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The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman, also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran, is a gulf that connects the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz, which then runs to the Persian Gulf. It borders Iran and Pakistan on the north, Oman on the south, and the United Arab Emirates on the west.
The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. It is connected to the Gulf of Oman in the east by the Strait of Hormuz. The Arvand or Shatt al-Arab river delta forms the northwest shoreline.
The Strait of Hormuz is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategically important choke points. On the north coast lies Iran, and on the south coast lies the Musandam peninsula, shared by the United Arab Emirates and the Musandam Governorate, an exclave of Oman. The strait is about 90 nautical miles (167 km) long, with a width varying from about 52 nmi (96 km) to 21 nmi (39 km).
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters, but spills may also occur on land. Oil spills may be due to releases of crude oil from tankers, offshore platforms, drilling rigs and wells, as well as spills of refined petroleum products and their by-products, heavier fuels used by large ships such as bunker fuel, or the spill of any oily refuse or waste oil.
Operation Earnest Will was an American military protection of Kuwaiti-owned tankers from Iranian attacks in 1987 and 1988, three years into the Tanker War phase of the Iran–Iraq War. It was the largest naval convoy operation since World War II.
Operation Prime Chance was a United States Special Operations Command operation intended to protect U.S.-flagged oil tankers from Iranian attack during the Iran–Iraq War. The operation took place roughly at the same time as Operation Earnest Will, the largely naval effort to escort the tankers through the Persian Gulf. The operation was begun after the mining of the U.S.-flagged Kuwaiti oil tanker Bridgeton.
Sabalan is an Alvand-class frigate of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy. She was launched in 1969.
HMCS Calgary is a Halifax-class frigate that has served in the Canadian Forces and Royal Canadian Navy since 1995. Calgary is the sixth vessel in her class and the second vessel to carry the designation HMCS Calgary. She was built as part of the Canadian Patrol Frigate Project. Calgary began the FELEX refit in June 2012. She is assigned to Maritime Forces Pacific (MARPAC) and is homeported at CFB Esquimalt. Calgary serves on MARPAC missions protecting Canada's sovereignty in the Pacific Ocean and enforcing Canadian laws in its territorial sea and exclusive economic zone.
SS Atlantic Empress was a Greek oil tanker that in 1979 collided with the oil tanker Aegean Captain in the Caribbean, and eventually sank, having created the fifth largest oil spill on record and the largest ship-based spill having spilled 287,000 metric tonnes of crude oil into the Caribbean Sea. It was built at the Odense Staalskibsværft shipyard in Odense, Denmark, and launched on 16 February 1974.
USS Shasta (AE-33) was a Kilauea-class replenishment ammunition ship of the United States Navy. She was named after Mount Shasta, a volcano in the Cascade Range in northern California. Shasta's mission was to support forward deployed aircraft carrier battle groups, which she accomplished through underway replenishment and vertical replenishment. Over three decades, Shasta and her crew took part in the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Iran–Iraq War, Desert Shield/Operation Desert Storm, and numerous other actions.
HMS Sportsman was a third-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in 1942, she spent most of the war serving in the Mediterranean Sea. After an initial patrol off Norway, she sank the heavy transport Général Bonaparte in the Mediterranean in 1943 and missed a French oil tanker. She was heavily damaged after a mistaken attack by an Allied bomber, and was sent east after repairs to participate in operations in the Black Sea. After the operation was cancelled, Sportsman patrolled the Aegean Sea, sending several Greek and German ships to the bottom. She sank the German transport SS Petrella in early 1944 despite it being clearly marked as a prisoner-of-war ship, killing 2,670 out of 3,173 Italians aboard. Sportsman sank several more ships, and suffered minor damage when she was detected and sighted while attempting to attack a convoy.
MV Dara was a British passenger ship, built in 1948 by Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland. She travelled mostly between the Persian Gulf and the Indian subcontinent, carrying expatriate passengers who were employed in the nations of the Gulf.
