IRIS Alborz (72)
{{Short description|Iranian Alvand-class frigate}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = File:Maritime_Security_Belt_2019_-_PHOTOEX_(40).jpg | Ship caption = Alborz in 2019 }} {{Infobox ship career | Ship country = Iran | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Pahlavi Iran|naval}} {{shipboxflag|Iran|naval}} | Ship name = Zaal | Ship namesake = Zaal | Ship sponsor = Abbas Aram | Ship ordered = 1960 | Ship builder = Vickers, Barrow | Ship original cost = | Ship yard number = 1080{{Cite ship register|register=MSI|id=6132432|shipname=Zaal |accessdate=9 December 2009 }} | Ship laid down = 3 March 1968 | Ship launched = 4 March 1969; {{Years ago|1969}} years ago. | Ship commissioned = 1 March 1971 }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = yes | Ship namesake = Alborz mountain range | Ship decommissioned = | Ship struck = | Ship identification = *Pennant number: 72
| Ship homeport = Bandar-Abbas | Ship fate = | Ship status = {{ship in active service}} }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Ship class = {{sclass|Alvand|frigate}} | Ship displacement = 1,100 tons (1,540 tons full load) | Ship length = {{convert|94.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{convert|11.07|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship draught = {{convert|3.25|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship power = | Ship propulsion = *2 shafts, 2 Paxman Ventura cruising diesels, {{convert|3,800|bhp|abbr=on}}
| Ship speed = {{convert|39|kn|km/h|0}} max | Ship range = {{convert|5000|nmi|km |
| 3|abbr=on}} at {{convert|15|kn|km/h|0}}
| Ship complement = 125-146 | Ship time to activate = | Ship sensors = | Ship EW = | Ship armament = *8 × Noor anti-ship missiles
| Ship armour = | Ship aircraft = | Ship aircraft facilities = | Ship notes = }} |
Alborz ({{langx|fa|البرز}}) is an {{sclass|Alvand|frigate|3}}, Vosper Mark V, of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy. It was supplied to pre-revolutionary Iran's Imperial Iranian Navy by Great Britain. Launched in 1969, the frigate dates back to the time of the Shah of Iran.
History
=1968–1999=
Alborz is an {{sclass|Alvand|frigate|3}} (based on the Vosper Mark 5 design) of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy.Anthony H. Cordesman, Lin Aaron (2015). [https://books.google.com/books?id=1MKlBwAAQBAJ&dq=Alborz+frigate&pg=PA24 The Iranian Sea-Air-Missile Threat to Gulf Shipping], Center for Strategic & International Studies. It was supplied to pre-revolutionary Iran's Imperial Iranian Navy by the United Kingdom during the time of the Shah of Iran.{{Cite web|url=https://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/04/23/two-iranian-warships-now-escorting-iranian-cargo-ships-off-yemen.html|title=Two Iranian Warships Now Escorting Iranian Cargo Ships Off Yemen|first=Richard|last=Sisk|date=31 October 2017|website=Military.com}}Anthony H. Cordesman (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ez7GKUHmE88C&dq=Alborz+frigate&pg=PA56 Iran's Developing Military Capabilities], Center for Strategic & International Studies.
The ship was originally called Zaal, named after Zaal, a mythical warrior of ancient Iran and an important character in Ferdowsi's epic poem Shahnameh. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution it was renamed Alborz, after the Iranian Alborz mountain range.
Alborz was laid down on 3 March 1968, launched on 4 March 1969, and commissioned on 1 March 1971.
