Hegseth says U.S. sub sank Iranian warship off Sri Lanka

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

March 4, 2026 2:27 AM EST Updated 4 mins ago


GALLE, Sri Lanka, March 4 (Reuters) - A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, U.S. ​Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday. Sri Lankan Foreign minister Vijitha ​Herath had earlier told parliament 180 people were on board the ⁠Iranian vessel, which he identified as the IRIS Dena.

A ship named IRINS ​Dena was listed as taking part in a naval drill held in the ​Bay of Bengal from February 18 to 25, according to the exercise's website.

INJURED IN SRI LANKAN HOSPITAL

Sri Lankan navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said bodies had been recovered from ​the sea in the area of the incident. Thirty-two people were rescued ​by the Sri Lankan navy and were being treated in hospital in the southern port ‌city ⁠of Galle.

The navy received a distress call from an Iranian ship and informed the Sri Lankan air force and both launched a search and rescue operation, he said.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/sri-lanka-rescues-30-people-board-distressed-iranian-ship-foreign-minister-says-2026-03-04/

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This is breaking all over the place.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. "You're a bad man."

Since there's no declared state of war, we're just killing people to show that we can. "What are you going to do about it?"



Source: https://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-twilight-zone-its-good-life-1961.html

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Was about to post a biggun' that renders (but you found one)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. What's the source for that? I could find only thumbnail-size pictures that would display here.

This will backfire.

More rain today, I think. And good morning.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. TPM

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/after/1516304

And glad for the rain instead of snow - my snowdrops have started to come up and bloom (still have some plowed dirty snow mounds around but those are getting knocked down finally)!

And 'afternoon to you!

[Hugin]

2. Let me be the first to say...

So what.

An announcement geared to please the audience of one and the slack jawed Fox News viewers.

[Shipwack]

4. I care.

People died. In an illegal war.

[Hugin]

6. That much is a given...

My point was that lethal measures orders of magnitude greater than a target which posed no immediate threat were unleashed for no good reason. A show. A sound bite.

This is the equivalent of blowing up a speedboat in the Caribbean.

[EX500rider]

7. Letting it get close enough to do damage seems like a bad plan to me

Dena was equipped with surface-to-air and anti-ship missiles, consisting of four Qader anti-ship missiles, a 76 mm Fajr-27 naval gun, and a 40 mm Fath-40 AA cannon, two 20 mm Oerlikon, two 12.7 mm heavy machine guns, and two triple torpedo launcher, 533 mm

[sarisataka]

11. The conflict itself is dubious

(A massive understatement)

But within the conflict I don’t see anything “illegal”. It is a military vessel heading towards a war zone.

[EX500rider]

13. The same people screaming "war crime" would be screaming if the US let it get close enough to sink USN vessels also

The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) carrier group is currently operating in the Arabian Sea, not far from Sri Lanka

[sarisataka]

15. True

There were already claims the Lincoln [/i was sunk or at least put out of action a couple days ago.

[Hugin]

16. The billion dollar submarine probably launched a torpedo that cost much more than the "frigate" it sank.

Nothing in the manifest of the sunken ship was even remotely dangerous to a carrier group. It was a show.

[EX500rider]

17. "......... ship was even remotely dangerous to a carrier group"

The Qader medium-range anti-ship cruise missiles she carried with a range of 300km and a sea-skimming profile and a 440lb warhead wouldn't exactly tickle IMO.

And close enough and her Valfajr homing torpedo's would also be dangerous, 15k range, 300k warhead.

[FBaggins]

18. Nothing close to that

The Iranian "frigate" was nowhere near the size or complexity of what our Navy would consider a frigate (Closing on a billion dollars these days)... but it was fairly new and undoubtedly much more expensive than the torpedo (in the low single-digit millions).

[EX500rider]

8. This action marks the first time a U.S. submarine has sunk an enemy vessel with a torpedo since Aug. 14, 1945

when the USS Torsk sank a Japanese frigate.

[sarisataka]

12. I believe this is only the second time

A nuclear submarine has torpedoed a ship in combat.

[EX500rider]

14. Yep, the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano by the British nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror in '82

(formerly the USS Phoenix, a WWII-era light cruiser)

[Bengus81]

10. What for Hegseth...shits and giggles?