In 1980, the regime of Saddam Hussein decided to take advantage of the chaos of regime change in Iran by invading the country. He hoped that the Iranian military would not be able to put together a sufficient defense to stop the Iraqis. His hopes were soon dashed as the military of Iran was, after a short period of time, able to stem the advance of Saddam's troops.

Part of this military 'adventure' took place on and over the waters of the Persian Gulf, one of the more heavily transited bodies of water in the world. Most of this shipping activity was for the importation of materials and the export of oil. It was the sale of this oil that provided Iran with the funding needed to purchase war materiel, so it was only natural that Iraq would do what it could to stem the flow of oil as well as that of material coming into Iran.

Many of Iran's ports were in the north western part of the gulf and while materiel could enter in those farther south, the oil terminals were in the north. So much of the naval war was concentrated in the upper reaches of the Persian Gulf.

Iraq used standard fighter-bombers to try to damage or sink incoming ships, but the Iranians had F-14 Tomcats with their Phoenix missile systems which were devastatingly accurate. Even being scanned by an F-14 radar system was enough to cause missions to be aborted. Thus there were changes in tactics to help alleviate this situation, some of which were quite successful in shooting down Tomcats, but of course, those didn't last.

The major weapons used against shipper were two fold. One was the use of the Exocet missile fired from slow moving Super Frelon helicopters. These flew close to the water's surface and so slow as to not show up as a threat on the Tomcat's AWG-9 radar systems. They were very effective in damaging ships and sinking some. The other was the use of Chinese Silkworm surface to surface missiles. These were not as accurate as Exocets, but were effective in their own right.

There is considerably more in the book on strategy and tactics by both sides, but I don't want to give away everything. The authors have done an admirable job of research regarding this subject and it makes for a riveting read. Add to it some great photos and the usual excellent profiles and color artwork we have come to expect from Helion and you have a book that you simply have to pick up and read.

October 2024

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