied does mention addition of three major items: "elevators" for below deck access, addition of Flight control tower on the main superstructure and alteration of rear deck (possibly for Helo landing)

Will have to wait for more info but I recall I read somewhere they bought this ship for only $30 million ..If we add $100 million to fully redo the ship (engines too)and another $ 70 million for the add-on alteration we get a total of $200 million price tag..not bad considering that TCG Anadolu probably is somewhere around $ 1 billion dollars..(just guessing).. In any case these ship are just power projection vessels and will be NO 1 target for an enemy because sinking them has a very bad effect on moral..

Ok, so there's a hangar deck below the flight deck, that will also be mostly empty space and very light so how they are going to optimize the hull is a bit of a curiosity for me.

And yes 100M$ is incredibly cheap, TCG Anadolu costed around 600 Million $ partially thanks to the fact that it has almost all the systems of an İstif class frigate aside from missiles. GENESIS/ADVENT combat management system, radars, EW systems etc. are all included.

Still, despite being so cheap, I'd prefer if they broke up the superstructure and rebuilt it in a way that would allow for a longer flight deck. It could be 220-230 meters of runway instead of 170 meters. That would allow for heavier UAVs. and wider margins of error for take-off and landing.

 

[Lulldapull]

I'm just curious what thousands of tons of equipment would be on this ship.

Drones aren't that heavy, in fact they are very light, As far as I can tell, she'll take fuel, and that's it.

It'll get all that equipment like a typical ESB/ FOB. Just like a big warship able to operate thousands of miles from shore and direct operations from remote coordinates. These ESB's are becoming pretty fashionable now. Many world navies will transition to these soon because they are very useful floating/ moving military bases. Check that US navy article I posted describing their purpose. That Saviz FOB is currently operating in the red sea in a race track pattern, up n down and directing the whole Houthi drama on the water. There was an attack on an Israeli commercial ship by a cruise missile thousands of miles from the Australian coast underneath the Indonesian archipelago. The IRGC Makran was a thousand miles away, so it is suspected the Makran is supporting IRIN submarine operations in the remote ocean about 5000 miles from its base in Bandar Abbas. It is suspected it is able to carry subs in its belly.

 

[Lulldapull]

https://en.mehrnews.com/news/210549/2-Israeli-linked-tankers-hit-in-Indian-Ocean-in-early-Jan

 

[Lulldapull]

I believe this is the same concept that the Nazi's came up with in WWII with their Kreigsmarine 'Kormoran' converted/ armored freighter turned into a monster 'Ghost Ship'. It was a huge vessel armed to the teeth and it ranged far n wide doing all sorts of activities. It's most famous incident has been it sinking the HMAS Perth battle ship along with the 600 ghareeb Aussie sailors.....lol..... God knows how many other vessels it sank and how many U boats it rearmed......lol....These ESB's or the FOB's as the IRGC calls dem will become the new trend in Naval warfare soon. Some say that the Nazi Kreigsmaine Kormoran still sails the waters as a possessed demonic death ship, cuz it was never established if it was ever sunk......lol. It even inspired the movie Ghost Ship back in da 70's.

 

[Saif]

Iran Guards unveil underground naval base

The naval arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards unveiled an underground base housing dozens of assault boats equipped with missile launchers in footage aired by state television on Saturday.

www.newagebd.net

Iran Guards unveil underground naval base
Agence France-Presse . Tehran 19 January, 2025, 22:30

The naval arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards unveiled an underground base housing dozens of assault boats equipped with missile launchers in footage aired by state television on Saturday.

The broadcaster did not reveal the location of the base, saying only that it served Iran’s strategic ‘southern waters’ — the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.

‘This facility, which houses missile assault boats, lies 500 metres underground on the southern waters of Iran,’ the report said.

Guards chief General Hossein Salami toured the base with naval arm commander, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, the footage showed.

Salami’s visit comes just days before Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president on Monday for a second term of office.

During his first term, Trump pursued a policy of ‘maximum pressure’ against Iran, abandoning a landmark nuclear agreement and reimposing sweeping sanctions.

State television said some of the vessels kept at the base unveiled on Saturday were ‘capable of destroying US warships and destroyers’.​

 

[Lun da Pull]

Fair assessment of the Shahed Bagheri drone carrier/ESB/FOB.