Sean Andrews
The sinking by submarine attack of the Iranian frigate Dena in the Indian Ocean on 4 March is a blunt reminder that maritime war does not respect the tidy geographic boundaries favoured in policy frameworks. It also exposes a deeper problem for Australia: a navy built around a handful of exquisite ships and submarines is not structured for sustained attrition in a conflict that will not remain neatly contained.
Legally, the strike also sits squarely within contemporary law‑of‑naval‑warfare doctrine. Enemy warships are lawful military objectives by their nature, location and use. Their targetability does not depend on proximity to a declared theatre of operations, nor on whether they are engaged in immediate combat. Dena’s presence in international waters inside Sri Lanka’s exclusive economic zone didn’t diminish its status as a lawful target. Even the reported issuance of warnings, unnecessary when attacking warships, did not alter the fundamentally orthodox character of the engagement.
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