This year’s RAID title is one I’m delighted to bring to the list – an examination of the central battle of the 1980s Tanker Wars, Operation Praying Mantis. With maritime traffic in the region again under attack, this is a timely examination of the events that led up to the US Navy’s biggest surface battle since World War II, and the battle itself.

 

RAID 61 Operation Praying Mantis 1988: The US Navy takes on Iran's fleet

By Si Sheppard

Illustrated by Adam Tooby

18/12/2025

 

In 1988, the US Navy took on Iran’s navy and air force in open combat. Dramatically illustrated, this is an expert account of America’s biggest surface battle since World War II.

Operation Praying Mantis was the culmination of the 1980s Tanker Wars in the Persian Gulf between the US and Iran. This one-day naval battle was the largest US surface engagement since World War II, and the only occasion since then in which the US Navy sank a major surface combatant.

In this book, Professor Si Sheppard draws upon his academic research to provide a thorough briefing on the battle and the events that led up to it. For more than a year, Operation Earnest Will had protected Kuwaiti oil tankers from Iranian missile and mine attacks in the largest naval convoy operation since World War II, while helicopters of the 160th SOAR and SEAL fast boats fought a cat-and-mouse campaign against Iran’s minelayers in Operation Prime Chance.

However, when USS Samuel B. Roberts was nearly sunk by an Iranian mine, the US Navy planned an open offensive against Iran’s military installations. With dramatic new artwork, maps, and photos, this book offers a blow-by-blow account of how Praying Mantis unfolded, how Iran responded with its surface fleet, Boghammar speedboats, airpower and Silkworm missiles, and how in the ensuing battle the US Navy prevailed, sinking one frigate, crippling another, and decimating Iran’s naval forces in the Persian Gulf.