She completed her refit on 15 May 1977 at Portsmouth, England.{{citation|first=Paul H.|last=Silverstone|title=Naval Intelligence|journal=Warship International|publisher=International Naval Research Organization|volume=14|number=4|date=1977|pages=284–285|jstor=44890143}}
On 1 June 1987 Alborz stopped a Cypriot large bulk carrier Vevey, and searched it for possible war material for Iraq.Lee Allen Zatarain (2010). [https://books.google.com/books?id=3pXUAgAAQBAJ&dq=Alborz+frigate&pg=PT516 America's First Clash with Iran; The Tanker War, 1987–88], Casemate Publishers. Although this was within the Iranian captain's right to do so under international law, this became known as the first search-and-seizure of the Iran–Iraq War.{{cite web |url=http://navsci.berkeley.edu/ns12b/Documents/Vincennes%20Case%20Study.doc |title=Vincennes |accessdate=2007-06-16 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061209180404/http://navsci.berkeley.edu/ns12b/Documents/Vincennes%20Case%20Study.doc |archivedate=2006-12-09 }}
In 1988, during Operation Praying Mantis, an attack by the United States Armed Forces within Iranian territorial waters in retaliation for the Iranian naval mining of international waters in the Persian Gulf during the Iran–Iraq War and the subsequent damage to an American guided missile frigate, it saw little use as the Iranian Navy proved no match for the U.S. Navy.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16485842|author=Jonathan Marcus|title=Is a US-Iran maritime clash inevitable?|work=BBC News|date=10 January 2012 |accessdate=11 November 2014}}
=2000–present=
File:بازگشت ناوشکنهای البرز و بوشهر از خلیج عدن (5).jpg
In January 2010 the ship was sent to the Gulf of Aden, to protect Iranian maritime interests.{{Cite web|url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2010/march/world-navies-review|title=World Navies in Review | Proceedings - March 2010 Vol. 136/3/1,285}}
In April 2015, Alborz was deployed along with the supply vessel Bushehr (together, the Iranian Navy's 34th Fleet) to deliver arms shipments from Iran to the Houthis in Yemen, challenging a Saudi Arabian-Emirati blockade of Yemini ports from the delivery of such shipments.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/two-iranian-warships-reach-gulf-of-aden/54728|title=Two Iranian warships reach Gulf of Aden|date=April 21, 2015 |website=aa.com.tr}}Nader Uskowi (2018). [https://books.google.com/books?id=DX1xDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Alborz%22+frigate+somali&pg=PA121 Temperature Rising; Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Wars in the Middle East] The US responded by sending the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt to the Gulf of Aden, challenging the Iranian ships, which responded in turn by turning around and heading back to Iran.
Judging by photographs, it underwent another modernization during which the Iranian six-barrel {{cvt|30|mm|in}} Kamand anti-aircraft artillery system was installed on it with an opto-electronic system for detecting and tracking targets.{{Cite web|url=https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3861949.html|title=Модернизация иранского фрегата Alborz|date=5 December 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.janes.com/article/93577/iranian-navy-upgrades-alborz-frigate-with-new-combat-systems|title = Janes | Latest defence and security news}}
On 1 January 2024, Alborz—at this point 51 years old—deployed to the Red Sea after passing through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait.{{Cite web|url=https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2024/01/01/Iranian-warship-Alborz-enters-Red-Sea-amid-tensions-State-media|title=Iranian warship Alborz enters Red Sea amid tensions: State media|work= Al Arabiya English|date=January 1, 2024|author=}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-red-sea-destroyer-alborz/32755341.html|title=Iran Deploys Destroyer To Tense Red Sea|first=RFE/RL's Radio|last=Farda|work=Radio Free Europe|date=January 1, 2024}} This happened against a backdrop of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis targeting vessels in the Red Sea for weeks, and a day after US Navy helicopters sank three Houthi-operated boats that had attacked a container ship in the Red Sea. Iran Defence Minister Mohammad-Reza Gharaei Ashtiani said "nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance".[https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-warns-against-proposed-us-backed-red-sea-force-isna-2023-12-14/ "Iran warns against proposed U.S.-backed Red Sea force - ISNA,"] Reuters.
See also
Notes
{{Reflist}}
{{commons category|IRIS 72 Alborz (ship, 1971)}}
{{Alvand class frigate}}
{{Frigates of Iran}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alborz}}
Category:Alvand-class frigates
Category:Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness
Category:Iran–Iraq War naval ships of Iran