The Sinking of the Dena Was Textbook
...the chart don't lie...
As always, we need to head to the chartroom.
Take a look at the chart above that I yanked from NYT.
What it represents are the Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC) out of the Persian Gulf/Arabian Gulf. Each of those dots is a tanker delivering the hydrocarbons that enable modern civilization to exist and keep three of the four horsemen of the apocalypse in the stable.
The one center-screen? That is the SLOC our warships and their logistics chain use to move from the Pacific into the Indian Ocean and on to our fleet.
See the city of Colombo? That is the main commercial hub on the island nation of Sri Lanka. The very center of the SLOC that flows south of Sri Lanka lies about 40 nautical miles south of the island.
Until you understand the above, you really should not be even starting a conversation about the sinking of the Iranian frigate, IRIS Dena, by a US Navy SSN.
Where was she sunk?
Authorities told Al Jazeera the frigate IRIS Dena, located about 40 nautical miles (75km) off Galle in southern Sri Lanka, sent out a distress call between 6am and 7am (00:30 to 01:30 GMT).
The ship had about 180 crew members on board, and a search and rescue operation was continuing, Sri Lankan officials said.
The Iranian frigate was returning from having taken part in the 2026 International Fleet Review last month in eastern India’s coastal city of Vishakapatnam.
The United States and Israel are presently in a naval and air conflict with Iran. Over the last 96 hours, we have sunk almost all the Iranian Navy. In spite of this, an Iranian frigate armed with anti-ship cruise missiles left a neutral port and headed west toward the American fleet conducting combat operations. She was sailing athwart the major Indian Ocean SLOC our fleet was using.
A wise Commanding Officer, faced with such overwhelming overmatch, would have done what COs have done for thousands of years in such situations: he would not have put to sea.
He knew thousands of years of war at sea. He knew what was going on, but he persisted.
No naval leader in the last three thousand years would have looked at this scenario and said, “No, leave that warship alone.”
This was probably one of the most justifiable sinkings of a warship in recent history.
You would be hard pressed to find a reason not to sink this ship. You are under no requirement to wait for it to come within ASCM range of one of your ships. Indeed, I would consider it professional malpractice not to engage a warship from a nation you are at war with if it is closing your fleet.
The right tool was chosen for this task as well. There are few units better at rampaging through SLOCs than an SSN.
I like how our friend Brent Sadler put it,
“The strongest use of submarines is unleashing the captains of those boats with a set of orders: Go in this area and kill anything that meets the following conditions, and act as you see fit,” Sadler said. “Independence, stealth and aggressiveness, that’s the best use of submarines, and I think you’re seeing some of that here.”
‘Nuff said.
1) The "Dana" sinking was a perfectly legitimate action in warfare. She was a warship, a large surface combatant (yes, I know that you probably don't consider 1500-ton frigate as "large", but she was ocean-capable and armed to the teeth neverless). She was absolutely legitimate target in any conflict. You don't just leave a missile-armed warship behind your back; it could end disastrously.
2) The "Dana" crew is worthy of respect. They knew perfectly well that they are sailing against vastly superior opposing force, that would most likely destroy it. They have a lot of opportunities to go to neutral port and intern their ship. But they decided not to. Their duty as Iranian sailors called; no matter how they like/dislike Iranian regime, their homeland was at war. Their homeland was attacked. They acted as they supposed to
3) The US submarine attack was as close to honest battle as submarine action could be. They closed to periscope range; it means no more than 10 km. If "Dana" noticed them, the submarine itself might become the target; "Dana" carried anti-submarine torpedo tubes and helicopters (no data about her sonar rig, but apparently she have at least hull-mounted one).
To summarize - congratulations to USN for flawless action, and honor to sailors of "Dena", the ones who acted instead of hiding.
The real question is what was the skipper of the Dena thinking, did he think he'd be able to return to Iranian waters under these circumstances? What did he expect to do there when the entire rest of the Iranian navy was already providing sealife habitats?