Speaking to reporters in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas on Wednesday, Rear Admiral Khanzadi pointed to the recent achievements of the Navy and said, “Extended deterrence via expansion of the Navy’s capacities and capabilities in open waters is on the agenda of the force.”

“To make this fast-paced move, the Navy needs a set of equipment, capacities, and capabilities to make attempts in high seas for the benefit of global maritime security and national economy,” he added.

Accordingly, the Dena destroyer will join the Navy’s fleet in the Iranian month of Bahman (January 1, 2020 – February 19), he noted.

The commander further said Dena is a new Mowj-class (Wave-class) destroyer similar to the Jamaran and the Sahand destroyers, adding that it has new capabilities compared to other destroyers of the country.

Khanzadi also said the domestically made Damavand destroyer, which crashed into a jetty back in January last year, will return to service by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2020) with advanced gears, including vertical launch missiles, installed on it.

The Damavand destroyer crashed into a jetty on January 10, 2018, killing two sailors of the Iranian Navy. The accident occurred when Damavand was docking at a 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.