operation praying mantis - what happened to the harpoon ?

Distanstar

New Member
Hi Firstly I noticed the article on CNN about the retirement of USS Simpson the last operational ship to have engaged in a ship to ship missile exchange.

Now firstly I am an Australian and I have no agenda and full respect to all those involved, but it seems from my casual observation that the US account seems to be lacking details.

In super condensed review the Simpson crew see the Iranina Joshan approach and fire when the "see" the Joshan fire a harpoon missile at them. Effectively the US line is the Simpson fired "in reply" to an initial Iraninan attack.

Interestingly the Iranians "say" the ship was ordered not to engage US ships directly and fired an AA missile at an airbourne target,not the harpoon. They also state they were in gun range and if they were going to mount an attack they would have fired their main battery as well.

Finally On CNN they interviewed the Men responsible for firing the US Harpoon from the Simpson and I noticed they said " as soon as we SAW the Joshan fire the Harpoon we gave the order for the battery to fire".

So My question is for which I have no answer that I can find is, if the Iraninans did launch a Harpoon missile what happened to it ????

if anyone can direct me to an article or comment about this wayward missile, it would be great.

Again please dont flame me I am not after political points and dont give a damn about US or Irananian Ideology.

Thanks,
 
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wild_Willie2

New Member
Hmm, Google is your friend and in the time it took you to write your post you could have searched for the answer yourself ten times over...

Search for: "Operation Praying Mantis" AND "Iranian harpoon"
 

Distanstar

New Member
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Well so far I have one source

Well not so easy and maybe my statement wasnt clear... I was after the proof the Iranians actually launched a Harpoon missile.

It seems 1 youtube video on harpoons suggests the Missile in question was lured away with chaff.... Really ?

If your simple easy so quick it hurts search can artually find a real source to discuss the Iranian missile launch I would like to see it.

Lots of info on the operation no discussion on the Iranian Harpoon other than "they fired first" ?

Hmm, Google is your friend and in the time it took you to write your post you could have searched for the answer yourself ten times over...

Search for: "Operation Praying Mantis" AND "Iranian harpoon"
 

wild_Willie2

New Member
So what would you accept as a reliable source, a HD YouTube movie? Or would you then argue that it could be faked?

There has never been any doubt that the Iranians fired first and there were about a thousand US crew members on the naval vessels near this incident when it took place, so it's pretty unlikely that there has been a cover up for thirty years without a single voice of dissent.

I do believe that people should stay open and critical about the news and events as portrayed in reports, but there are limits to this. So while we’re at it, Yes, people landed on the moon, Oswald shot Kennedy, Roswell was a weather balloon and the Iranians fired first....
 

Distanstar

New Member
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So what would you accept as a reliable source, a HD YouTube movie? Or would you then argue that it could be faked?

There has never been any doubt that the Iranians fired first and there were about a thousand US crew members on the naval vessels near this incident when it took place, so it's pretty unlikely that there has been a cover up for thirty years without a single voice of dissent.

I do believe that people should stay open and critical about the news and events as portrayed in reports, but there are limits to this. So while we’re at it, Yes, people landed on the moon, Oswald shot Kennedy, Roswell was a weather balloon and the Iranians fired first....

I am definately not the person you seem to think I am, nearly all the articles I have read ~8 of some provinance make no mention of the Harpoon fired except "they fired a harpoon" thats it. no mention of what it did where it went who it was targeted at, missed hit, failed what ever.
The comment in youtube wasnt the actual footage it was in the discussion so of very low reliability and the only one I could find that mentioned "lured away with chaff"

your comment; its good to test information then flip to by the way your a conspirecy theorist and it was seen by thousands isnt helping so either help and show me a good reference or do something else mate... seriously.

Again can anyone else find a reference to the fate of the "harpoon" missile that was fired first by the Joshan in operation Preying Mantis. I found 1 after looking for over an hour.

Thanks.
 

swerve

Super Moderator
There are frequent references to a Harpoon fired by the Iranian ship Joshan, & it narrowly missing the USS Wainwright - & not just in comments. Search, & you'll find such things as Facebook pages of former crew members of Wainwright, & numerous reports.
 

Distanstar

New Member
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There are frequent references to a Harpoon fired by the Iranian ship Joshan, & it narrowly missing the USS Wainwright - & not just in comments. Search, & you'll find such things as Facebook pages of former crew members of Wainwright, & numerous reports.
Thanks, that helps... So the USS Wainwright was the target? again the mainstream articles dont make that clear. Also I note they dont say the engagement range but as "they saw" the Joshan launch a missile they must have been in "visual range".

The warning given I think is also interesting; stop, abandon ship I intend to sink you.

I wonder how a US ship would respond to such a challenge ?
 
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