BANDAR ABBAS – The Jamaran destroyer returned home on Sunday after the completion of its 70-day mission to international waters and moored in the port city of Bandar Abbas, in the southern province of Hormozgan.  

The Iranian Navy’s 16th fleet of warships, comprised of the Jamaran destroyer and the Bandar Abbas gunboat, set sail for the north of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden on October 9. It was the first mission of the Jamaran in international waters. 

The purpose of the mission was announced to be providing security for Iranian merchant vessels, commercial ships, and tankers in the open seas. 

The Jamaran is the first domestically manufactured destroyer. It can carry helicopters and is equipped with torpedoes. It is 94 meters long and weighs over 1,500 tons. The warship is capable of engaging in surface, air, and undersea warfare. 

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, the governor general of the Hormozgan Province, Ebrahim Azizi, and a number of provincial officials attended a ceremony, which was held on Sunday in Bandar Abbas to welcome the naval officers and seamen who were on the mission. 

During the ceremony, Captain Mohammad Hassan Azar-Paykan, the commander of the Navy’s 16th fleet, described the achievements of the mission and said that the warships have navigated 9,700 nautical miles in the open seas and tracked 1,380 military and non-military vessels, submarines, and aircraft. 

The warships escorted Iranian vessels and protected the security of international shipping routes, he added. 

The Navy commander also said that the presence of Iranian warships in the open seas is not just for protecting Iranian ships, adding they will also raise the Iranian flag in international waters and show industrial and technological capabilities of the Iranian Navy to the world.