earthgoogler
Collection Editor
Reged: 10/08/05
Posts: 818
Loc: Germany
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Bandar Abbas is Iran's main navy base. Most of the bigger ships are based here. Among them are Kilo class submarines, landing ships (including a former Iraqi Polnochny class ship) and frigates. There are four ships of the Alvand class visible. Four of these ships were built in Britain in the early 1970s, but one (Sahand) was sunk by US aircraft in 1988. Iran recently built a new one, named Mowj. No good photos of this ship so far, but it is said to be a development of the Alvand class. The main difference to the older ships are a helicopter landing pad at the rear and a smaller main gun (locally-built 76mm gun vs. British 114mm).
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Edited by earthgoogler (05/15/08 07:00 AM)
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Boomervet
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Reged: 05/07/06
Posts: 73
Loc: Florida
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Hi EarthGoogler, I was checking on the two Destroyers, one in the drydock, and one at head of Pier, moored stern to the Alvand #1,and I believe these may be the 2 former Allen M Sumner class Destroyers, Former USS Storms DD-780, and USS Zellers DD-777. One is Pierside, and the other is in drydock. Any chance I;m seeing these right?
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Munden
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Reged: 07/24/05
Posts: 1768
Loc: Maryland, USA
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No, there are no ships in this base which resemble the destroyers you're mentioning. earthgoogler has correctly labeled the ships from what I have seen. There are no ships which match the dimensions, and the two you've pointed out aren't even the same class. The Bayandor corvette in the dry dock is a full 100 feet too short to be a Sumner class.
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Analogman
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Reged: 06/23/06
Posts: 165
Loc: Northamptonshire, UK
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We know the Iranians HAD four British-built Vosper Mk. 5 frigates, the Alvand class. We also know one, the Sahand, was sunk in April of 1988 during Operation Praying Mantis, so there cannot possibly be four Vospers at Bandar Abbas.
So, the answer is that one of the four ships labled Alvand is incorrectly labled. If the ship is not an Alvand, and it does not fit the profile of other known Iranian ships, then there are two other possibilities.
1) The Iranians have a newly built ship
OR
2) The ship is not Iranian at all but a visiting ship.
This will require further investigation.
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IS1 (SW) (Ret.)
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earthgoogler
Collection Editor
Reged: 10/08/05
Posts: 818
Loc: Germany
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Found it! 
Yes, they have just three British-built ships but also a fourth ship they recently built that "appears to be a development of the Alvand (Vosper Mk 5) design". ( source ) This ship is called Mowj and was launched in October 2002, so it should be the unpainted ship near the drydock. Although I couldn't find any picures, from what we can see in GE the ship is very similar to the British-built (near-)sisters.
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Analogman
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Reged: 06/23/06
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Loc: Northamptonshire, UK
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Good find. I thought the Iranians were building their own stuff now, and this appears to be the aforementioned newcon unit.
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IS1 (SW) (Ret.)
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Boomervet
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Reged: 05/07/06
Posts: 73
Loc: Florida
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Ok Thanks Gang, I wasn't sure if they were Sumners or not, I know the 2 Sumners were sold to Iran years ago, and according to Web, they are still in service, albeit to what degree I don't think anyone knows. I just thought they looked different than the Alvand which is light colored above the one in question tied next to pier.
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Munden
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Reged: 07/24/05
Posts: 1768
Loc: Maryland, USA
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Hey, they have some relatively infamous craft in this image. Those four craft right ahead of the Thondor / Houdong class craft are some of the Tir class torpedo boats that North Korea sent them back around 2002. They also sent them some Peykaap boats. You can find the article(s) by just Googling for 'Peykaap'. ('Tir' is too common) The North Koreans call it the PT P-4 class I think. (or maybe that's just what everyone else calls it)
edit -- I forgot to mention there's another Tir class over with the line of patrol craft on the dockside near the Polnchny class ship.
I couldn't figure out the odd shape. Everything was a good match, but the only picture I have is a blurry distance shot. Then I realized that odd shape is from the torpedo tubes on either side.
The Peykaap might look similar in being very streamlined, but only 15m long or so and with much smaller torpedo tubes as they fire 'lightweight' torpedoes.
Ok, so that's not terribly 'infamous' as far as things go.
Edited by Munden (06/24/06 10:26 AM)
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Rascus
Tourist
Reged: 07/31/05
Posts: 266
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I've seen an Avaland about 5 miles away about the closest CPA. Seen quite a few Hudong's, mostly from Busher.
All the good ole days
Analogman, have you always been an EAST coast sailor? Curious if I may now you. Former IS myself.
Edited by Rascus (06/24/06 10:57 AM)
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earthgoogler
Collection Editor
Reged: 10/08/05
Posts: 818
Loc: Germany
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I just updated the file attached to my original post to reflect the new imagery of Bandar Abbas. The frigate Mowj is now out of the shipyard and is moored together with other active ships. Two of the 'Kilo' class submarines are missing in the new imagery, they are probably on a patrol in the Gulf.
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