Desert Storm - The Annihilation of the Iraqi Navy at the Battle of Bubiyan - Animated

[Music] fifteen iraqi fast attack craft and amphibious vessels slip their moorings in harbors of the kuwaiti and iraqi coast and sail southwest they likely intend to land commandos on the saudi coast as at the same time just inland the iraqi army's third corps is preparing to advance on the saudi border town of al qardji control of the gulf is critical for the coalition forces general norman schwarzkopf seeks to feign an amphibious landing on the coast of the iraqi occupied kuwait in the persian gulf so as to pin down a significant chunk of saddam's army to defend the coast however to do this even as a faint the iraqi navy must be crippled to safely bring the u.s amphibious assault assets within range of kuwait saddam hussein's navy has been bolstered with its invasion of kuwait capturing several kuwaiti vessels undamaged notably five german-built exact armed fast attack craft at 3 p.m on the 29th of january raf jaguar strike aircraft crossing the coast returning from a strike in southern iraq spot the iraqi force heading south west to date the attempts to neutralize the iraqi navy have been limited in size and success two royal navy lynx helicopters from frigate hms brazen and destroyer hms gloucester are vectored to intercept with another flight of jaguars from bahrain the first attacks fail with all links launched radar-guided anti-ship sea skewer missiles failing to strike targets one jaguar is able to set a landing ship ablaze and the flotilla scatters most of the vessels flee for the ports of kuwait which coalition forces are currently prohibited from attacking in the evening another lynx is searching for iraqi targets sweeping the persian gulf at just 25 feet above the waves with a u.s navy seahawk the seahawk guides them to a suspicious contact one lynx is able to obtain a radar lock and launch as a sea skewer the missile homes in at just four feet above the sea and impacts the vessel the sinking vessel is identified as an iraqi mine layer as night falls one of uss ranger's a6 intruder strike aircraft is returning from a successful strike on an anti-ship missile battery in kuwait and searches for targets of opportunity for its remaining two laser-guided bombs the crew discover four fast attack craft fleeing east towards the safety of iranian waters and call another a6 to support they drop their first payway bomb which strikes one craft amidships the iraqi falls scattered attempting to flee the american warplanes making another pass their second paveway detonates amid the exocet launchers of one of the missile boats both crafts sink they join the second a6 whose own guidance system has malfunctioned and in a coordinated run-in they guide the other aircraft's paveway onto the third craft flying combat air patrol over the persian gulf a pair of canadian cf-18 hornets are contacted by controllers and asked an unusual question would you like to strafe a boat the pilots board on yet another uneventful patrol gladly accept the request and are vectored onto the rapidly fleeing oso missile boat the hornets are armed for their air-to-air mission and can only rely on their m61 vulcan cannons making several passes the cf-18s shower the osa with hundreds of twenty millimeter rounds though the missile boat presses on low on fuel and out of ammunition captain hill manages to obtain a radar lock on the vessel with his sparrow medium-range air-to-air missile he launches but the weapon falls short and 250 thousand dollars worth of missile is lost to the sea the osa some hours later makes it to iran as dawn breaks on the 30th of january saddam hussein fearing the destruction of his navy in port issues an order for his remaining vessels to leave and make a break for iran maritime patrol aircraft orbiting over the gulf begin to detect the uncoordinated but increasing trickle of warships emerging from the coastline patrolling a6 intruders are directed in at 8 40 am the first iraqi vessel a landing ship is struck by guided bombs from the intruders and sinks rapidly a second ship a mine layer is reported fleeing from the scene seahawk and lynx helicopters patrolling as close as three nautical miles from the kuwaiti coast investigate numerous unknown contacts one links is directed to a pair of suspicious radar contacts off bubyan island closing to within range of enemy shoulder launch missiles on the coast visually confirming the first contact as a fast attack craft the lynx accelerates at low altitude obtains radar lock and let's fly with its first sea skewer it tracks and strikes the craft crippling it the seahawk vectors the chopper onto the next ship a mine layer banking onto their new target the lynx locks up the iraqi vessel and fires off its second missile it detonates a midship also leaving the mine layer immobilized out of weapons the lynx heads back to hms cardiff further east u.s navy f-18s and a6 continued to attack clusters of fleeing iraqi vessels blanketing them with cluster munitions and bombs the u.s navy aircraft claim a further six iraqi vessels destroyed anticipating more targets the uss theodore roosevelt launches a further 12 strike aircraft at 1pm a lynx from hms cardiff is tossed onto a pair of fast attack craft flew in kuwait the helicopter smashes one with a sea skewer the second skewer however malfunctions and detonates harmlessly short of the iraqi craft with no missiles left the link stalks the remaining vessels another links arrives on the scene getting to work immediately it locks up the second craft and salvos off both of its missiles devastating the craft both links is returned to hms cardiff for a fast refuel and rhian by 3 p.m both helicopters are back on station venturing near the alpha peninsula they're locked onto by an sa2 sand battery and having escaped at low level are then briefly locked onto by u.s navy f-14 tomcats discovering one of the captured german vessels the lynxes send them to the bottom the last two landing ships of the breakout attempt are sunk by the us navy bombing from roosevelt in just 24 hours us and royal navy assets have decimated iraqi naval forces at sea sinking 21 vessels just one landing ship and a single osa-class missile boat escaped to iran fought entirely at sea the battle of bubyan has a tangible effect on the coming land war the iraqi army will now be the first and only defense against a potential seaborne assault tying down troops to defend coastal positions which would be needed against the coming coalition land invasion

Channel: The Operations Room

Views: 3,969,008

Keywords: Time-Lapse, History, Documentary, aircraft, time lapse, animated, war, desert storm, operation desert storm, gulf war, iraq, kuwait, us navy, fa/18 hornet, saddam hussein, lynx helicopter, sea skua, iraqi navy, royal navy, candian navy, bubiyan

Id: DR0UWc_uN0I

Length: 7min 27sec (447 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 03 2021