Iran Attacked a US-Protected Convoy – 41 Minutes Later, Their Largest Naval Base Was Gone.lh

The rules of engagement authorized a response, and the scale of the attack demanded it.

At 11:47, Santos authorized a strike package aimed not just at the attacking boats, but at their home base—Bandar Abbas, Iran’s largest naval installation.

Destroying the patrol boats was tactical, but destroying Bandar Abbas was strategic.

At 11:51, the strike package launched.

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower was operating 140 nautical miles southwest, with her airwing on heightened alert since the convoy entered the Strait.

Eight F/A-18E Super Hornets launched within four minutes, each aircraft loaded with maximum ordinance: JDAMs, JSOWs, and HARMs for air defense suppression.

Simultaneously, the guided missile submarine USS Florida surfaced and began launching Tomahawk strikes, firing 24 cruise missiles—the full capacity of her vertical launch tubes.