Cosmo Ace, formerly A Whale and Madison Orca, is a Liberian-flagged ore-oil carrier built in 2010 by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Ulsan, South Korea for TMT Co. Ltd. from the Republic of China (Taiwan). She has seven other sister ships in the fleet, built in 2010-2011 and named in succession: B Whale, C Whale etc., to H Whale.
Louhi is a Finnish multipurpose oil and chemical spill response vessel owned by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), but crewed and operated by the Finnish Navy. The ship, ordered in 2007, was built by Uki Workboat in Uusikaupunki, Finland, and entered service in May 2011.
The Torrey Canyon oil spill was one of the world's most serious oil spills. The supertanker SS Torrey Canyon ran aground on rocks off the south-west coast of the United Kingdom in 1967, spilling an estimated 25–36 million gallons of crude oil. Attempts to mitigate the damage included the bombing of the wreck by aircraft from the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Hundreds of miles of coastline in Britain, France, Guernsey, and Spain were affected by the oil and other substances used to mitigate damage. It was the world's worst oil spill and led to significant changes in maritime law and oil spill responses.
Operation Dawn 8: Gulf of Aden was a naval operation carried out by the Royal Malaysian Navy against pirates in the Indian Ocean on 20 January 2011. In response to the hijacking of MV Bunga Laurel, the Malaysian Shipborne Protection Team deployed an attack helicopter and 14 members of the naval counter-terrorism group PASKAL in two rigid-hulled inflatable boats to retake the vessel and rescue the crew. After one night of trailing the tanker, the Malaysian forces successfully retook the ship by force on 20 January 2011, resulting in the wounding of three and the capture of four out of 18 pirates, and all 23 vessel crewmembers rescued.
Asphalt Princess is a double-hulled tanker used to transport bitumen and asphalt. It is currently operated by Asphalt Princess Shipping. The ship was launched on 19 December 1975 and completed in 1976 by Ankerlokken Glommen of Frederikstad, Norway. Initially named Joasla, the vessel was sold in 1979 and renamed Orinoco, then again in 1981 to Rio Orinoco. As Rio Orinoco, the vessel went aground on Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in October 1990 and spilled 200 metric tons of oil into the gulf before being freed. The ship was acquired by Groupe Desgagné following this and renamed Thalassa Desgagnes. While in service with Groupe Desgagné, the vessel suffered a fire and ran aground. Asphalt Princess Shipping purchased the ship in 2017.
On 13 June 2019, two oil tankers were attacked near the Strait of Hormuz while they transited the Gulf of Oman. The Kokuka Courageous, flagged in Panama and operated by a company based in Japan, and Front Altair, flagged in Marshall Islands and operated by a company based in Norway, were attacked, allegedly with limpet mines or flying objects, sustaining fire damage. American and Iranian military personnel responded and rescued crew members. The attacks took place a month after the similar May 2019 Gulf of Oman incident and on the same day, Iranian Supreme Leader Iran Ali Khamenei met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in Iran. Abe was acting as an intermediary between US President Donald Trump and Khamenei.
On 3 August 2021 the asphalt tanker Asphalt Princess, travelling from Khor Fakkan, the United Arab Emirates, to the Sohar, Oman, was attacked and boarded in the Gulf of Oman. The ship is flagged in Panama. The vessel is owned by Glory International, listed as based in the Emirati free zone.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated on 25 October 2021 that they had thwarted an attempt by the United States to capture and detain a tanker carrying Iranian oil in the gulf of Oman by carrying out a heliborne operation and directing the ship back to Iran's territorial waters. The Pentagon rejected the Iranian statement and said that Iranian forces had seized a Vietnamese-flagged oil tanker in October.
References
- NOAA - Oil Spill Case Histories Archived 2011-11-21 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2008-08-31
- Hooke, N. Modern. Shipping Disasters 1963-1987. Lloyd's of London Press. 1987. ISBN 1-85044-211-8
25°18′N57°34′E / 25.300°N 57.567°E
- "6829721" . Miramar Ship Index . Retrieved 8 November 2018.
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