The is the first incident between the United States and Iran since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran ended.
The US Navy has refuted claims made by Iranian state-run media that one of its warships violated Iranian waters. Tehran’s Tasim news outlet reported earlier this week that the American USS Fitzgerald vessel “intended to approach the waters of the Islamic Republic of Iran” and that in response, an Iranian SH-3 Sea King helicopter was dispatched to the scene as a warning for it to move. “With the insistence of the flight team and the defense support of the Iranian army, the American destroyer finally agreed and moved away from the waters,” the Iranian report continued. U.S. Central Command disputed the account of the interaction, referring to the encounter as a “safe and professional interaction” which had no impact on the USS Fitzgerald’s mission. CENTCOM’s statement added that “any reports claiming otherwise are falsehoods” and are attempts by the Iranian regime to spread misinformation. The interaction between the American destroyer and Iranian forces marks the first reported incident between the two nations since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran ended.
Introducing USS Fitzgerald
As one of the US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, the USS Fitzgerald (DDF-62) serves as a multimission warship able to carry out anti-aircraft, anti-submarine, and anti-surface warfare. The Arleigh Burke ships center on the Aegis Combat System and the SPY-1D passive electronically scanned array radar. Similar to some of the Navy’s newer surface combatants, the Arleigh Burke destroyers are powered by gas turbine propulsion. Every warship in this class is equipped with four General Electric LM 2500 gas turbines, which provide 100,000 total shaft horsepower by a dual shaft design.
In terms of armament power, the Arleigh Burke-class is quite lethal. Each DDG in this class is fitted with 56 Raytheon Tomahawk cruise missiles and a combination of land-attack missiles, anti-ship missiles, and a Tercom-aided navigation system. Both types of missiles are launched from a pair of Lockheed Martin MK41 vertical launch systems. Over the years, two primary upgrades have been incorporated into the Arleigh Burke DDGs. The most recent Flight III upgrade centers on the AN/SPY-6 radar. As detailed by the Navy, “A second phase of the DDG modernization program is underway to provide a comprehensive mid-life upgrade for the Flight IIA DDGs that will ensure the DDG 51 class will maintain mission relevance. The modernization changes are also being introduced to new construction ships to increase the baseline capabilities of the newest ships in the class, and to provide commonality between new construction ships and modernized in-service ships.”
USS Fitzgerald was commissioned with the Navy three decades ago in Newport, Rhode Island. Named to honor Vietnam War hero Lieutenant William Charles Fitzgerald, the Arleigh Burke destroyer is currently homeported at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, under the US 7th Fleet area of responsibility. In 2017, Fitzgerald notably suffered a collision with a Philippine-flagged container ship off the coast of Japan. In the aftermath of the incident, seven crewmen were killed and others injured, including the ship’s commanding officer and two sailors.
About the author: Maya Carlin
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has bylines in many publications, including The National Interest, The Jerusalem Post, and The Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin.
Image: DVIDS.
