Iranian boxship converted into drone carrier readies for duty
To add to merchant shipping’s long list of concerns surrounding the security situation in the Middle East, Iran is readying to launch its first drone carrier, the Shahdid Bagheri, a converted boxship previously called Sarvin.
Splash has obtained exclusive satellite images (see below) of the ship taken by Planet Labs 10 days ago, following an investigation by Samir Madani-led TankerTrackers.com.
Iranian hardware and intelligence has been assisting the Houthis in Yemen in their targeting of merchant vessels over the past three months with the Houthis demanding Israel end its war in Gaza. Around 35 merchant ships have been targeted by drones and missiles, while one car carrier, the Galaxy Leader, was hijacked with its crew and remains in Yemeni waters.
Iran’s coming drone carrier will eventually wreak havoc against commercial vessels in the Arabian Sea
The Shahid Bagheri started out as a 3,280 teu boxship, delivered from Hyundai Heavy Industries in the year 2000. It has recently undergone a conversion at the ISOICO shipyard west of Bandar Abbas, and is now controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The reconfigured vessel has added width to its deck and has around 170 m of runway, now able to accommodate the departure and landing of a very large fleet of fixed-wing long-range drones.
The semi-official Fars news agency described the vessel as a “mobile naval city” capable of “ensuring the security of Iran’s trade lines, as well as the rights of Iranian sailors and fishermen in the high seas.”
The Fars report noted: “This range of new defense and combat innovations for the construction of heavy vessels, in line with the mass development of light vessels, and equipping them with various arrays can maintain Iran’s authority over the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman always in the face of transregional enemies”.
Speaking with Splash, Madani, who has been tracking Iranian vessels closely for the last six years, said: “We anticipate Iran’s coming drone carrier will eventually wreak havoc against commercial vessels in the Arabian Sea, somewhere halfway to India.”
Speaking with the Associated Press earlier this week, vice admiral Brad Cooper, the head of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, in charge of operations in the Middle East, discussed Iran’s ties with the Houthis.
“What I’ll say is Iran is clearly funding, they’re resourcing, they are supplying and they’re providing training,” Cooper said. “They’re obviously very directly involved. There’s no secret there.”
The phallic paint scheme on the drones tells anyone all they need to know about the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Wonder if they will take it to sea?
Norrty
https://www.reddit.com/r/WarshipPorn/comments/utjwrq/container_ship_sarvin_imo_9209348_being_converted/
Thanks; very useful read.
On occasion Reddit is useful.
oooo ****
One Strike & your out – or should I say …………….. Bottom of the Ocean
Easier for RAF/USAF to strike one target instead of many
Like to sink an aircraft carrier
Thank you Splash. It is where the most significant news is posted succinctly and with considered priority.
Would not last long,thanks
Well done Iran
they best not put to sea
What needs to be done is to level that place!
Funny how you people of Europe and the idiots of the usa always thinks that your wars will be won so easily…but it never seems to end that way, let’s start with your recent war with your companion Israel then let’s move on to your friends in Ukraine, never ending begging, idiots from usa use other people’s lives to fight their wars as usual like the coward’s they are and so we go on…..
The USA has given more in the way of lost life to other nations then anyone else over the course of history, which is maybe what you need to be studying!
Oh, so you mean like what Iran and Hamas are doing right now? Using proxies to fight their wars? Funding, training, and sending others to do their bidding..
You need to study history. That’s What the Taliban said. We fought them for 20 years. Ask them are Americans are cowards.Ask the Hamas are Israeli’s cowards. I know who the cowards are and you better hope you don’t find out the truth.
It’s 2nd life will be a hanger 4 underwater drones and fish
Pretty sure there’s a submarine lurking around the area with a few small torpedoes the minute it launches
We need more countries like Iran to protect us from the evil european empires.
These are very similar in appearance to the WWII German V-1 buzz bomb. If iran has not improved on that level of technology they should be easy to take down.
Not the Iranians just need to construct a glass bottom vessel, so in the coming months they can see their new drone carrier 😉
Submarine drone carrier
Hunt it down and sink it
I wonder if the IAF will sneak a group of “Fat Betty’s” into Iran to turn into a new corral reef project.
When will the US and its vassals or Zionist owners take a break from their blood lust and instigating endless wars?