Iran Rammed a U.S. Patrol Craft in the Strait and Sent Eight Boats for the Follow-Up – Seahawks Were

At 4:07 a.m., the Strait of Hormuz became the scene of a perilous maritime confrontation.

An Iranian IRGC fast attack boat rammed the USS Hurricane, a Cyclone-class patrol craft, while it was operating in the transit lane at 26 knots.

The impact created a three-foot gash above the waterline on Hurricane’s starboard quarter, throwing two sailors off the weather deck and into the chilly waters below.

As the situation unfolded, eight more Iranian boats were closing in from the island of Kisham, and U.S. helicopters were just three minutes away.

Welcome to Warfare Signal. Tonight, we will walk through the most violent IRGC maritime engagement against a U.S. vessel in the Strait of Hormuz in 20 years—the night an Iranian fast attack boat made physical contact with an American warship, followed by an aggressive follow-up attack.

To understand the significance of this ramming incident in the Strait of Hormuz, one must grasp the geography of the area.

The Strait of Hormuz at the eastern approaches is approximately 21 miles wide, with a navigable transit lane for commercial and military traffic running roughly six miles wide in the center.

Iranian territorial waters lie on the northern edge of that lane, while Omani waters are on the southern edge.

The traffic separation scheme is not optional; it exists to mitigate collision hazards amid the heavy tanker traffic that flows through the Strait.

The USS Hurricane was in the northbound transit lane heading west when the lead Iranian boat made contact.

This ramming was no accident.

The lead IRGC boat had been shadowing Hurricane for 40 minutes, running parallel at 400 meters, close enough to observe but outside the threshold that would trigger a challenge—a standard harᴀssment posture.

Hurricane’s watch had logged the contact at 3:27 a.m. and monitored it throughout the transit.

At 4:00:01 a.m., without any change in radio behavior or warning on channel 16, the lead boat turned hard to starboard and accelerated directly toward Hurricane’s starboard quarter.

The watch officer on Hurricane saw the turn and immediately called action stations.

He had approximately 22 seconds between the Iranian boat’s course change and the impending impact.

The helmsman executed an emergency turn to port, attempting to present a different angle to the approaching boat, reduce the relative velocity at impact, and provide the weapon crew with a clear line of fire.

This maneuver reduced the impact speed from approximately 40 knots to 26 knots.

At 4:07:03 a.m., the Iranian boat struck Hurricane’s starboard quarter.

The impact occurred at the waterline, where the Iranian boat’s reinforced bow—later ᴀssessed to have been reinforced with steel plating—punched through Hurricane’s ¾ inch outer hull plating, creating a laceration approximately three feet wide and two feet tall.

Although the gash was above the main waterline, it was within the zone that could take on water in any sea state above one.

The force of the impact threw two sailors standing on the starboard weather deck—Petty Officer Second Class Kevin Marsh and Seaman Apprentice Thomas Cole—over the lifeline and into the water at approximately 4:07:05 a.m.

Both men were wearing inflatable life preservers, with Marsh activating his immediately.

Cole’s did not activate automatically, but he was conscious and managed to activate it manually within 12 seconds.

Both sailors found themselves in the 68°F waters of the Strait of Hormuz at 4:07 a.m.

The Iranian boat had glanced off Hurricane’s quarter after the impact, but the follow-through sent the boat off to the south.

It remained operational and was already turning back.

Hurricane’s commanding officer, a 29-year-old lieutenant just 11 months into his first patrol command, faced a dire situation—two sailors in the water, a three-foot gash in his hull, a boat that had just rammed him turning around, and eight more Iranian contacts approaching from the direction of Kisham Island.

He reached the tactical radio circuit at 4:07:11 a.m., just eight seconds after the impact, and transmitted: “Seahawk flight, Hurricane man overboard—two in the water, starboard quarter, under attack. Request immediate support.”

The two MH-60R Seahawks from HSM-37 detachment aboard the USS Thunderbolt, operating as an element partner to Hurricane three nautical miles west, had been on airborne alert for the past hour.

They were already orbiting at 1,500 feet when the call came in.

