Image of USS Ingraham Shared To Claim That a US Navy Ship Was Attacked by Iran

This image shows a decommissioned vessel USS Ingraham and has no connection to Iran.

Fact-Check: This image shows the decommissioned USS Ingraham that was intentionally sunk in 2021.

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

An image of a ship with smoke coming out of it is being shared on social media platforms to claim that it shows American vessel 'USS Liberty' which had been hit by Iranian missiles off the coast of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.

• It also claimed that thirty American sailors were feared "dead."

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

This post recorded 241.4K views at the time of writing this story. (Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)

Is this true?: The claim is false.

• The image shows the decommissioned USS Ingraham during a military exercise, which happened August 2021.

How did we find out?: At first, we ran a Google and Yandex reverse image search on the image.

• We came across a story by one Portugese blog site, Poder Naval which had included the viral image in their story. The story was from 25 August 2021.

Here are the similarities between the two. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

Using this as cue, we ran a relevant keyword search and found an article by the United States of America (USA) Navy on their official website.

• It mentioned that the US Joint forces conducted a sinking exercise on the decommissioned guided missile frigate ex-USS Ingraham.

• The article noted that the Ingraham was decommissioned on 30 January 2015.

• The US Navy also uploaded footage of the sinking exercise on their YouTube page on 25 August 2021.

• Similarly, an article by American newspaper Navy Times from 19 August 2021 mentioned that the sinking exercise was a part of the Navy conducted a multi-domain exercise, including long-range maritime strikes, in the Hawaiian Islands Operating Area.

Was the USS Liberty attacked recently?:

• We looked into the USS Liberty which was mentioned in the claim.

• We found out that one USS Liberty was attacked by Israeli forces on 8 June 1967 off the Sinai Peninsula, as mentioned in articles by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US State Department.

• It was during the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War, as reported by Al-Jazeera.

• The ship experienced significant damage and casualties among its crew. This included 34 fatalities, 171 injuries, and 22 individuals who are unaccounted for, many of whom are likely trapped in the flooded areas of the ship. The injured and deceased have been evacuated from the ship, and additional crew members have been brought on board.

• We also looked for a USS Liberty on the navy's website but did not find its mention.

Here is an image of the USS Liberty.

(Source: Wikimedia/Screenshot) 

What is happening between the USA and Iran?: Following Israel's 'bombing' of an Iranian building in Damascus, Syria on 1 April, the USA is looking to deter Iran from carrying out a reactionary attack against Israel.

• Israel's attack killed a top Islamic Revolutionary Guards general and six other guards, reported The Guardian.

• The Guardian also stated that the USA's solidarity with Israel could deter Iran from attacking Israel as it would escalate the long-standing proxy war.

Conclusion: The image shows the decommissioned USS Ingraham that was intentionally sunk by US joint forces in 2021.

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