this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2024
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One of Iran’s newest warships capsized in port over the weekend while undergoing repairs, an incident that could damage key warfighting systems and put the ship out of commission for up to half a year, a naval analyst said.

The 311-foot-long frigate Sahand was at a dock in the port of Bandar Abbas when it “lost its balance” after water leaked into its tanks, according to a report from the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

A photo from the semi-official Tasnim News Agency showed the warship, with a displacement of about 2,000 tons, resting on its left side in the Bandar Abbas port.

The ship, which Tasnim said entered service in December 2018, is one of the bigger vessels in Iran’s fleet, equipped with antiship cruise missiles and an electronic warfare system.

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[–] norimee@lemmy.world 33 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Most of Irans military technology is unbelievable outdated, like they don't even have reliable transportation for their most important polititicians and fly them around in rusty helicopters from 1979 (that crashes and kills the head of state). And the newer ones are just... like this. Like when you buy a fake imitation of the product you want and its just flimsy and faulty (and just falls over).

Doesnt that make the thought of them having nuclear weapons extra scary? Not even that they could use them intentionally, but how big is the chance they are stored, transported and handled properly.

How big is the chance they blow up half the world just by accident?

[–] BaroqueInMind@lemmy.one 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (4 children)

How big is the chance they blow up half the world just by accident?

I think you need to read up on nuclear warhead yields, because if you are seriously saying a few of their barely working centrifuges can make yields that can create nuclear fusion explosions large enough to destroy a continent, you sound dumb.

[–] mozz@mbin.grits.dev 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

It's not dumb at all.

The early US warheads had a design such that a wrong electrical signal, as simple as a static electricity spark or short circuit from a corroded insulation piece somewhere, could trigger the detonation sequence and cause a full-strength detonation of the warhead. There are lots of ways it can happen, not all of them obvious in advance until it happens; fires, air accidents, lightning, or all kinds of accidental human mishandling while they're being assembled or moved around or maintained or God knows what else. And it only takes once.

I can't find it now, but I swear that there was an incident that involved the accidental release of an H-bomb during an aircraft accident over the American south where the damn thing managed to somehow do exactly what was described and send the wrong electrical signal while it was being jostled around or burned or whatever, and it was only the elaborate multiple safety systems the Americans had built into it (after some painful experience had taught them they had to be careful with the fucking things) that stopped it from detonating for real and blowing up half of Georgia or something. When they found the thing on the ground, it was fully ready to go, and it was only because the one little additional redundant "are you sure?" switch was still set to "no" that it didn't go off.

And you can build a bomb without adding the safety systems. No one stops you; there's no pop up that says you can't put these pieces together because it's not safe yet. And your boss might get really, really mad at you if your nuclear weapon isn't ready yet because you need to add something that might not be needed. I think it's a very real concern.

[–] Mechanize@feddit.it 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

There are multiple incidents that kind of fit, but I think you are talking about this one: Wiki article

Information declassified since 2013 has shown that one of the bombs was judged by nuclear weapons engineers at the time to have been only one safety switch away from detonation, and that it was "credible" to imagine conditions under which it could have detonated.

[–] mozz@mbin.grits.dev 4 points 4 months ago

That's the one

Parker F. Jones, a supervisor at Sandia, concluded in a reassessment of the accident in 1969 that "one simple, dynamo-technology, low voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe" He further suggested that it would be "credible" to imagine that in the process of such an accident, an electrical short could cause the Arm/Safe Switch to switch into the "Arm" mode, which, had it happened during the Goldsboro accident, could have resulted in a multi-megaton detonation.

Bill Stevens, a nuclear weapon safety engineer at Sandia, gave the following assessment in an internal documentary film produced by Sandia in 2010: "Some people can say, 'hey, the bomb worked exactly like designed.' Others can say, 'all but one switch operated, and that one switch prevented the nuclear detonation.'"[34]

Charlie Burks, another nuclear weapons systems engineer for Sandia, also added: "Unfortunately, there have been thirty-some incidents where the ready/safe switch was operated inadvertently. We're fortunate that the weapons involved at Goldsboro were not suffering from that same malady."[35]

The bomb was about 250 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. I don't know exactly how it works, but if it's simple multiplication, then you could say that everything for 480 miles in any direction would have been more or less destroyed.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

No one thinks that. A nuclear attack is generally assumed to cascade counter launches by other regional neighbors, so on, and so forth.

