Vengeance

43 IRIS JAMARAN

Night had settled over the Strait of Hormuz, light rain falling from clouds hidden in the darkness above, as IRIS Jamaran, a Moudge-class frigate in the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, moved swiftly across the waterway. The ship’s captain, Commander Behzad Ahmadi, monitored the frigate’s position as it approached the designated starting point for tonight’s mission. A few hundred yards out, Ahmadi ordered engines to all stop, and his ship coasted until it halted and then loitered in the desired spot.

He went aft to the ship’s fantail, where he monitored the progress of tonight’s mission. Jamaran’s stern was filled with black spherical objects, each one a few feet in diameter with spikes jutting out from its smooth metallic surface. In the distance, Ahmadi spotted the other Iranian ships that had been outfitted with Russian mines for the night’s task, likewise making their way across the Strait to their designated starting points.

Ahmadi’s assignment was straightforward but painstaking, releasing the mines at a predetermined distance apart as Jamaran journeyed across the strait. When the Iranian ships completed their task, hopefully before the sun rose across the Middle East, the Strait of Hormuz would be closed for business, with several barriers of mines stretching across the waterway, the mines floating at multiple depths so that not only would surface ships be threatened, but submarines as well.

The frigate’s Executive Officer approached Ahmadi and reported that all preparations had been completed; the mines and their anchor chains were ready to deploy. Jamaran would lay mines that would float a few meters beneath the water’s surface in the first tier across the strait, while other ships would lay mines at deeper levels and in the second and third tiers.

“Are the mine timers set?” Ahmadi asked.

“Yes, sir. All mines will activate simultaneously at the designated time.”

Ahmadi nodded his understanding, then returned to the frigate’s Bridge, where he commenced the night’s operation.

“Helm, ahead one-third. Come to course one-six-zero.”

To his Executive Officer on the fantail, he ordered, “Commence minelaying.”