America Obliterates Half Of Iran's Navy In 8 Hours! - Operation Praying Mantis 

Should a do a long a10 warthog video? if not what next?

International Court: USA You can’t do that it’s a war crime. USA: They touched my boat International Court: Fair enough have a good day

I wish there were history teachers like you in schools

For context”I’m from the Government and I’m here to help” is actually the most terrifying words you can hear according to Ronald Regan.

USA- you touched our boat......YOU TOUCHED OUR BOAT! Japan- NO! BAD IDEA! DO NOT TOUCH THE USA BOATS!

Best part was a Russian warship showing up like “this is cool, we wanna watch” 😆

Its a lesson as old as America itself: DO NOT TOUCH OUR BOATS!!!

I love that description "The cardinal sin of the late 20th century: raising gas prices." That along with the legal defense of "We didn't agree to _not_ blow those up." really does make this a fun video and a reminder of a little bit of history.

I lost it at the soviets saying "we are here to take photos". Beautifully told and an epic story.

Proportional Responses: If your life-threatening actions warrant a "proportional response" from the US Navy, any response that doesn't involve the complete obliteration of your nation's military and infrastructure is proportional to the response that it could have been...

13F veteran here….. you NEED to look up the story of the USS Biddle. This ship is most definitely worth mentioning. USS Biddle, Last manual Gun sight kill from a ship

I was also there as XO of USS O'BRIEN (DD-975) in SAG Delta. Crazy day to be sure. SAG Delta most of the day trolling back and forth in the haze through the Straits of Hormuz trying to get one of the Iranian frigates to come out and play. INS SAHAND finally came out to play and, as discussed, immediately got jumped by the Strike Group from USS ENTERPRISE. The only weapon fired by SAG Delta against SAHAND was a Harpoon shot by USS JOSEPH STRAUSS (DDG-16). STRAUSS was directed not to fire but did anyway. For a good account of the US Navy in the Persian Gulf during those times, including Operation Praying Mantis, I recommend the book "Inside the Danger Zone" by Harold Wise.

Yes, those A-6 pilots are indeed the main characters. Doing a WW2 style dive bomb with anti-aircraft guns firing at you, not giving a shit, and then completely disabling the vessel with a bomb straight down the smokestack is absolutely main character material. That's amazing and bless those fuckers for thinking, "My orders are vague. It's time to improvise."

1000% makes sense that a modern destroyer named the Samuel B. Robert's would be nigh unsinkable given its namesake. If the first American ship with that name took a 3rd of the Japanese navy to sink, an Iranian mine isn't going to take down her successor.

2024 and it seems "F-around and find out" and "don't touch the boats" are lessons that need to be re-taught...

My dad worked on the A6 intruder when he was in the Navy. Years later after they were replaced he was able to tell us he worked on the lazer guidance systems. He was also stationed on the Enterprise . I am not sure if he was there at that moment in history but it wouldn't surprise me. He passed away about 18 years ago and I miss him and his naval stories.

For anyone not familiar with US naval history...as soon as you hear "Samuel B. Roberts" in any iteration or in any conflict, things are going to get crazy.

The moment you said the USS Enterprise was on standby for support...I realized the proportions were already out of whack! No other navy vessels needed to be there. She could have taken that entire operation herself, but was nice enough to let the little boats have fun and play babysitter.

Mate, I normally have zero interest in military stuff, but your storytelling is incredible. Love listening to your stuff before bed, it's super relaxing. Keep it up!

Even though I'm pretty damn sure that the Soviet ship was there to gather first-hand intel on the performance of US/NATO equipment and our tactics, I can still respect the sense of humor about it.

I've learned more history from this man than any public school ever taught me. Also, bologna mist cloud number one 😂

"It's never a war crime the *first* time." Beautiful words to live by.

“Or, I’m going to have to get, real proportional, around here”. Pure gold

Iranian here: In our native language, praying mantises are called “آخوندک,” which when taken literally translates to “tiny mullah.” With mullahs (the guys with weird hats and long beards) being in charge of the country since the revolution, there’s even a roast in the operation’s title itself.

I was there aboard the USS Merrill (DD976). That was a WILD day. We pumped over 100 5 inch rounds into that platform. Mount 51(forward, on the bow) and mount 52 (aft, on the fantail) just chucking out round after round. The Soviet ship's Captain really said that. That is a true story.

