Iran’s Missile Punched Through USS Spruance — The Response Came While the Ship Was Still Sinking

February 21st, 2026, 1958 local time.

The Gulf of Oman is a theater of chaos as the USS Spruance takes on water.

A Zafar anti-ship missile, a weapon that American intelligence didn’t know existed until just 10 minutes ago, has punched through her hull below the waterline.

The breach measures three meters wide, and the sea is rushing in at a staggering rate of 500 gallons per minute.

Damage control teams are engaged in a desperate struggle to save the ship, while the wounded are evacuated from flooded compartments.

Tragically, the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ—there are already ᴅᴇᴀᴅ—are left where they fell.

There’s no time to recover bodies when the priority is to keep 9,200 tons of warship from sinking.

I’m your host at US Defense Review, where we analyze the military operations that define our world.

The engagement on February 21st introduced a new Iranian weapon to the battlefield.

The Zafar missile’s surprise success in targeting the USS Spruance came at a high cost, claiming American lives.

But 31 minutes after the impact, the facility that built the Zafar would cease to exist.

Let’s break down what transpired.

At the time of the attack, the USS Spruance was conducting anti-submarine operations in the Gulf of Oman, approximately 85 nautical miles from the Iranian coast.

She was part of the Eisenhower carrier strike group’s outer screen, tasked with protecting the carrier from subsurface threats.

The crew was focused on the underwater domain, deploying sonar and active helicopter-borne acoustic sensors.

They were not expecting a surface-launched missile attack from that distance.

Neither was anyone else.

The Zafar missile was Iran’s newest anti-ship weapon, a design that combined elements of Chinese, Russian, and indigenous technology.

It boasts a range estimated at 300 kilometers and a speed of Mach 2.8—significantly faster than the subsonic cruise missiles Iran had used in previous ᴀssaults.

With a warhead weighing 200 kilograms, the Zafar posed a serious threat.

American intelligence had tracked the missile’s development but believed it was still in testing, with operational deployment estimated to be 12 to 18 months away.

That ᴀssessment was wrong by a full year and a half.

At 1951, a Zafar missile launched from a position near Jask, one of Iran’s primary naval bases on the Gulf of Oman.

The target: the USS Spruance, 78 nautical miles to the south.

The Spruance’s A/SPY-1D radar detected the launch at 1951:24.

The missile climbed and accelerated, following a semi-ballistic trajectory that would bring it down toward the destroyer at high supersonic speed.

The time to impact was approximately 147 seconds—less than 2.5 minutes.

The combat information center responded with trained efficiency.

Threat classification was marked as hostile, and a fire control solution was calculated.

Weapons release was authorized within eight seconds of detection.

Two SM-6 missiles launched at 1951:34.

The SM-6 was the only interceptor in the American inventory capable of engaging high-speed, high-alтιтude targets like the Zafar.

However, the SM-6 had never been tested against this specific threat profile.

The engagement parameters were purely theoretical.

At 1953:41, the first SM-6 reached its calculated intercept point.

The Zafar was descending at Mach 2.8, its trajectory shifting as it transitioned from ballistic to terminal guidance.

The SM-6’s seeker struggled to track the rapidly maneuvering target.

The intercept geometry was at the edge of the missile’s capability.

Proximity detonation occurred, and fragments struck the Zafar, causing damage to its airframe, but the weapon kept coming.

The second SM-6 engaged seven seconds later.

The Zafar was lower now, faster, and entering its terminal dive.

The SM-6’s seeker locked onto the target, and the missile closed in.

Impact seemed imminent.

At the last moment, the Zafar executed a terminal maneuver—a sharp pull-up that changed its descent angle by 15 degrees.

The maneuver was brief, lasting less than a second, but it was enough.

The SM-6 pᴀssed beneath the Zafar and detonated.

More fragments struck the Iranian missile, accumulating further damage.

The Zafar’s guidance system was partially disabled, and its precise targeting was degraded, but it was still diving toward the Spruance at over Mach 2.

The failing Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) engaged at 1954:02 against a target moving at Mach 2.8.

The engagement window was measured in fractions of a second.

The 20 mm rounds reached toward the diving missile, with some connecting.

Pieces broke away from the already damaged Zafar.

At 1954:08, the Zafar struck the USS Spruance.

The damaged missile had lost its precise guidance.

