US sub sinks Iranian ship by torpedo in Indian Ocean, 1st such attack since WWII

March 4, 2026

Pete Hegseth, US secretary of defense, during a news conference at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, US, on Monday, March 2, 2026. Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) -- A U.S. Navy fast-attack submarine on Tuesday sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean using a single torpedo, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Wednesday, saying this was the first time since World War II that an American submarine has sunk an enemy vessel.

“Yesterday in the Indian Ocean … an American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth said. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo.”

A video of what the Pentagon said was taken from the U.S. sub's periscope was shown at his briefing.

The vessel, identified by Sri Lankan officials as the IRIS Dena, went down with 180 people aboard, the AP reported. The Sri Lankan navy rescued 32 survivors, according to the AP.

The USS Torsk fired the last American torpedoes of World War II on Aug. 14, 1945, sinking two Japanese defense frigates in the Sea of Japan, one day before Japan surrendered.

Hegseth described the strike on the Iranian ship as a “quiet death.” Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a single Mark 48 torpedo, a sophisticated munition specifically designed to sink ships, achieved “immediate effect.”

The Pentagon video of the strike shows the ship blown in half before quickly sinking to the bottom of the sea.

“I want to remind everybody that this is an incredible demonstration of America's global reach,” Caine said. “To hunt, find and kill an out of area deployer is something that only the United States can do at this type of scale.”

Hegseth identified the ship as being nicknamed the “Soleimani,” the senior general in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps killed in a 2020 U.S. airstrike in Baghdad ordered by President Donald Trump.

“Last night, we sunk their prized ship, the Soleimani,” Hegseth said. “Looks like POTUS got him twice.”

The IRIS Dena had been operating in in the region after participating in a multinational training exercise hosted by the Indian Navy in February, in which 74 nations, including the U.S., took part, according to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.