New Baby CV!
By 
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has given birth to a bouncing baby aircraft carrier:
The IRGC Shahid Bagheri has been converted over the last three years from a South Korean civilian container ship. At 41,000 tons and 780’ long, she is not a small vessel.
Reports indicate that Shahid Bagheri can make over twenty knots, and Iranian authorities claim an implausible 22000 operational range. She sports an angled, sloped flight deck some 590’ long.
In addition to her air group, Shahid Bagheri is said to carry a suite of offensive and defensive missiles, including short and medium range anti-ship missiles and short-range surface-to-air missiles.
The ship also carries small boats and evidently Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs), making it a “mothership” much like American and Chinese amphibious assault ships. Much of the technical nature of the ship remains hazy because of Iran’s habitual overstating of its own military capabilities.
It’s an impressive achievement for a country on a tight budget with a limited set of shipbuilding skills. The Israelis will probably blow it up in the next fracas.
In other aircraft carrier news, the USS Harry Truman got scrunched by a container ship.
Photo credit: By Unknown author – https://sepahnews.ir/fa/news/23612/CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=159435651