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We start with a brief look at why the Harpoon became such a common missile, then a brief design history. Next comes a look at the actual missile itself. Key to its success is its engine – a purpose designed turbojet engine to give it the required range, supported by a 12,000lb thrust rocket to accelerate it to the speed the turbojet operates at. The Harpoon is a very flexible system, and has been used from aircraft, surface ships, submarines and even trucks.
Next comes a look at the development of the anti-ship missile and a comparison of the standard Soviet types with the Harpoon – the Soviets tended to rely on large numbers of fast, large missiles to overwhelm any defences, the US on smaller but more advanced low flying cruise missiles which would avoid detection until it was too late. Somewhat ironically this section also notes that the first operational use of the Harpoon was probably by the Iranians in 1980 during the Iran-Iraq war.
The Ship and Aircraft section is able to focus on every single ship involved in a harpoon action with the US Navy, both attackers and defenders, simply because there were so few! On the US side we get the USS Richmond K. Turner (CG-20), USS Yorktown (CG-48), USS Bagley (FF-1069) and USS Joseph Strauss (DDG-16). For Iran we get the fast attack craft Joshan (P225), responsible for the only Harpoon ever to be fired at a US warship in anger and the destroyer escort Sahand (74). For Libya we get the fast attack craft Waheed and the corvette Ain Zaquit. There is also a look at the A-6E Intruder, the only US aircraft to fire a Harpoon in anger in this period.
We then move on to the strategic background to the US actions against Libya and Iran. The clash with Libya grew out of a Libyan claim to control the entire Gulf of Sidra, which the US considered to be international waters. A series of Freedom of Navigation missions were carried out in 1986. Finally, on 14 March the Libyans fired two SA-5 SAMs at US F-14s, triggering a US response. An attempt to attack the SAM sites was abandoned when the element of surprise was lost, but this was when the Waheed was detected.
For Iran the background was the Iran-Iraq War, and in particular the Tanker War, which started in 1984 with Iraqi attacks on the oil facilities on Kharg Island, before evolving into a series of attacks on merchant shipping. The US became involved in attempts to escort tankers through the danger zone, in particular Kuwaiti tanks re-flagged as US. However the trigger for their attacks on the Iranian navy came when USS Samuel B Roberts hit an Iranian mine and was badly damaged.
The combat accounts make heavy use of US eyewitness accounts but no Iranian or Libyan accounts have been found by the authors. We thus get a detailed account of the aerial attack on the Waheed from several US airmen who were involved. One interesting aspect of this attack was that the US airmen weren’t confident their Harpoons could easily distinguish between the real target and nearby merchant ships, so had to make sure they fired away from any possible alternative targets. More Harpoons were fired on the same day, although it isn’t clear even now what they were being fired at. The day finished with a Harpoon being fired to finish off the damaged Ain Zaquit, which earlier had been attacked with cluster bombs.
We do get one account of defence against the harpoon, from the 1988 Iran incident, where both sides fired the weapon. The Iranians were first, firing one harpoon from the Joshan, which narrowly missed USS Wainwright. The Joshan was knocked out by other US weapons before it could fire a second missile. A US harpoon was fired at it, but its’ flight profile meant it flew through the damaged upper structures of the Joshan without hitting anything big enough to detonate it! The account of the Wainwright’s actions to avoid the Harpoon is interesting, including a comment that most of their training was against potential Soviet missiles, rather than their own types. The final action came against the unfortunate Sahand, which was hit by both an air-launched and ship-launched Harpoon at about the same time.
The accounts of these actions cover more than just the Harpoon actions, showing that this weapon was always part of a wider range of options. This is perhaps the most valuable aspect of the book, a reminder that individual weapon systems were always part of a bigger picture. The eyewitness accounts are excellent, and help demonstrate how complex even these limited actions could be.
Chapters
Chronology
Missile Design and Development
Ship and Aircraft Technical Specifications
The Strategic Situation
The Combatants
Combat
Author: Lon Norden
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 80
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 2024