Instead of hitting the superstructure, where most anti-ship missiles aim, it struck the hull below the waterline, approximately 4 meters beneath the surface.

In one sense, this was lucky.

A superstructure hit would have killed more sailors, damaged more systems, and potentially wrecked the ship’s combat capability entirely.

In another sense, it was catastrophic.

A 200 kg warhead detonating below the waterline creates a breach that immediately floods the ship.

The Spruance had survived above-water hits before—fragment damage, near misses, glancing impacts—but she had never taken a direct hit below the waterline.

The breach measured three meters wide and two meters high, and the impact killed two sailors in the compartment directly behind the hull.

Engineman Second Class Marcus Johnson, 29, and Engineman Third Class David Park, 25, drowned in the initial flooding before anyone could reach them.

The sea rushed in at 500 gallons per minute, then a thousand as the breach widened under pressure, and even more as structural damage allowed water to find new paths into the ship.

Captain William Chang reached the Combat Information Center (CIC) at 1956, 108 seconds after impact.

He found a ship in crisis.

“Give me a damage report,” he ordered.

The answers were grim.

“Flooding in compartments 347, 2L, and 3514 L. Spreading to adjacent spaces. Pumps engaged but overwhelmed. List developing to starboard, four degrees and increasing. Two confirmed ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, six missing, trapped in flooded compartments or unaccounted for in the chaos. Eleven wounded, propulsion intact, weapons intact. But the ship is sinking.”

“How long do we have?” Chang asked.

The chief engineer’s response was the kind of brutal honesty that defines damage control situations.

“Sir, if we can isolate the flooding at frame 52, we stabilize. If we can’t, we have maybe 90 minutes before we lose the ship.”

Ninety minutes to save the Spruance or to abandon her.

Captain Chang made two decisions in rapid succession.

First, he ordered all available personnel to damage control.

“Strip the weapons stations if you have to. We’re saving this ship.”

Second, he grabbed the Fifth Fleet command net.

“Fifth Fleet, Spruance actual. We are hit below the waterline. Two KIA confirmed. Six missing. Ship is flooding. I am fighting to save her. Simultaneously, I am initiating retaliation against the launch site.”

The missile was new, fast, and maneuvering.

“We’ve never seen it before. Recommend expanded strike against development and production facilities. Spruance out.”

At 1959, while his crew fought to keep the ship from sinking, Captain Chang ordered weapons release.

The Spruance carried Tomahawk cruise missiles in her forward Vertical Launch System (VLS) cells.

Those cells were located in the forward section of the ship, away from the flooding aft, and they were fully operational.

Four Tomahawks launched at 1959:14, 1959:18, 1959:22, and 1959:26.

The target: the missile battery near Jask that had fired the Zafar.

The ship was taking on water, her list had increased to 6 degrees, and her crew was sealing compartments, rigging pumps, and fighting the sea with everything they had—all while her missiles flew toward the enemy.

Vice Admiral Richardson received Chang’s report at 2001.

The mention of a new missile, fast and maneuvering, triggered an immediate intelligence review.

By 2008, analysts had compiled what they knew.

The Zafar had been developed at a facility near Shiraz, the same facility that the B-2s had struck months earlier.

That strike had destroyed the guidance research center but left the main production complex intact.

Iran had rebuilt faster than expected and deployed the Zafar before American intelligence realized the weapon was operational.

Richardson authorized an expanded strike at 2011.

Primary targets included the Jask launch battery already targeted by Chang’s Tomahawks, the Zafar production facility near Shiraz, and the test range where the missile had been validated.

Secondary targets included two suspected storage facilities where additional Zafars might be kept.

The ᴀssets were positioned.

The USS Florida, a guided missile submarine operating in the Arabian Sea, launched 12 Tomahawks at 2015, targeting the production facility.

B-1B Lancers airborne from Diego Garcia were diverted from a training mission, carrying 48 JDAMs between them, targeting the test range and the storage facilities.

Four FA-18E Super Hornets launched from the Eisenhower at 2019, targeting the Jask launch battery to reinforce Chang’s Tomahawks.

At 2029, 31 minutes after the Spruance was hit, the first American weapons arrived.

Captain Chang’s Tomahawks struck the Jask battery first, delivering four missiles on a target area 100 meters in diameter.

