Compass Points - Sub Sinks Ship
First US torpedo sinking since WWII
Compass Points - Sub Sinks Ship
First US torpedo sinking since WWII
March 5, 2026
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The largest missile war in history is underway in Iran, but perhaps the most surprising event of the war so far is that a US attack submarine sank an Iranian frigate with a torpedo.
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An American attack submarine sank an Iranian Navy ship off the coast of Sri Lanka, extending the ongoing conflict with Iran to the Indo-Pacific.
It’s the first time since World War II that a U.S. submarine has sunk another vessel using a torpedo. The submarine launched an MK-48 heavyweight torpedo, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine told reporters Wednesday during a briefing at the Pentagon.
The incident marks the first time the war with Iran has expanded to U.S. 7th Fleet.
-- USNI News, “VIDEO: U.S. Attack Boat Torpedoes Iranian Frigate off Sri Lanka”
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In World War II submarines sank some 7,000 ships.
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Submarine Activity during World War II
Submarines were the single greatest cause of vessel sinkings during the Second World War - about 34% of the total 20,000 ships that were sunk. The Germans in their U-boats accounted for 2,955 of these vessels . . .
-- Sunken Ships of the Second World War
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After World War II, submarines sinking ships was a rare event. The Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano was sunk on May 2, 1982, by the British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror during the Falklands War. Now, a US submarine has sunk an Iranian frigate off Sri Lanka.
With so few ship sinkings, does that mean submarines have lost their value? After all, US submarines have only four primary deterrence missions.
-- Engage, track, and sink enemy ships and submarines.
-- Launch cruise missiles for land attacks.
-- Conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR).
-- Support special missions.
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Because US submarines are sinking so few ships, should the US put fewer submarines on global patrol? Just the opposite. If anything, the upgraded and enhanced US submarines fleet has grown into a more powerful deterrent force. When the US has more submarines under the oceans of the world, more allies are reassured and more adversaries are deterred.
It is much the same with the US Marine MAGTF. In war and peace, when more Marine MAGTFs are on the oceans of the world, more allies are reassured and more adversaries are deterred.
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The United States is increasingly challenged by the demands in the littorals – the complex interface where the great commons of the sea meet the physical geography where human, political, and economic domains function . . . .
MAGTF Defined
The Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) is the Marine Corps principal organizational construct for conducting missions across the range of military operations. MAGTFs provide combatant commanders with scalable, versatile expeditionary forces able to assure allies, deter potential adversaries, provide persistent U.S. presence with little or no footprint ashore, and respond to a broad range of contingency, crisis, and conflict situations. They are task organized, combined-arms force packages containing command, ground, aviation, and logistics elements. A single commander leads and coordinates this combined-arms team through all phases of pre-deployment training, deployment, and employment. MAGTF teams live and train together further increasing their cohesion and fighting power.
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Multi-Mission Capable MAGTFs
Tailored to meet combatant commanders’ requirements, MAGTFs operate as an integrated force in the air, land, maritime and cyberspace domains. The naval character of MAGTFs enhances their global mobility, lethality, and staying power. Embarked aboard amphibious ships or deployed using other means, multi-mission capable MAGTFs provide U.S. civilian and military leaders with increased strategic and operational flexibility.
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Today’s Amphibious Capability
Among the many capabilities provided by integrated, combat ready MAGTFs aboard multi-mission amphibious ships, three are of critical importance:
• Forward presence to support engagement and theater security cooperation
• A ready force to immediately respond to emergent crises
• A credible and sustainable forcible-entry capability, operating from the sea, over the horizon, at night or during periods of reduced visibility
-- Amphibious Ready Group & Marine Expeditionary Unit Overview
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No matter that a US submarine has not sunk an enemy ship with a torpedo since World War II. Neither submarine torpedoes nor submarines themselves should be divested from the US military. Submarines are a flexible and potent platform for US military power. Whether or not in recent decades Navy subs have sunk ships with torpedoes or not, the submarine provides an irreplaceable platform of capabilities. The US must continue to upgrade and enhance its submarine fleet so that the submarine fleet can continue to serve the US in ways that no other military platform can.
