Operation Praying Mantis (1988)
After the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck an Iranian mine in the Persian Gulf, injuring 10 sailors, the US Navy retaliated four days later. American forces sank the Iranian frigate Sahand, crippled the frigate Sabalan, destroyed two oil platforms, and sank several smaller combatants. It was the US Navy's largest surface engagement since World War II and effectively halved Iran's operational fleet.
Iran's navy was severely weakened and could no longer contest the Gulf militarily. The Tanker War wound down within months, and a UN-brokered ceasefire ended the Iran-Iraq War in August 1988.
Iran shifted its naval doctrine away from conventional surface warfare toward asymmetric capabilities — fast boats, mines, coastal missiles — designed to make any future confrontation costly for a superior navy. That doctrinal shift directly shapes the threat Iran poses today even after losing its surface fleet again.
The March 2026 strikes echo Praying Mantis almost exactly: US forces destroying Iranian warships at pier and at sea in response to Iranian threats to Gulf shipping. The critical difference is scale — nine ships versus two in 1988 — and the simultaneous decapitation of Iran's political and military leadership, which 1988 did not attempt.