US Mk-48 torpedo reportedly sinks Iranian warship returning from India

Tehran/Washington: A US submarine sank an Iranian warship near Sri Lanka in a deadly attack. According to an AFP report, 87 people on board the Iranian ship were killed in the attack. The warship, named IRIS Dena, was returning from a naval exercise held in India.

IRIS Dena is a Moudge-class frigate. It also visited India in 2024 to participate in the multilateral naval exercise MILAN, and this time it was the 2026 edition of the same exercise. While returning home from here, it was fatally attacked by a US Navy submarine. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has confirmed the submarine attack.

Iranian warship attacked with Mk-48 torpedo

The US Department of War has released a video of the attack. The video is black and white. It shows the submarine's periscope and what appears to be an explosion from a distance. It's never before seen any military force release near-real-time visuals of a submarine hitting a warship. This demonstrates the profound changes in the way wars are fought and information is shared.

It has been revealed that the Iranian warship was attacked with a Mk-48 torpedo. The Mk-48 torpedo primarily sinks ships by detonating a 650-pound high-explosive warhead directly beneath the keel. It doesn't hit the sides, but strikes with full force mid-air. This creates a large gas bubble that lifts the ship and ruptures its stern. This causes a catastrophic structural failure, resulting in the ship's complete destruction.

Why is the Mk-48 torpedo considered so dangerous?

The Mk-48 torpedo weighs approximately 1,700 kilograms and has a diameter of 21 inches. Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of this torpedo, states that it carries a high-explosive warhead weighing approximately 295 kilograms. This is the ammunition that ruptures the keel of ships, shattering them into two pieces. It is used for anti-submarine (ASW) and anti-surface (ASuW) warfare against enemy submarines and American and allied submarines.

According to Lockheed Martin, it uses both active and passive advanced sonar. It can also be controlled in real-time from a submarine via a cable. Even if its guidance wire is cut or broken, it is not rendered useless. Instead, it goes into fully autonomous mode and can track and destroy the enemy on its own.