It is much the same with the US Marine Corps MAGTF. The global, forward deployed Marine MAGTF is a flexible and potent platform for US military power. Whether or not in recent decades, Marine MAGTFs have assaulted across a beach or not, the Marine MAGTF provides an irreplaceable platform of capabilities. The US must continue to upgrade and enhance its Marine MAGTF so that global, combined arms, crisis response MAGTFs can continue to serve the US in ways that no other military platform can.
The largest missile war in the history of the world is underway now in Iran. Clearly missiles are important in war, both now and in the future. The US Navy and Air Force are firing the bulk of the missiles in Operation Epic Fury. Even the US Army is firing ground missiles. But what does Operation Epic Fury have to say about the importance of the US Marine Corps’ ground missile program? When the US is calling on every missile unit it can find, the Marine Corps’ MLRs and NMESIS have not been called. So many years, so many dollars, and so little useful ground missile capability.
The US does not look to the Marine Corps as the military’s missile experts. Other services are missile experts. What other services can never do, is what the Marine Corps has done so well for so many years, global, combined arms, crisis response. Missiles are very powerful. But there are many missions that missiles are not suited for. When a crisis erupts around the world, US policy makers need options. A forward deployed Marine MAGTF can arrive quickly and provide a roster of options to deter, assist, rescue, strike, and fight.
Congrats to the US Navy submarine that sunk an Iranian ship off Sri Lanka. Whether a US submarine sinks another ship next week or not, the US is stronger and the free world safer with more US submarines on global patrol. It is the same with the Marine MAGTF. When the US has more Marine MAGTFs on global patrol, the US is stronger and the free world safer.
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USNI News - 03/04/2026
VIDEO: U.S. Attack Boat Torpedoes Iranian Frigate off Sri Lanka
By Mallory Shelbourne
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Marines.mil
Amphibious Ready Group & Marine Expeditionary Unit Overview
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The author of a recent post on a blog website forcefully argued that Operation Epic Fury is a validation of Force Design. One could just as easily argue that the operation is proof that Force Design has rendered the USMC largely irrelevant. The truth is that neither assertion is correct. Drawing sweeping conclusions from the opening salvos of a single operation is not just dangerous, it is also foolhardy. History has taught us that.
Epic Fury, Absolute Resolve, and the new National Defense Strategy all portend a changing security environment and America’s role in it. The Services must adapt to remain relevant. A snarky comment in yesterday Compass Points (“Tanks, scout snipers, and bridging companies ought to fix it”) reinforces my point. The author of the comment (probably an active duty/reserve Marine with the best intentions) unknowingly made a prescient observation, i.e. Marines need be discussing the operational concept and associated capabilities they require today and tomorrow to remain relevant. Is it EABO, SIFs, MLRs, NSMs, LSMs and a myopic focus on the First Island Chain or something else? Only the Marines can answer this question since the future of the Marine Corps is in their hands. History will reward them if they get it right or judge them harshly if they get it wrong.
One could reasonably surmise that the Marines don’t currently have a good sight picture on the capabilities required to better serve the national defense. And they won’t until they first agree on their role in national security and then craft an operating concept to meet it. Only the active-duty Marines can do this. For more on this issue, see my article at the link: https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2026/02/16/rethinking_the_role_of_the_marine_corps_in_national_security_1165065.html
I totally agree on all of these points, and especially on the deterrent features of both Submarines and the MAGTF. Neither should be thought of as an obsolete tool that should no longer be used. As Iran has just declared that they would crush any invasion force that was landed on their shores, perhaps we should start thinking about how to strengthen the MAGTF. Some modern creative ideas that undergo modern testing on various nonpartisan ideas might be just the ticket.