Iran: "...WTF just happened?" US: "Your guys fired on our guys, so... We handled it."

"... if the American people find out about your mistake, I will have to get absolutely 'proportional' about that." Very funny!

US navy: Why are you here? The Russian ship pulling up a chair and some vodka: I'm here for the show.😅

I'm a US Navy retired vet, and this is some of the funniest story telling I've ever heard, love it. On the last ship I was on, USS Princeton, a similar thing happened, got hit by two mines, this happened way back in 1991, but that ship is still fully operational, it's amazing what US Naval ship yards can do.

Loved the Jocko cameo! But one slight error. A-6 crews sit side by side. So that crew who dropped a bomb down the smoke stack of that Iranian frigate were probably giving each other high fives after the bombing run.

I laughed soooo loud when you said made the credits as “Bologna Mist Cloud #1” 😂 Your videos are amazing! Thank you 🙏

My sisters in the Navy deployed right now over there outside of Yemen. I keep seeing news articles about missiles that keep getting fired at her ship. Its pretty f’d up and ive been really scared. This video just made me cry of laughter and eased my concerns. I guess i just needed to be reminded how stupid it is to mess with the US. Thank you for the vid! Def Subscribing

Honestly, when you mentioned them going to court over war crimes I was kinda expecting the court to be like "So you put mines out into international water where any civilian vessel could stumble upon them? And you think America did the war crime here?"

Every Naval Aviator Ever: No way in hell am I passing up a chance to paint a ship on my plane.

And now Iran about to f around and find out for a second time. 😂

I actually found this video by accident, when another RU-vidr put his commentary on it. I had a hard time getting through it, because I was laughing so hard!!! I followed his link here, and watched it again, straight from you, and now I HAVE to check out more of your videos! Don't let me down, bro!

It’s so strange to think that a military commander stopping operations when they are going too well is a VERY new concept

The A-6 intruder was the most technologically advanced attack plane of its generation and is overlooked WAY too often.

As an American, 🇺🇸 (Southern Indiana) I have to say, Fat Electrician’s videos are THE BEST. Fascinating story’s and he’s hilarious. I like how he speaks fast and no BS. Makes me proud to be an American 🇺🇸. Your videos literally lift my spirits. Thank you and all service members. Gives me chills thinking about it.

You tell stories with the right amount of detail and speed. Well done. I laughed several times.

This is the way we want history told. Keep this up, man, as long as you can. I never get tired of your video.

When I was in the military, we had a saying: "The only reason something can freely traverse any of the oceans of the world....is because the U.S. Navy allows it to."

One of my favorite parts of rewatching these movies is watching the subscribers count raise. So close to a mil!!!

Man... Thank you for your content. It makes me smile during a tough period in my life. Gracias!

Op. Praying Mantis' tagline could have been the paraphrased quote from Raul Julia in Street Fighter: "For you Iranians the time the US Navy destroyed half of your fleet was the worst day of your life...But for the US Navy, it was but a monday" Yes, April 18, 1988, was a Monday. A missed opportunity for America to mail a "I Hate Mondays" mug to the Iranian Navy's Chief of Staff, if you ask me

As badass as the A10 is, I feel a long video style would be perfect for Taffy 3. The sheer battleship sized balls of USS Johnston, USS Hoel, the WW2 incarnation of the USS Samuel B. Roberts, and the other ships of Taffy 3's totally bonkers charge/last stand against what was the majority of the Japanese capital ship fleet (including Yamato herself).

Here we go again

It’s cool watching in real time as you get better and better at telling these stories. Please make them all 15+ minutes. I guarantee 99% of us will watch till the end, no matter how long the videos are.

