According to US officials, an American submarine torpedoed and sank the Iranian warship IRIS Dena in international waters near Sri Lanka on Wednesday, marking one of the rare modern instances of a submarine sinking a warship in combat. Sri Lankan authorities said at least 87 people were killed, while dozens remain missing, and several sailors were rescued from the sea.

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INS Khukri

The incident has drawn parallels with the sinking of INS Khukri, a frigate of the Indian Navy that went down on December 9, 1971, during the Indo-Pakistani War. The ship was struck by torpedoes fired by the Pakistan Navy submarine PNS Hangor about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Diu in Gujarat. The attack claimed the lives of 18 officers and 176 sailors.

INS Khukri was part of the 14th Frigate Squadron of the Western Fleet, alongside INS Kirpan and INS Kuthar. The vessel's commanding officer, Captain Mahendra Nath Mulla, chose to remain aboard the sinking ship, going down with his crew in an act of extraordinary courage and leadership. He was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, India's second-highest military honour.

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The sacrifice of Captain Mulla and his crew remains one of the most revered chapters in Indian naval history. A memorial dedicated to INS Khukri was inaugurated on December 15, 1999, at Chakratirth Beach in Diu, where a replica of the warship stands overlooking the Arabian Sea in tribute to the fallen sailors.

Military historians note that submarine attacks resulting in the sinking of warships are relatively rare in modern naval warfare. The destruction of INS Khukri in 1971 was the first such incident since the Second World War and remains the only Indian naval vessel lost in combat after independence.

IRIS Dena sinking

A torpedo fired by a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, whose navy said Wednesday it recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 people.

The Iranian vessel sunk in the Indian Ocean was the Islamic Republic's "prize ship," U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. It was one of the few instances of a submarine sinking a ship since World War II.

The sinking of the IRIS Dena illustrates a U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran that is stretching beyond its borders. U.S. President Donald Trump has said one of the key objectives of the war is to wipe out Iran's navy.

"An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters," Hegseth said at a Pentagon news briefing. "Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo."

After Sri Lanka's navy received a distress signal from the IRIS Dena, which had 180 people on board, it sent ships and planes on a rescue mission, the country's foreign minister, Vijitha Herath, told Parliament.

But by the time Sri Lanka's navy reached the location, there was no sign of the ship, "only some oil patches and life rafts," navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said. "We found people floating on the water."