The launcher vehicles that had fired the Zafar were destroyed, the radar that had guided it was wrecked, and the command vehicle that had coordinated the attack was obliterated.

The Super Hornets arrived three minutes later with additional ordinance.

Their JDAMs struck the support facilities, ammunition storage, and fuel maintenance equipment, effectively eliminating the battery.

At 2041, the Florida’s Tomahawks reached the Shiraz production facility.

This target consisted of hardened underground sections reinforced with concrete.

Lessons learned from the previous American strike were applied.

The Iranians had rebuilt their weapons programs in structures designed to survive attacks.

Twelve Tomahawks weren’t enough to destroy it completely, but they were sufficient to set the program back significantly.

Above-ground structures collapsed, access tunnels were cratered, and power systems were wrecked.

The facility would require months of repair before resuming production.

At 2047, the B-1Bs arrived at their targets.

The test range at Simnan received 24 JDAMs, 500-pound weapons saturating the launchpads, tracking facilities, and instrumentation buildings.

Iran’s ability to test new missiles was significantly degraded.

The storage facilities received the remaining bombs; one facility was confirmed destroyed, with satellite imagery later showing Zafar missile bodies in the wreckage.

The other facility appeared to be a decoy, consisting of empty buildings designed to attract American attention.

The Iranians were learning.

So were the Americans.

By 2055, the strike was complete.

The damage ᴀssessment would take days to compile fully, but the immediate results were clear: one Zafar launch battery destroyed, one production facility severely damaged, one test range destroyed, one storage facility destroyed, and one decoy destroyed.

Estimated Iranian casualties ranged from 100 to 140 personnel.

Meanwhile, the USS Spruance was still fighting.

The damage control teams had performed miracles.

They had isolated the flooding at frame 54, two frames short of the worst-case scenario, but containment nonetheless.

The list had stabilized at 11 degrees—severe but survivable.

The pumps were barely winning.

At 21:30, Captain Chang reported to Fifth Fleet, “Spruance will survive. Flooding contained, list stable. We’re not sinking tonight.”

The relief was palpable across the fleet, but the cost was real.

Two sailors had drowned in the initial flooding.

Four more, who had been reported missing, were found ᴅᴇᴀᴅ in sealed compartments.

They had helped close waterтιԍнт doors, saving the ship, but died when they couldn’t escape in time.

The six ᴅᴇᴀᴅ included Boatswain’s Mate Second Class Jennifer Williams, 26; Damage Controlman Third Class Thomas Rodriguez, 24; Hull Maintenance Technician Third Class Sarah Park, 23; and Fireman Robert Chen, 21.

They died saving their ship.

Their sacrifice kept the Spruance afloat.

The destroyer made way toward Bahrain at 6 knots, the fastest speed her damaged hull could safely manage.

The journey took 28 hours, with her crew pumping water continuously the entire way.

The repair ᴀssessment was extensive.

The whole breach required dry dock work, cutting away damaged plating, replacing structural members, and welding new steel—at least six months of repairs.

The families of the six ᴅᴇᴀᴅ sailors received flags, letters, and the grateful thanks of a Navy that could never truly repay their loss.

The Zafar missile program was set back by the strikes, but not destroyed.

Iran would rebuild.

They always rebuild.

But they would rebuild knowing that deploying new weapons would bring immediate American retaliation.

The Zafar had cost them a launch battery, a test range, severe damage to their production facility, and over 100 personnel.

The exchange rate remained brutal.

The engagement on February 21st demonstrated several key points.

First, Iran continued to innovate, introducing new weapons, new capabilities, and new surprises.

American intelligence could not track everything.

Second, American ships could survive attacks that should have sunk them.

The Spruance took a hit below the waterline and lived, a testament to her construction and her crew’s resilience.

Third, American retaliation was immediate, regardless of the ship’s condition.

Captain Chang launched Tomahawks while fighting to save his ship from sinking.

The response wouldn’t wait for the crisis to end.

Thirty-one minutes from impact to retaliation.

Thirty-one minutes from flooding to strike complete.

That is the standard.

That is the expectation.

That is why Iran’s new missile program was gutted before it could threaten more ships.

The Spruance returned to service nine months later.

Her captain received the Navy Cross, and her crew received the Presidential Unit Citation.

Her ᴅᴇᴀᴅ received honors, memorials, and the eternal graтιтude of shipmates who survived because of their sacrifice.