Sri Lanka Reveals Chilling Discovery At Site Of Sunken Iranian Warship

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Sri Lanka Reveals Chilling Discovery At Site Of Sunken Iranian Warship

Trending Politics News
By Trinity Hallinan
March 5, 2026



Sri Lanka’s navy rushed into the Indian Ocean after receiving a distress call from an Iranian warship, but what it found looked like a scene from a disaster film: oil slicks, empty life rafts and bodies in the water after the vessel was sunk by a U.S. torpedo strike.

Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told Parliament on Wednesday that Sri Lanka launched a rescue effort after a distress signal from Iran’s IRIS Dena, which had 180 people on board. Navy ships and aircraft were sent to the area.

When Sri Lankan forces arrived, the ship was gone.

“There was no sign of the ship, only some oil patches and life rafts,” navy spokesman Cmdr. Buddhika Sampath said. “We found people floating on the water.”

Sri Lanka’s navy said crews recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 people.

Survivors were taken to a hospital in Galle, a coastal city on Sri Lanka’s southern shore, Sampath said. Health officials said one of those rescued is in critical condition, seven were receiving emergency treatment and others were treated for minor injuries. Recovery operations for additional bodies continued.

The grim discovery came just hours after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed that the U.S. Navy had sunk the IRIS Dena, calling it a “prize ship” for Iran as Operation Epic Fury expands beyond the Middle East.

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[Timber Rattler]

War is hell.

[PeteS in CA]

IRIS Dena was about 1500 tons displacement, similar in size to pre-Fletcher-class USN destroyers used in WW2 (except the four-pipers, which were a bit over 1200 tons).

The Mark 48 torpedo is designed to explode under the target's keel, breaking the target's back. The warhead is something like 650 pounds, fairly powerful. If one finds a video of the torpedo hitting the Dena and watch it closely, the hit was astern of midships, and the ship is blown into three large pieces (ignoring small debris). IIRC, the Dena was around 25 or 30 miles from Sri Lanka, meaning a rescue vessel could take around an hour to get to the wreck, if that quickly. By that time the large sections of the Dena would have been long sunk. The dead probably mostly died in the blast, were trapped in the wreck, or died fairly quickly due to serious injuries.

The Iranian navy was designed for coastal defense or commerce raiding/piracy. Those Iranian fast boats that had been harassing shipping and USN ships are now permanently wet-docked in their harbor or off the coast. or are splinters spread about a 50 or 100 yard radius.

[BobfromWB]

]Those Iranian fast boats that had been harassing shipping and USN ships are now permanently wet-docked in their harbor or off the coast. or are splinters spread about a 50 or 100 yard radius.

We can hope, but there are still many many drones that could pop up anywhere to attack ships, and likely hidden anti-ship launchers as well, lurking