At the time, I was LTJG Slattery, the senior intelligence officer for VA-95, the A-6 squadron in this story. I was on board the Enterprise as this took place and I debriefed the A-6 crews, who were my drinking buddies, as they returned from their missions against the Sabalan and the Sahand. This is a very entertaining overview of that day's action. However, you need to watch your details. The A-6's did not carry Harpoons that day. They had AGM-123 Skipper II glide bombs. They also had dumb bombs and Rockeye cluster bombs (I remember the crew that hit the Boghammer saying that it spun in the water when they hit it). The mine that the Samuel B. Roberts struck was an M-08 (as in Model 1908) contact mine that had been originally developed in 1908 (prior to WWI). The phone you have is of an M-08, but it was not magnetic. It was detonated by a ship coming into contact with one of the three horns in the photo, which broke open the horn allowing seawater in to detonate the mine. The Samuel B. had entered a mine field (if I recall correctly) and was backing out when it hit the mine. I was listening to the comms during most of the battle and I don't recall the Sahand being hit by missiles, but I wasn't listening for that either. I was listening to hear what was happening with the A-6's. VA-95 and the A-7's on board the Enterprise hit the Sahand several times. The Sahand did not sink right away. It was a floating, burning hulk through the night and didn't sink until the next morning. As for the A-6 that flew alongside the Sabalan to ID it, your version is pretty accurate, but the A-6 crew (I forget who it was) knew they had found the Sabalan when the bombardier/navigator (B/N) looked behind at the ship's bridge after they had just passed it and saw someone had launched an SA-7 Grail at them. They hit chaff and flares and decoyed the missile. The rest of what you say about that flyby is probably accurate, I just don't recall it being described that way (that was 35 years ago). I forget which A-6 crew dropped the bomb down the stack of the Sabalan, but it didn't detonate in the engine room. Either something was wrong with the fuse or it simply passed through the ship too quickly to detonate inside, but after it went down the stack, it punched out through the hull and left a hole leaking oil for a mobility kill and the Sabalan had to be towed back to port. I remember reconnaissance photos from the next day showing the oil leaking as it was towed to its homeport of Bandar Abbas. I don't recall any Silkworms being launched. We were watching those very closely and we were continually receiving satellite imagery of the launch sites (they were stored in underground bunkers and moved out via rails to their launch positions). Had a Silkworm (old Soviet technology) been moved onto a launch pad, we already had plans to strike it before it could be used. There were a couple of humorous incidents from that day. You mentioned the one A-6 being "committed". The B/N for that A-6 was probably CDR (might still have been LCDR at that time) Schork, whose callsign was Schorky. I remember him saying (maybe at the debriefing) that his A-6 was rolling in hot on one of the ships (probably the Sabalan) when the call came in to cease operations for the day. He didn't want to miss an opportunity to drop a bomb in a real battle, so he responded to the call, "Too late! I'm committed!", which he said was BS, because there's no such thing as being "committed". He could have broken off the attack but didn't want to. He didn't want to pass up a spot in history. Another light moment was when (an aircrew told me they heard this radio transmission) when one of the battle groups called one of the oil platforms and said (as best I recall) "Attention, Iranian Oil Platform! You have five minutes to abandon your platform before we open fire. Have a nice daaaay!" The crew immediately abandoned the platform. I like your channel. I am subscribing to it. Thanks for all the memories.

Before Iran starting laying mines, they should have called Japan and asked, "hey, what's the worst that could happen if you sink a US Navy ship?"

Broken English: I'm just here to take pictures. That Komrad is cool.

I was on the USS Gary (FFG-51). Iran shot those silkworms at us and the barges. We were sent out to see if Iran still wanted to have a fight. They did. We couldn't fire any anti-missile missiles (jamming) so we ended up popping chaff and firing the big gun in their general direction. One of the silkworms got distracted by the chaff and the other one kept coming in...but it ran out of propellant and splashed. Because the government wanted to sweep the information under the rug, we were the only combatant ship that was denied combat action status.

The Sammy B. Is one of the huge points of navy DC training. That crew absolutely embodied the biggest rule of nautical damage control: "Dont give up the ship!" Another banger video buddy.

Great narrative style, concise and to the point with no little humor too. Outstanding!

Man I was watchin you way back on the shorts an stuff when you made the full screen jump it was meant to be.. thank you for entertaining us… educating us on the stuff the education system doesn’t necessarily teach you.. happy 1 million subs keep it up❤️

Simply put, you have a great way of telling stories. Gathering facts and adding humor. Thank you for doing what you do ❤

Digging the channel. You ever hear about the guy doing tailgunner duty and the entire tail got blown off by flack guns? It continued flying normal-ish so he kept fighting and the Germans thought it was a new secret weapon so they shot it up and hit the guy with a couple cannon rounds. It landed itself in a POW camp and the prisoners heard someone moaning inside. The guy made it through the war and had like 12 kids. Your way of telling it would do it justice. It's a heck of a story.

