Operation Praying Mantis - Definition and Overview

Operation Praying Mantis was the one-day action waged by U.S. naval forces in retaliation for the Iranian mining of an American warship.

During the Iran-Iraq War in 1987 and 1988, U.S. warships escorted reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers through the Persian Gulf to protect them from Iranian attacks, an operation dubbed Earnest Will. On 14 April 1988, one of the U.S. escort vessels, the frigate Samuel B. Roberts, hit an Iranian M-08 mine.

On 18 April 1988, the Americans responded with several groups of surface warships, plus airplanes from the carrier Enterprise. They destroyed Iranian naval and intelligence facilities on two inoperable oil platforms in the Persian Gulf, and sent a handful of armed speedboats to the bottom. Simpson was attacked by a AGM-84 Harpoon missile from the Iranian frigate Joshan, and hit back with four missiles. Joshan was then sunk by gunfire. Another Iranian frigate was damaged. The frigate Sabalan was a special target; it had repeatedly fired machine guns into the bridges of neutral commercial ships. It was heavily damaged minutes before the Americans halted their operation.