How U.S Apaches ANNIHILATED Iran's Mosquito Fleet in the Strait of Hormuz

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]On the morning of May 4th, 2026, something happened in the Straight of Hormuz that Iranian commanders will never want to mention. Six attack boats of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps left the dock, advanced into the straight, and not a single one returned.

[00:00:16]On the same day, Iran launched anti-ship cruise missiles from the coast, unleashed swarms of attack drones and simultaneously organized high-speed boat swarms aimed directly at two US destroyers moving through the straight.

[00:00:30]All were completely intercepted with not a scratch on the halls. But this is what most news reports overlook. Iran did not enter this battle unprepared. They had studied the straight of Hormuz for decades. They knew every waterway, every shaw, every blind spot where large warships could not maneuver. They had built their entire naval doctrine around one single idea that numbers, speed, and terrain could defeat superior technology. They had practice swarm tactics hundreds of times, and in just a few minutes, it all collapsed. To understand why, you need to understand the context leading up to that day.

[00:01:07]Operation Epic Fury began on February 28th. A ceasefire was announced on April 7th, extended on April 21st, but Iran did not open the straight. More than 22 out of 500 sailors from 87 countries continued to be stranded. On the evening of May 3rd, Trump announced Project Freedom on Truth Social, warning directly that any obstruction by Iran would be met with overwhelming force.

[00:01:32]The Sauru Juan. On the morning of May 4th, the operation began and Iran responded with everything they had left.

[00:01:41]In this video, I will explain three things. What weapons Iran bet everything on. Why the US was precisely prepared to break it. And why what happened on May 4th in the Straight of Hormuz was not just a battle, but a strategic shift that the whole world is having to recalculate. Stay with me because the answer is more complex than you think.

[00:02:02]To understand what happened on the morning of May 4th, you have to understand the weapon that Iran bet everything on and why for many decades the whole world had legitimate reason to be concerned about it. People often call them the mosquito fleet and that name is not meant to mock. It is the official term in American military analysis circles used to describe an asymmetric combat doctrine that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy had painstakingly built over four decades.

[00:02:32]starting from a very specific lesson in history that was the tanker war. The tanker war that took place from 1984 to 1988 as part of the Iran Iraq war when both sides repeatedly attacked each other's oil tankers and those of neutral nations in the Gulf. Iran at that time did not have a traditional navy strong enough to confront head-on. But they learned something more important. That in a narrow sea with complex terrain, shallow water and full of small islands like the straight of Hormuz, small, fast, and numerous boats could do things that large warships could not cope with.

[00:03:09]From that lesson, the IRGC Navy began building a doctrine completely different from conventional naval thinking, the swarm doctrine. simultaneous attacks from multiple directions with overwhelming numbers at speeds that large ships defense systems were not designed to handle all at once. The IRGC's fast attack boats were built specifically for this environment.

[00:03:32]speeds over 50 knots, lowprofile holes difficult to detect on radar, the ability to operate in shallow waters, and complex island terrain in the southern part of the straight of Hormuz, where large destroyers face severe maneuver restrictions. Some were equipped with rocket pods, anti-ship missiles, and heavy machine guns. But the core logic of this doctrine was not that each boat had to win in a one-on-one confrontation, but to send enough boats from enough directions so that the opponent's defense systems were overloaded and at least one would get through. One getting through and ramming the side of a destroyer or merchant ship would be enough to create an event that could change the situation. And this is the part that makes this threat truly more frightening than it appears on the surface.

[00:04:24]Part of the Mosquito Fleet does not need crew to operate. The IRGC had developed kamicazi variants, unmanned boats packed with explosives programmed to speed straight into targets without any human decision at the moment of attack. At the press conference on May 5th, General Kaney confirmed that the fast boats that appeared on May 4th only carried light weapons, but the kamicazi capability remained part of IRGC doctrine, an option always present in their arsenal.

[00:04:54]This is why American military planners had war gamed mosquito fleet scenarios for decades. Not because they did not take it seriously, but precisely because they took it so seriously that it became one of the most thoroughly studied scenarios in the entire US Middle East strategy. So what happened to all that power on the morning of May 4th? This is the most important detail that most news reports overlooked, and it explains more than any other information about that day's battle. Before Project Freedom began, the Iranian Navy was no longer the Iranian Navy of last year. In Operation Epic Fury, the US had destroyed 158 Iranian warships from 16 different ship classes. The entire Iranian submarine fleet was sunk. 28 men layers were eliminated. By April, Trump stated outright that the Iranian Navy had been annihilated, wiped out, and was lying at the bottom of the sea. The mosquito fleet with its small, fast attack boats, easy to hide in shallow bays and coastal ports, was the last thing they had left. That was everything Iran could still put on the water. And when Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of Sententcom, confirmed the results of May 4th, he did not talk about a conventional tactical victory. He talked about a number. Iran typically deployed 20 to 40 fast attack boats in a standard swarm. That was the scale designed to overwhelm defenses. On May 4th, they only sent six boats, and Cooper stated outright, "This was clear evidence that IRGC capabilities had been degraded dramatically, reduced to a severe level.

