Iran announced a new destroyer for its navy on Monday. The commander of the Iranian Army Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, The commander of the Iranian Navy Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, and the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri were present at the ceremony, Iran’s Mehr News said. The destroyer will be part of Iran’s Caspian sea fleet. The ceremony for the new ship was held at the port of Bandar Anzali on the Caspian.

Iran announced the commissioning of a new Iranian warship, named the Deylaman (Dilman) which they said had modern equipment and will contribute to Iran’s navy. The destroyer is part of an Iranian class of similar ships called the Mowj or Moudge class. The ships weigh around 1,500 tons and are based on Iran’s Jamaran destroyer which was launched in 2010.

Where were these ships built?

These locally made ships have been produced since the early 200s when Iran sought to bolster its navy. Iran doesn’t have a very large navy or air force in part due to sanctions and other reasons. Often the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a separate military system in Iran, sponge up assets for defense needs, meaning the actual Iranian army, navy and air force don’t receive the key resources. 

The new destroyer joins its sister ships, the Dena, Sahand and Damavand, along with the Jamaran. H.I Sutton’s Covert Shores website has some information on other ships in this class. He wrote about the Dena in 2021, noting that it was “the first built at the Shahid Darvishi yard near Bandar Abbas.

Despite being launched more recently, her superstructure is less modern than the preceding IRIS Sahand. That featured slightly canted sides to reduce the radar signature, and a new 30mm 'Kamand' AAA. That is based on the Russian AK630 family. Dena has older weapons, such as the 40mm Bofors AA. But she does have a version of the Asr phased-array radar which may be a major step forward for the frigate program.” He also notes that these ships are based on British-built Iranian Alvand class frigates. 

The new ship will serve in the landlocked Caspian, projecting Iran’s influence in Central Asia and also along the shores of the sea. As such it may not require some of the armaments of ships that serve in the Indian ocean or the Persian Gulf. Iran’s announcement about the vessel talked about search and rescue, training and other mundane operations.