This probably wouldn't happen, as I've even read reports suggesting a conventional response (albeit overwhelming) may be more likely.

No one thinks Iran's nukes would crack a continent.

[–] yeather@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 months ago

More like accidentally launch one at India / Pakistan and watch that area of the world burn.

[–] YeetPics@mander.xyz -2 points 4 months ago

Yea, nuclear bombs are super small and weak. It's just propaganda that they deliver any destructive power at all.

The last nuke used in wartime was full of confetti and streamers. You sheep need to get it together.

[–] mean_bean279@lemmy.world -1 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Outdated technology militarily is proving to be something we in the west need to invest into again. The US and USSR didn’t win against Germany because we had superior technology. We won because we pumped out shitloads of Sherman’s and Jeeps. So many that the USSR was using them for a decade after the iron curtain went up. Now we’re seeing in Ukraine how important 155mm shells and dumb glide bombs from 60 years ago are still just as devastating. So, while Iran might not have our cool tech that makes things like Iron Dome possible, or laser weapon systems. The Shahed drone is so stupidly easy to produce and cheap. It’s insanely destructive by cost. We shouldn’t underestimate a people for being simple with their design when that works incredibly well and is incredibly cheap.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The Sherman was a "modern"tank for the time, it just had a very simple design philosophy. Just pointing out it wasn't "outdated".

[–] mean_bean279@lemmy.world -1 points 4 months ago

Compared to the tiger tank it wasn’t super modern and it struggled, but we built so damn many of them that it didn’t matter it wasn’t better, it just surrounded and shot at them. We’re seeing the same philosophy today on the battlefield in Ukraine. We keep pushing for ultra modern weapons, but it’s becoming clear that simple, easy, and devastating proven weapons are still just as good if not better.

[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

This is fully deserving of a Nelson laugh.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago

Will this do?

[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

At least the front didn’t fall off.

[–] Simulation6@sopuli.xyz 1 points 4 months ago

Still, they should tow it outside the environment just to be safe.

[–] solidgrue@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Isn't this like the second Iranian warship to be mysteriously disabled this week?

[–] i2ndshenanigans@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It’s pretty clear what happens to this one wouldn’t say it was mysterious. Do you think a country from the west capsizing ships in Iranian ports?

Sounds to me like their repair crew screwed up and caused something to fill with water that shouldn’t have filled with water.

[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

Sounds like someone hacked the Gibson on this one.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 3 points 4 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


One of Iran’s newest warships capsized in port over the weekend while undergoing repairs, an incident that could damage key warfighting systems and put the ship out of commission for up to half a year, a naval analyst said.

The 311-foot-long frigate Sahand was at a dock in the port of Bandar Abbas when it “lost its balance” after water leaked into its tanks, according to a report from the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

A photo from the semi-official Tasnim News Agency showed the warship, with a displacement of about 2,000 tons, resting on its left side in the Bandar Abbas port.

The ship, which Tasnim said entered service in December 2018, is one of the bigger vessels in Iran’s fleet, equipped with antiship cruise missiles and an electronic warfare system.

“Salt encrustation destroys piston linings and turbine blades and interferes with combustion so if they take short cuts to get that ship back into service, they will pay a heavy price for doing so,” Schuster said.

Schuster said the photo released by Tasnim suggests the ship rolled over quickly, rather than sinking and settling on the relatively shallow harbor bottom at Bandar Abbas.


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[–] Cleverdawny@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago

Hi, I am the Sahand, and I want to be a fish

[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I guess the mighty Iranian NAVY is no longer a threat to commandeer merchant vessels before they enter the port of Baltimore. (That collapsed bridge is but we’ll move that as soon as we find our magnet fishing set.)

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

The bridge has been cleared. They’re rebuilding now.