Speaking at a ceremony held in the southern port city of Banda Abbas on Saturday to add the homegrown Sahand destroyer to the Navy’s fleet, Admiral Khanzadi pointed to the crash of the Damavand destroyer and said grounds have been provided for the repair of the destroyer in the Caspian Sea with the efforts of the Navy and the Defense Ministry.
The repair process of Damavand will not last more than 18 months, he said, adding that the Navy will make efforts to speed up the process.
The commander went on to say that in addition to the coming into service of Damavand, the country will witness the addition of Mowj-class (Wave-class) destroyers in coming days and months.
The Damavand destroyer crashed into a jetty on January 10, killing two sailors of the Iranian Navy. The accident occurred when Damavand was docking at port in Iran’s northern province of Gilan.
Increasing wind speed and severe storm in the Caspian Sea caused the destroyer to have a crash with the jetty.
Damavand, a 100-meter-long destroyer weighing more than 1300 tons, officially joined the Navy’s northern fleet in the Caspian Sea in March 2015.
More than 700 industrial, research and academic Iranian centers cooperated in designing and producing the military vessel, which is also a training warship.