Brilliant again thanks dude, hi from the UK 🇬🇧 ❤❤❤ I thought I new a lot about previous conflicts, but always learn something new from your shows, brilliant thanks Paul 😮😮😮❤❤❤🎉🎉😂😂😂

You are officially my new favorite military story channel.

As someone that was going into the military when this was happening I definitely was paying attention at the time. I was still captivated by your storytelling, sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what happened next! Great job. Keep up the good works.

The best part of this story is the sailors who saved the ship. Those men deserve respect.

That was awesome! Thanks for the best kind of infotainment.

Love your eloquent commentary! New sub just for those chuckles!

"Just hear to take pictures.... for history" I believe that is the point where a coworker came into my office and asked what had my laughing! Dude! I love your stuff.

I joined the Navy in 88. I had nothing to do with this but I did go to the fire fighting school our home port had. The chief there was an HT chief on the Samuel B Roberts and was a part of saving that ship! He described how they welded eyelets on both sides of the crack and threaded the cable from the deck winch's to tie it all together. Talk about boss level!! I have a huge amount of respect for that crew!

Your delivery is fantastic.

I am really digging your running commentary. Especially likeing your: he said; they said. Kindly keep 'em coming. Tom.

"Im just here to take pictures....... for history" I respect it

This is honestly the best version of the story I have ever heard in my 43 years. You sir have all my respect. Thank you for your service.

This is one of my favorite videos on RU-vid 😂 the humor with the direct delivery of information is gold

Had to come by and give you a 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾 I saw another person reacting to this, and YOU SIR DESERVE this "like"!!!! Great way to tell this history lesson!!!!!! #Salute !

I was a Corpsman onboard the USS Coronado AGF-11. We were the Command and Control for Praying Mantis. I was amazing to be part of the largest Naval engagement since WWII. We did loose one Cobra with 2 Marine Flyers in during the Battle. Adm Less did a great job that day. We spent 10 month in the Gulf that year while our sister ship the Lasalle was in Japan for repairs.

I was a sailor on the USS Kansas City (AOR-3) at the time. We passed a LOT of ammo that week, and even had some excitement ourselves as some fast attack boat thought it was a good idea to traverse the Strait of Hormuz and threaten the supply chain. A destroyer, I don't remember which one, um...discouraged them. Good times.

Dude, you’re a legend. That is one of the most entertaining retellings i have ever heard in my life

Thank you so much. So worth another watch

The longer form content you’ve been doing lately is absolutely amazing! Lots more of this, PLEASE! Keep up the incredible work!

I was stationed on The Sammy B from 2008 -2011. We had to learn all about our name sake, what he did, the previous ship, what they did, and all about Operation Grasshopper. We still were winning DC (damage control) awards 20+ years later as well. The mine strike was taught in the DC school as the textbook " What to Do" for DC scenarios. Best ship I was ever on in my 23 yrs! NO HIGHER HONOR!!

So impressed by your impressive knowledge- Thank you for your service and your amazing vlogs!

you gotta knack for tellin a story my friend. Nicely done

I continue to learn more and more about our country's history and just the shear level of FA2FO that America's men and women have had in them since our inception. Thank you Sir. I wish we had more teachers like you.

My husband was on the USS Hoel, a destroyer, taking part in the whole thing. I have his VHF tape of it, recorded by one of the other ships crew. It was his last time out before he retired in 1988. He was also on a Navy ship active in Nam. Got dosed with Agent Orange. Yup, his health paid for it. Miss him dearly

You're a great story teller! Normally it's hard for me to follow a long spoken story (I tune out if it's too long winded), but I kept right up with all of it and you did a great job painting the picture. Subscribing!

Absolutely love this! Cracked me up thru the whole video

No joke, the Samuel B. Roberts' crew deserve every amount of praise that they've gotten for saving their vessel. That ship _should've_ sunk, but they pulled that shit off. Look, I'm an American and I definitely subscribe to the whole "OUR SHIPS ARE THE BEST SHIPS" philosophy too, but even a great ship can get sunk if it takes a catastrophic amount of damage. No amount of 'Murican Pride can save a vessel if the damage is that bad... except in this case. Those fuckers worked their asses off and nobody died. That's just straight-up amazing. Kudos to the crew of the Samuel B. Roberts. Something catastrophic happened and you all just buckled-down, rolled-up your sleeves, and said, "No, we're not sinking. We won't _let_ that happen."