[00:06:32]Six boats instead of 40 was not a tactical decision, not a probe, not calculated caution. It was the real limit of what Iran could still mobilize that morning."

[00:06:46]The number six did not speak to Iran's intention. It spoke to Iran's actual condition. And when all six of those boats disappeared in just a few minutes, the question was no longer whether the mosquito fleet could be deployed. The question was when the very last thing left was also gone. What did Iran have left to put on the table? The answer to that question begins with understanding what wiped out those boats. The answer, the AH64 Apache. The Apache is not a new weapon. This mainstay US Army attack helicopter has been in service since 1986. Fought in Desert Storm in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and in dozens of other campaigns around the world over the past four decades. But this is the important thing to understand right from the start. The Apache that appeared in the Strait of Hormuz on May 4th was not the Apache of Desert Storm. The variant operating in this campaign was the AH64E Guardian, the latest generation with a modern sensor suite, connectivity systems allowing real-time data sharing with other platforms, and significantly upgraded surface target attack capabilities compared to previous versions. But before talking about what the Apache accomplished in the battle on May 4th, there is a detail that happened the day before that few reports mentioned and it says a lot about how the US approached this campaign. On May 30th, Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of Sentcom, personally climbed into an AH64 Apache and flew over the waters around the Strait of Hormuz to inspect forces, meeting with Army and Navy personnel before Hour. A four-star commander does not fly in an attack helicopter to sightsee. That was a message sent to his forces that he stood with them and sent to Iran that this was exactly the type of weapon that would be deployed the next morning. So what could the Apache do that made it the perfect answer to the mosquito fleet? Let's start with the central weapon, the one that defined how the Apache fought at close range. The 30 millimeter M230 chain gun mounted under the fuselage. What makes the M230 special is not just its power, but the way it is controlled. This gun is slaved directly to the gunner's helmet through the IHAD DSS, integrated helmet and display sighting system. Wherever the gunner looks, the gun points. No need to rotate the turret. No manual alignment, no mechanical reaction time. The moment the gunner looks at the target, the gun is already pointing at it. At a firing rate of 625 rounds per minute, aimed at the fiberglass hole of a fast attack boat. A short burst is enough to completely end that threat. No need to fire much, no need to close the distance further. But the M230 is only part of the firepower ecosystem that the Apache brought to the strait of Hormuz. Mounted on four hard points on the wings were up to 16 laserg guided AGM 114 Hellfire missiles with a range of many kilometers, allowing the Apache to destroy targets from a distance where fast attack boats could not counterattack. Supplemented by 76 Hydra 2.75 in rockets for area suppression when needing to handle multiple dispersed targets in a wide area at the same time. The Apache did not come to Hormuz with one weapon and one tactic.

[00:10:09]It came with the ability to engage targets at multiple different ranges with different types of munitions in the same mission. And the result of all that capability on the morning of May 4th was confirmed by Admiral Cooper in the subsequent press briefing with words that could not be clearer. A64 Apaches and MH60 Seahawks were used this morning to destroy six small Iranian boats threatening merchant shipping. We are backing commitment with action. Six boats, none escaped. But this is the part I want you to really pause and think about because it is not just a story about a better weapon. This is a story about a doctrinal incompatibility that Iran had not solved. The entire mosquito fleet doctrine was designed to counter a specific type of opponent.

[00:10:57]large slow warships constrained by water depth and the complex terrain of the straight of Hormuz. Arley Burke class destroyers could not chase fast attack boats into shallow waters. The firing arcs of ship guns were limited by the ship's structure. The reaction time of the Eegis system was optimized for missiles, not for high-speed surface targets at close range. Iran knew all of this. They had studied it carefully. But the Apache was not bound by any of that.

