Auxiliaries and Other Ships
Forward Base Ship
Makran Class LOA 748′ / 228 m TDISP ca. 56,000 gross tons. Originally merchant oil tankers. (1 completed, 1 building, 1 destroyed) Converted at Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex Co (ISOICO).
IRIS Makran 441 (2021-2026) LOA 748′ / 228 m TDISP 56,000 gross tons Originally the merchant ship Al Buhaira (2010) crude oil tanker extensively modified to be Iran’s first base ship. Appears to have been destroyed at homeport of Bandar Abbas 2 March 2026 by US Tomahawk strike.
IRIS Kurdistan 442 (possibly complete by 2025) may have been damaged during 2026 War. Another unit, Khuzestan, appears to be still under construction as of 2026.
Forward Operating Base / Expeditionary Base Ship
Shahid Roudaki (2020) LOA 500′ / 152.4 m TDISP ca. 12,000 tons
High-speed Catamaran
IRIS Shahid Nazeri (ca. 2018) LOA 180′ / 54.9 m TDISP about 800 tons. Built at Busherh shipyards. Not much is known about this vessel. Part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy. It can carry a light helicopter, and go as fast as 28 knots.
Replenishment and Resupply
IRIS Kharg 431 (1984-2021) LOA 680′ / 207.2 m TDISP 33,000 tons (modified British Ol class tanker, built Swan Hunter 1978, transferred after being held back during Iranian Revolution). Caught fire and sank on 2 June, 2021, about 12 km W of the port of Jask, Iran. Wreck still in place mid-2022.
Bandar Abbas Class Fleet Supply Ships LOA 354′ / 107.9 m TDISP 4,600 tons (1 active, 1 interned in Sri Lanka March 2026 War)
Delvar Class Support Ships LOA 210′ / 64 m TDISP 900 tons (7 active service since 1981) two variants, an ammunition ship, a water carrier, and general cargo. The water carriers have rounded sterns.
Ekranoplans / Wing-in-Ground Effect vehicles
Unknown Ekranoplan LOA 59′ / 18m, wingspan 56′ / 17m. Larger than the small HESA Bavar-2 type ekranoplans that the IRGC Navy operates in the Strait of Hormuz. Built or modified at ISOICO shipyards near Bandar Abbas. Appeared in 2014 imagery, and may now be retired.
Targets
Giant Fake Aircraft Carrier LOA 670′ / 204.2 m TDISP unknown (2014-2021). In our 2019 USN aircraft carriers page, we facetiously called this the USS Potemkin Maru, and added it in an “honourable mention” section, because of its resemblance to a USN supercarrier, and the original painting of “68” as its deck code (a strange reference to the USS Chester Nimitz, CVN-68). The backstory of this is it may have been originally intended to be a film prop, or that was a cover story. The target has large holes/ports in the sides that show the girder-like interior structure. We explored the history of this giant floating oddity in a July/August 2020 post on the topic. The target was attacked in 2015 and again in late July, 2020. After this second attack, it was towed back to Bandar Abbas, but now seems to have partially capsized and sunk in the immediate approaches to the harbour breakwaters, creating an obstacle to safe navigation.
As seen below, by late July the Iranians had succeeded in towing the drifting, derelict target near the breakwater that surrounds the port. Given the wrecked condition, it seems likely the strange career of what we call the USS Potemkin Maru is over.
The Searchers 