The lead Seahawk turned east at 4:07:14 a.m. and began its descent, taking just three minutes to reach Hurricane’s position.

In those three minutes, the commanding officer of USS Hurricane had to manage a man-overboard recovery, a hull breach, a boat that was turning around for a second run, and eight incoming contacts from Kisham at high speed.

The man-overboard situation was non-negotiable.

Marsh and Cole were in the water, and the commanding officer designated his executive officer, the ship’s second-in-command, to manage the man-overboard recovery using Hurricane’s rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB).

The RHIB was deployed at 4:07:44 a.m., with three sailors aboard heading for the water position of Marsh and Cole.

The RHIB crew had approximate positions, as Marsh’s life preserver was equipped with a personal locator beacon that had activated automatically.

Cole’s beacon required manual activation, which he had performed.

Both beacons were transmitting.

The RHIB found Marsh at 4:09:11 a.m. He was conscious and unharmed, suffering only bruising from the fall.

Cole was 80 meters further south; he had drifted in the current.

The RHIB reached him at 4:10:03 a.m. He was conscious, cold, and had a laceration on his left hand from the lifeline he had grabbed on the way over.

Both sailors were back aboard Hurricane by 4:12:04 a.m.

In the five minutes between the ramming and the recovery of Cole, the engagement continued.

The lead Iranian boat had completed its turn and was making a second approach at 4:08 a.m., this time from directly astern, closing on Hurricane’s damaged quarter.

Hurricane’s commanding officer had his Mark 38 chain gun trained aft.

At 4:09 a.m., the Mark 38 fired.

The lead Iranian boat was at 600 meters and closing.

The 25mm chain gun fired four rounds into the boat’s port side at 4:09:03 a.m.

The rounds penetrated the hull and the engine compartment.

The boat lost power and coasted to a stop approximately 400 meters astern of Hurricane.

The eight incoming contacts from Kisham were now at four nautical miles, traveling at 35 to 45 knots and approximately seven minutes away.

At 4:10:01 a.m., the first Seahawk arrived.

The MH-60R descended to 150 feet over the lead Iranian contact group.

Five of the eight boats had formed into a тιԍнт column bearing directly at Hurricane.

The helicopter’s appearance was not subtle; at 150 feet and low airspeed, a Seahawk over the Strait at night is loud, visible, and its M240 door gun was clearly manned and pointing forward.

The five-boat column didn’t slow.

At 4:10:04 a.m., the lead Seahawk opened fire with the M240, firing a two-round burst into the water directly ahead of the lead boat’s projected course.

Tracers were visible from 2,000 meters.

The lead boat jinked right, broke formation, and slowed.

The second through fifth boats continued on their original bearing.

At 4:11:19 a.m., the second Seahawk arrived on the western approach to the Iranian formation, cutting off their angle toward Hurricane from that vector.

Both helicopters were now in a coordinated engagement geometry—one from the east-northeast making gun runs against the approaching column and one from the west cutting off the angle.

The column of four remaining boats had to make a decision: press through two armed Seahawks at close range in the narrowest part of the Strait, with a GPS-recorded man-overboard event and a ramming already logged, and Hurricane’s Mark 38 adding to the picture from 1,200 meters, or break off.

At 4:11 a.m., three of the four remaining column boats turned north.

The fourth, the rearmost boat in the column, continued east at reduced speed for an additional 40 seconds, then also turned north.

The three remaining boats from Kisham that had not formed into the lead column had held back, observing from approximately five nautical miles.

When the column broke, all three turned north as well.

By 4:17 a.m., all eight Iranian boats were back inside Iranian coastal waters.

The USS Hurricane had sustained a hull breach, with the three-foot gash taking on water in the existing sea state.

The current was moderate for the Strait, and the damage control team had it partially shored with emergency plugging material by 4:22 a.m.

The inflow was reduced to a manageable state, and the ship remained operational, not in danger of sinking.

At 4:35 a.m., the USS Thunderbolt arrived alongside to provide close escort and take on damage control support crew.

Hurricane completed the Strait transit at 6:11 a.m. and arrived at Naval Support Activity Bahrain for hull repair at 9:44 a.m.