| field_i_picture | title (item) | field_cer_web | field_cer_navbox | g_geofield | |
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Iranian missile boat Paykan (P224, 1977) | ||||
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Kaman-class missile boat |
Perhaps the most famous of the entire Kaman-class of fast missile craft (or ‘missile boats’) – as the Iranians named their La Combattante II vessels, ordered in February 1974 – was IRINS Peykan. Laid down on the slips of Construction de Mécanique Normandie on 15 October 1974, it was launched on 12 October 1976 and commissioned into service on 31 March 1978. Vessels of this class had a standard load of 234 tons, and a full load of 255, and could reach a maximum speed of 34 knots. They were 47m (154ft) long and 7.1m (23.3ft) wide, and armed with one 76mm and one 40mm gun. Because of the revolution, only nine out of 60 BGM-84A Harpoon missiles ordered for them actually reached Iran, and Peykan was the second to fire one in combat: during Operation Morvarid, it sank an Iraqi P-6 motor torpedo boat. Peykan was subsequently sunk by Iraqi P-15 Termit anti-ship missiles, with the loss of 31 of her crew. The inset shows the crest of the 26th Missile Boat Squadron, to which IRINS Peykan was assigned. (Artwork by Ivan Zajac)