In the early hours of March 4, 2026, in international waters off the coast of Galle, Sri Lanka, the USS Charlotte, a Los Angeles–class nuclear-powered attack submarine, closed in on the IRIS Dena, a new Iranian Moudge-class frigate.
Submerged, the Charlotte fired a heavyweight, acoustic-homing torpedo at the hull of the Dena. It missed. It fired another. It connected. The periscope footage of the attack was released by the United States Department of War. It shows the shockwave of the torpedo fracturing the Dena’s hull and sending its helicopter flight deck metres into the air.
Within seconds, what was left of the Dena was plummeting to the depths of the Indian Ocean, carrying at least sixty of its crew of 180 to their deaths.
Some moments later, an email was sent from US Indo-Pacific Command to Sri Lanka’s maritime rescue agency. Twenty miles from Galle’s coast, a ship is in distress. Sri Lanka immediately engaged a search and rescue effort that included its air force and navy. The surface of the sea contained clues that a vessel had been attacked and had likely been sunk. But it was not clear whether the attack had come from above or below. They were able to rescue thirty-two sailors, and recover the bodies of eighty-seven others, many of whom had mysteriously broken legs.
The Charlotte had long vanished like an apparition beneath the waves.
This was on the fifth day of the US–Israeli war on Iran, 2,000 nautical miles from the immediate conflict zone.
…Is there an implication of the broken legs I’m missing?
Wikipedia has a video of the blast. Imagine standing on deck when the torpedo exploded and you’ll understand why there were broken legs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_IRIS_Dena
Oh, I understand why, I was wondering if pointing it out was supposed to imply something else I wasn’t getting.
There is something else which explains the word “mysterious” – the last time a torpedo was used on a ship/boat was WW2, so because the rescuers were not familar with those type of injuries (as no one had seen them since 1945) is why they called them mysterious.
https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/military-history/2026/03/04/this-wwii-submarine-was-the-last-us-boat-to-notch-a-torpedo-kill-until-this-week/
Wasn’t the Belgrano sunk by torpedo?
You’re right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARA_General_Belgrano
Yes. Although it is perhaps relevant that Belgrano was of WW2 vintage, and Conqueror sank it with a torpedo that was first introduced in the 1920s, so a very different level of damage.
How I read that is that it’s most likely that an explosion from below (torpedo) was the type of attack used.
I’m venturing a huge leap of a guess here, but my first thoughts were either:
Leaping from the deck of a huge ship into the ocean imperfectly is kinda like hitting concrete. Water is not “soft” when you’re jumping from a ship deck several stories up and don’t “pencil dive” just right.
Being on the deck of a ship suffering a catastrophic explosion below, strong enough to rupture the upper decks and “send the helipad flying meters high”, would force the surface many sailors were standing on upwards, far too quickly and unexpectedly for their legs to brace.