When I was in the (Aussie) navy I heard a story from some blokes who deployed to the gulf. You yanks wanted a drag race against our frigate. We don’t like to do that but we accepted, only intending to come up in revolutions as per the handbook You yanks didn’t do the same, you went from dead stop to full ahead and blew the gas turbine, absolutely legendary, but that’s not the best part Your ship was towed to port and operational again in 24 hours, I mean that would take our navy months. You guys are absolute legends, so much respect for the U.S. Navy

I’m not really a war story kind of guy, but dam duck.. your delivery is so engaging…. Great videos.

Thank you for this video. I had not heard of this operation and it sounds like something that definitely needs to be turned into a movie.

Should be noted the Samuel B Roberts (or the Sammy B) is a ship name filled with history. The original Samuel B Roberts was a John C Butler Class Destroyer Escort (the WWII equivalent of a frigate) and her job was to screen escort carriers and fuck up destroyers in hunter killer groups. The Sammy B was named after a USN coxswain who was killed while distracting Japanese forces to rescue his fellow crew mates, he had volunteered for this action and was awarded the Navy Cross and had ships named after him. So the name already had crazy history, and her namesake was killed in the Pacific so they send her on over, let her get revenge. Nothing too notable would occur until the Invasion of The Philippines, where shit got out of hand fast. She would be assigned to Taffey 3, where she and her fellow Escort Destroyers, Fleet Destroyers, and Escort Carriers would go toe to toe with the largest fleet that Japan ever sailed in WWII. Taffey 3 would engage Admiral Kuritas Second Force during the Battle off Samar, in a true David vs Goliath scenario. Kurita had 4 Battleships (one being the IJN Yamato), 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, 11 destroyers vs Spragues 6 escort carriers, 3 destroyers, and 4 destroyer escorts. The Yamato alone displaced more tonnage than the entirety of Taffey 3, so the battle should have been lopsided right? Well the USN does not take kindly to being attacked, and loves to be aggressive, so the pilots of the escort carriers, and crews of the USS Johnston, USS Samuel B Roberts, and USS Hoel decide that running is boring and charge the enemy fleet. The US fleet would not only score first blood, but would sink multiple cruisers and destroyers, and heavily damage other ships in the fleet. Even the 5 inch gunners on the escort carriers got to shoot up some enemy cruisers. Due to her action in this fight, the Samuel B Roberts is referred to as “The Destroyer Escort that fought like a Battleship” I highly recommend for those interested in a more coherent retelling of the story to read “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” or watch Drachinifels video on The Battle off Samar, both are excellent

It’s always amusing to me to see a navy captain respectfully give their enemies 15 minutes to evacuate before they drop steel rain onto a target.

Dude, you have the most entertaining history channel that I never thought could be possible

The commentary, and likely pretty close to actual, dialogue via radio between the groups makes it awesome.

My grandpa was an A-6 pilot during Vietnam (although he retired a few years before this operation took place). The Intruder was originally designed to do dive bomb work like WWII planes, but they had to adapt to low-level strategies because of Soviet anti-air in the '60's. Still, the pilots loved to do it the old-fashioned way whenever possible, because they felt it ensured a more precise hit. Also, a minor nitpick: the A-6's bombardier/navigator sat beside the pilot, not behind. Back seats weren't introduced until the EA-6 Prowler.

I was on the Enterprise for that. This was a great commentary on the "battle" There were a few other things that happened that didnt get out though. Also as a side note, the plane audio from the pilot before dropping the bombs was hilarious and very sobering at the same time for a sailor.

i dont know how it took me so long to see your channel but i cant get enough you are awesome thank you!!

This was so well done I had to subscribe! So entertaining! This is how history should be taught imo! ❤

And now they're doing the same thing in Yemen. Iran never learns.

ive always loved the idea of a soviet captain just casually in the area and the american sailors are just "????" and the soviets are all "OwO" and the americans just face palm and continue with the operation

That was awesome better narration than all war documentaries !

This was awesome. Funny, entertaining, and informative.

Ive been in 16 years and change. My 14 year old son showed me your videos..... and im so damn proud of him lol. I gotta say, your sense of humor makes you perfect for this type of break down😅😂 Keep em coming!!