Larack Island 1984

With the Iranian revolution in 1979 the sanctions against the new regime had begun to hurt . Then the Iraqi's attacked . For the Ayatollah and his government this was potentially catastrophic . in order to raise money and get support it was decided to close the Straight of Hormuz . One of the military advisers pointed out that the British had artillery capable of closing the Straight of Gibraltar and that was all that was needed to begin an incredibly ambitious construction program .

Within a month surveyor's had arrived on Larack island to work out suitable locations for construction of the new defences . At the same time the world was being scoured for suitable guns and installations . By a stroke of good fortune the Swedish 12 cm coastal artillery system design was acquired by espionage . With modifications to increase the armoured protection the system was seen as a backup to the Silkworm batteries . With construction done behind various camouflage measures by 1984 the battery was completed consisting of 4 turrets and fire control both by radar and observers . when in full use the batteries could place 100 120 mm shells per minute onto a target 27km away . the silkworm batteries and extensive AA guns completed the installation . Later a pair of Hawk batteries also got installed .

By the time the world found out about the batteries the first supertanker had been sunk while carrying Iraqi oil . in 30 seconds 18 shells had impacted the massive vessel starting fires that burned for a week while the massive tanker drifted out of control until the USN towed it out of the shipping lane and sank it . The announcement that the Straight's had been closed was met with a challenge immediately .
 
The site would be a good test for improving PGMs. This has some potential, tho there are some questions about Iraqi engineering expertise taking critical details in the defense/protection in the wrong direction. In general it reminds me of the NVA 13cm gun regiment just north of the DMZ that gave Allied forces in I Corps so much trouble. I don't think the US forces were able to put more than one or two of the cannon out of action on any day.

Note that NVA used tunnels, not turrets, & focused on deception measures to mask which of dozens of tunnels had guns. Part of that was moving the cannon regularly to a other tunnels.
 
This is going to be interesting... given the US's inevitable response I have to wonder if more Iranian royalists will be recalled and given more power.
 
Once the HAWK batteries are suppressed I expect both PGMs and other airstrikes. I am sure the Iranians on the island will find the Persian words for "arc light strike". The island is listed as 19sqmi/49sqkm so even with camouflage things will not go well after a few arc light strikes. Closing the Straits of Hormuz to non-Iraqi flagged ships will piss off more than just the USA, and unlike mines which can be "denied" (not ours) you can't deny guns and missiles.
 
The USN is probably going to swing by with a heavy cruiser squadron and a battle squadron to flatten it. Perhaps even the Quick Firing cruisers of the Royal Navy - all liberally smothered in Aegis escorts and air cover.
 
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