Sword of the Sea:
The Persians, Part Two
by Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
April 2023

In the alternative-history world of the Second Great War, Imperial Persia (while wishing to be called Iran) is aligned with the Allied powers (Britain, France, Italy, Russia) against the Central Powers (Germany, Austria and Ottoman Turkey). Reza Shah has used oil revenues and copious aid from his sponsors to build a powerful war machine, as those of second-rate powers go. His large British-trained and Italian-equipped army is deployed along his western border to engage the Ottoman Turks in a brutal ground campaign reminiscent of the Iran-Iraq War.

Second Great War at Sea: Sword of the Sea is an expansion for Second World War at Sea: Horn of Africa, with 100 double-sized “long” pieces and 80 normal sized ones. In it, the Persians have the help of Italian and British squadrons to face off against the Ottoman Turks, aided by a handful of Germans.

The Imperial Persian Navy has been built up with the aid of the Allied Powers to project power into the Arabian Sea and to keep the Turkish squadron at Basra bottled up in the Persian Gulf. Let’s continue our look at the ships the Iranians/Persians have built to accomplish those tasks.

Training Ships

The first major ships purchased by Reza Shah for his new navy, the pair of ex-Spanish dreadnoughts had no useful service life when then entered Persian service. But they came cheaply, and gave the new Imperial Navy a pair of large training ships to help prepare the crews needed for the planned expansion of the fleet.

As battleships go, the Espaňa class were the smallest dreadnoughts built for any fleet, weighing in at 15,700 tons’ displacement and just 460 feet long. That made them only slightly larger than the last pre-dreadnoughts built by major navies. The Aramada laid down three ships between 1909 and 1912, completing them between 1913 and 1921 as the Great War delayed delivery of needed parts from Britain. One of the three ships was lost to grounding while still in Spanish service, and Reza Shah’s navy bought the other two soon afterwards.

The Spanish dreadnought Espaňa, before her sale.

Towed to the Orlando yard in Livorno, they received new power plants with oil-fired boilers, making space for cadet accommodations and actually raising their speed to 20 knots. Other than the addition of anti-torpedo blisters, little could be done to improve their protection.

Their main armament, eight 12-inch Vickers Mark H rifles, was replaced with the new British-made 12-inch/50 Mark XIV steel rifle, a fine weapon also used by the Royal Indian Navy on their re-built dreadnoughts. They have an anti-aircraft armament of eight dual-purpose 135mm guns in four twin mounts amidships.

The Spanish dreadnought Jaime Primero, before her sale.

The pair are not ideal as training vessels, thanks to their cramped layout and small size as battleships go. The Shah preferred that they retain their main armament, and so they lack the variety of weaponry typically carried by a training ship. They have some utility as floating batteries for defense of Persian naval bases, and to provide heavy artillery support for the planned invasion of Qatar in case of war with the Turks. But they are not suited for operations on the open sea.

Coast Defense Ships

The Italian firm Ansaldo designed a big, relatively fast coast-defense ship in the mid-1930’s to meet Swedish requirements. The ship became a popular export, serving in fleets that could not afford true battleships but wanted a large, multi-role combatant.

Persia ordered three of them as part of a huge 1934 purchase of Italian arms; all three were delivered in 1938 and 1939. While much smaller than a true battleship, at 17,500 tons they’re the largest warships in the Imperial Navy. The Persian ship has a much smaller power plant than her Italian near-sisters, producing 70,000 horsepower good for 25 knots’ speed. They’re armored much like modern Italian battleships, including the Pugliese underwater protection scheme.

Each ship carries six 283mm guns in three twin turrets, a Swedish-designed weapon manufactured under license in Italy. This is the same gun that arms their Italian sisters, and most of those ships built to this design for other navies. Like the Italian ships, they also have eight 152mm/55 (6-inch) Model 1934 guns in a pair of twin turrets on either beam. Anti-aircraft protection comes from five 90mm/50 heavy anti-aircraft guns in single mounts and eight 65mm/54 medium anti-aircraft guns in four twin mountings, plus an array of lighter 37mm and 20mm weapons. They have no torpedo tubes.

The Turks operate nothing on the Persian Gulf that can match any of these ships. But unfortunately for the Persians, there’s another Turkish squadron based in the Red Sea.

Destroyers

The Imperial Russian Navy built 66 units of the Novik class during and after the Great War, the most powerful destroyers in the world at the time of their completion. A decade later this was no longer true, and the Russians agreed to sell 18 of them to Reza Shah’s new fleet. They had not been modernized to the same extent as the boats retained for the Tsar’s navy, and by 1940 only six of them remained in front-line service.

Though large for their time when laid down, at 1,200 tons’ displacement they’re now at about the average for a fleet destroyer of 1940. They have four Italian-made 100mm guns, replacing the original Russian-made main armament, and nine torpedo tubes. They can still make 30 knots following an overhaul in Bombay.

With his destroyer force rapidly aging, Reza Shah ordered eight modern Boiky-class boats from Imperial Russian shipyards in 1934, alongside the new coast-defense ships. These big (2000 tons’ displacement) boats had been designed and built to fight the Imperial German Navy’s big Storm Bird type destroyers, a design also found in the Ottoman Turkish fleet.

Like their Russian sisters, they carry six 120mm guns and six torpedo tubes, which is not quite as potent an array as the Storm Birds carry. They are exceptionally fast, making 37 knots, and they can also carry and lay 60 mines. They’re a potent companion to the new light cruisers and armored cruisers, and are stationed with them at Chah Bahar for operations in the wider Arabian Sea.

And those are the major warships of the Imperial Persian Navy in Second Great War at Sea: Sword of the Sea.

You can order Sword of the Sea right here.

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Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and NASA Journalist in Space finalist, he has published a great many books, games and articles on historical subjects; people are saying that some of them are actually good. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, three children, and new puppy. He misses his lizard-hunting Iron Dog, Leopold.

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