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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iran
Index
The Iranian navy has always been the smallest of the three
services, having about 14,500 personnel in 1986, down from 30,000
in 1979. Throughout the 1970s, the role of the navy had expanded as
Iran recognized the need to defend the region's vital sea-lanes
(see
table 10, Appendix). In 1977 the bulk of the fleet was shifted
from Khorramshahr to the newly completed base at Bandar-e Abbas,
the new naval headquarters. Bushehr was the other main base;
smaller facilities were located at Khorramshahr, Khark Island, and
Bandar-e Khomeini (formerly known as Bandar-e Shahpur). Bandar-e
Anzelli (formerly known as Bandar-e Pahlavi) was the major training
base and home of the small Caspian fleet, which consisted of a few
patrol boats and a minesweeper. The naval base at Bandar Beheshti
(formerly known as Chah Bahar) on the Gulf of Oman had been under
construction since the late 1970s and in late 1987 still was not
completed. Smaller facilities were located near the Strait of
Hormuz.
The Navy's airborne component, including an antisubmarine
warfare (ASW) and minesweeping helicopter squadron and a transport
battalion, continued to operate in 1986 despite wartime losses. Of
six P-3F Orion antisubmarine aircraft, perhaps two remained
operational, and of twenty SH-3D ASW helicopters, possibly only ten
were airworthy. Despite overall losses, the navy increased the
number of its marine battalions from two to three between 1979 and
1986.
Entirely of foreign origin, Iran's naval fleet has suffered
major losses since the beginning of the war, when it was made up of
American- and British-made destroyers and frigates, and some sixty
smaller vessels and one of the largest Hovercraft fleets in the
world. The Hovercraft had been expressly chosen to operate in the
shallow waters of the Persian Gulf and proved useful in the 1971
occupation of Abu Musa and the Tunbs. After the cancellation of
foreign orders in 1979, the rapid matériel advance of the navy was
halted. For example, the shah's government had ordered six
Spruance-class destroyers equipped for antiaircraft operations and
three diesel-powered Tang-class submarines from the United States.
Washington canceled the sale of these vessels, selling the
submarines to Turkey and absorbing the destroyers into the United
States Navy. In 1979 Khomeini also canceled an order for six
type-209 submarines from West Germany.
What naval vessels remained in 1987 suffered from two major
problems--lack of maintenance and lack of spare parts. After the
departure of British-United States maintenance teams, the Iranian
navy conducted only limited repairs, despite the availability of a
completed Fleet Maintenance Unit at Bandar-e Abbas; consequently,
several ships were laid up. Lack of spare parts also plagued the
navy more than other services, because Western naval equipment was
less widely available on world arms markets than other equipment.
Iran's ambitious plans for escort and patrol capabilities in
the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean may not be realized until the
Bandar Beheshti naval facility is completed. The country's interest
in navigation through the Strait of Hormuz has not diminished, as
the contemplated deployment of Chinese-made Silkworm HY-2
surface-to-surface missiles on Larak Island in 1987 clearly
indicated. This development underscored Iran's interest in Gulf
waters and the navy's role, along with that of Pasdaran units, in
protecting them or in denying them to others.
Data as of December 1987
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