[00:11:25]It did not care about water depth because it was not on the water. Its attack angles were not limited by ship structure because it approached from the air from any direction at any angle. And when a fast attack boat running at 50 knots was trying to close distance with a destroyer, an Apache at over 150 knots could reach the engagement point faster from any direction and was already there before the fastboat even realized it had been targeted. Iran had war game confrontations with the Arley Burke for decades. They studied the Eegis radar, the range of the failank CIWS, the reaction time of the VLS system. But the Apache did not approach the problem from the dimension Iran had prepared to counter. It approached from a completely different dimension. And on the morning of May 4th, Iran discovered that there was no answer in their doctrinal arsenal for that question. But the Apache did not operate alone in the straight of Hormuz that day because the Apache was only half of the air equation. The other half was the MH60 SIA Hawk, the US Navy's dedicated surface warfare helicopter. And if the Apache was the punch, then the Seahawk was the eye that saw everything before that punch was thrown. The Seahawk was not an attack helicopter in the conventional sense. It was designed from the ground up for a very specific mission. Launching from warships operating in contested maritime environments and extending the sight and reach of the mother ship beyond the horizon. While a destroyer was limited by the curvature of the Earth, what its surface radar could see, the Seahawk flew out there, identified targets, classified threats, and cued information to the warships and other platforms before any engagement even began. That was why the division of labor between the Apache and Sea Hawk was not overlap but calculated complimentarity. Apache from the Army, Seahawk from the Navy.

[00:13:22]Two platforms from two different services operating under a unified air cover umbrella coordinated by the 82nd Airborne Division. The Seahawks saw ahead, identified targets, and expanded the destroyer's defensive perimeter beyond the horizon. The Apache engaged with speed and firepower. This was a joint army navy operation at a level of coordination rarely seen in Hormuz and it worked exactly as designed.

[00:13:50]Technically, the Seahawk was equipped with AGM114 Hellfire missiles, crew served machine guns on weapon stations, two G700 turbo shaft engines for a top speed of 180 knots, a service ceiling of 13,000 FT, and a full sensor suite with day and night operational capability.

[00:14:09]Its combat radius was enough to cover the entire length of the straight of Hormuz from a single launch point.

[00:14:16]Meaning there was no corner of the straight the Seahawk could not reach in a reasonable reaction time.

[00:14:24]But what was more important than the technical specifications of any single platform was what happened when you combined all of them together. And this was the point where Iran's swarm doctrine ran into a reality. it was not designed to handle. On May 4th, Iran did not face a single layer of defense. They faced five layers operating simultaneously and coordinating with each other in real time. The first layer was two Arley Burke class destroyers, USS Truckon and USS Mason with the Eegis system and the point defense layers of surface warships. The second layer was the Sea Hawk expanding the perimeter beyond the horizon and queuing targets.

[00:15:06]The third layer was the Apache engaging surface targets from the air at low altitude. The fourth layer was more than a 100 fighter and attack aircraft including F-16s confirmed by Sentcom operating at high altitude.

[00:15:23]The fifth layer was multi-dommain drones spread across the area. Iran's swarm doctrine was designed to overwhelm a single layer of defense with numbers and speed, sending enough threats that the system could not handle them all at once. But no swarm doctrine was designed to simultaneously penetrate five coordinated layers, each complementing the weaknesses of the others, all operating as one unified system. And the result of all that was recorded in two ships that remained completely intact after completing their transit. USS Truckon and USS Mason endured everything Iran could throw at them. Anti-ship cruise missiles from the coast, attack drones, fast boat swarms, and completed their transit with not a scratch on their halls. Secretary Hex described it with a very specific phrase. America had established a red, white, and blue dome over the straight. a red, white, and blue dome covering the entire straight.

[00:16:20]Not only the two US destroyers, two American flagged merchant ships also passed successfully on the same day. And Mark, the world's largest shipping company, confirmed that one of their vehicle carriers was escorted out of the strait under direct protection of US forces. That was the tangible result on the water. And then while those ships were moving, Iran did what they always did when losing on the battlefield. They shifted to another battlefield. FAR's news agency, the official IRGC media outlet, not an independent newspaper, but a propaganda arm of the Revolutionary Guard, reported that a US warship had been hit by two missiles and forced to withdraw from the Jassport area. Sentcom's response needed few words. That did not happen. USS Truck Tune and USS Mason completed their full transit intact on schedule without withdrawing. This was not a mistake by an uninformed reporter. This was information warfare, a calculated statement to create an alternate narrative for the domestic Iranian audience and regional countries watching. A narrative in which Iran had not been completely defeated, but was merely responding to aggression. And that was exactly the language the Iranian government used in parallel with that false military claim. They called the US action aggression threatening regional stability. Aggression threatening regional stability. They called it adventurism in Iranian waters.

[00:17:50]Military adventurism in Iranian waters.

