Sheppard, Si/Tooby, Adam (Illustr.) Operation Praying Mantis 1988. The US Navy Takes on Iran's Fleet

Operation Praying Mantis was the culmination of the 1980s tanker wars in the Persian Gulf between the US and Iran. This one-day naval battle was the largest US surface engagement since World War II and the only occasion since then when the US Navy sank a large surface combatant. In this book, Professor Si Sheppard draws on his academic research to provide a thorough briefing on the background to the battle. For more than a year, Operation Earnest Will had protected Kuwaiti oil tanks from Iranian missile and mine attacks in the largest naval convoy operation since World War II, while helicopters from the 160th SOAR and SEALs speedboats engaged in a cat-and-mouse game against Iranian minelayers in Operation Prime Chance. However, when the USS Samuel B. Roberts was nearly sunk by an Iranian mine, the US Navy planned an open offensive against Iran's military installations. With dramatic artwork, maps, and photos, this book provides a detailed account of how Praying Mantis unfolded, how Iran responded with its surface fleet, Boghammar speedboats, air force and Silkworm missiles responded, and how the U.S. Navy prevailed in the ensuing battle, sinking a frigate, crippling another, and decimating Iran's naval forces in the Persian Gulf.