[00:17:52]Lawmaker Ibraham Azizi stated outright that any US intervention in the straight of Hormuz constituted a violation of the ceasefire. Pause for a second to realize what is really happening here. Iran was trying to redefine the rules of the game with language after they had failed to change them with weapons. When Fars News had to use fake news to cover up actual failure. When the official language of the Iranian government shifted from military threats to diplomatic accusations. When every statement was framed to place responsibility on the US instead of explaining why their six boats did not return. That was not a sign of a side in control of the situation. That was a sign of a side that had lost control on the battlefield and was shifting all efforts to the information space because that was the only battlefield left. But to fully understand what happened on May 4th, you need to step back and look at the bigger picture. Not just the battle on the water, but the entire chain of events leading to it and what unfolded in the 24 hours after. Operation Epic Fury began on February 28th as the US and Israeli military strikes on Iran, lasting more than 5 weeks of intense fighting before a ceasefire was announced on April 7th and extended indefinitely on April 21st. But that ceasefire did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran continued a de facto blockade threatening to deploy mines, drones, missiles, and fast attack boats to prevent commercial shipping from moving through the straight. And while diplomats negotiated, more than 22,500 sailors from 87 countries remained stranded on more than 500 ships in the Persian Gulf, unable to leave with insufficient food and supplies for large crews and no exit in sight. At least 10 sailors had died from that blockade before Project Freedom began. That was the context Secretary Rubio described in words that could not be heavier. These people were sitting ducks, isolated, starving, vulnerable. Sitting ducks, isolated, starving, vulnerable. And that was why on the evening of May 3rd, Trump announced Project Freedom on Truth Social, not as an offensive campaign, but as a humanitarian mission, describing the stranded ships as neutral and innocent bystanders with no connection to the US Iran conflict and committing to guide them safely out of restricted waters. The name Project Freedom was not random. It was a diplomatic message encoded into the campaign name and HEG defined it precisely at the May 5th press conference. Defensive in nature, focused in scope, temporary in duration with one mission, protecting innocent commercial shipping from Iranian aggression, not attacking Iran, not restarting Epic Fury, just opening a route for ships that had done nothing wrong. To accomplish that, the US deployed a force package whose scale said everything about the seriousness of the campaign.

[00:20:54]USS Trucks tune and USS Mason, two Arley Burke class destroyers as the surface spearhead. Overhead was a complete air cover umbrella, Apaches and Seahawks at low altitude. More than 100 fighter and attack aircraft, including F-16s, confirmed by Sentcom at high altitude, plus multi-dommain drones spread across the area, all coordinated by the 82nd Airborne Division in a campaign involving a total of about 15,000 personnel. This was not a show of force.

[00:21:26]This was a full combat package deployed for the first day of a campaign that the US determined it would carry out regardless of how Iran responded. And Iran responded with everything they had left, not sequentially, but simultaneously. Anti-Hship cruise missiles from coastal positions, attack drones from multiple directions, fast boat swarms in the southern part of the straight all at once as Trucks Tune and Mason were moving through. This was the full Iranian barrage, not a probe, not a warning. This was everything Iran could mobilize in a single day. The result, 100% intercepted or destroyed, not a scratch on the two destroyers. But Iran did not only attack US forces. On the same day of May 4th, the UAE was attacked three separate times by ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones. The UAE intercepted 15 missiles and four drones, but one drone got through and caused a fire at the Faraja oil facility outside the straight of Hormuz, injuring three Indian citizens.

[00:22:28]Omen was attacked once. The GCC and UAE officially condemned Iran. And also on that day, the cargo ship HMM NAMU, a Panama flagged vessel owned by South Korea's HMM shipping company, exploded and caught fire while anchored off the UAE coast. Trump posted on Truth Social immediately after. And in the same post, he both declared that any further obstruction by Iran could cause the regime to be blown off the face of the earth and asked directly, "Maybe it is time for South Korea to join the campaign." Hexith also called on Seoul to protect their own ships. This was a carefully calculated diplomatic move, turning a specific attack on a specific ship into a public call for international alliance, expanding the coalition supporting project freedom beyond traditional US allies. At the same time, Alazer reported that Iran claimed the US had killed five civilians on a passenger ship. Sententcom completely rejected it, confirming all destroyed targets were IRGC Navy fast attack boats, not civilian vessels. This was a familiar information pattern. Iran attacks first, gets hit back, then claims civilian casualties through friendly media channels to redefine the story for audiences not following actual events. At the May 5 press conference, HG and General Kaney released a series of figures confirming the scale of Iran's violations. After the ceasefire, Iran had attacked commercial shipping nine times and attempted to attack US forces more than 10 times. Rubio at the White House the same day declared that Operation Epic Fury had officially ended. The US was now only conducting defensive operations, but Iran must pay the price for what they had done with the Strait. He brought the issue to the UN Security Council with a draft resolution condemning Iran's blockade of the strait and directly challenged China and Russia. This benefits both countries. No one wants international maritime lanes closed and economic chaos for dozens of countries around the world. And then just a few hours after that press conference, something no one predicted