On March 1st, 2026, Iran launched its most sophisticated naval attack in history against the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group — simultaneous drone swarms, fast attack boats, anti-ship missiles, and four Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, all timed to hit at once. This is the full tactical breakdown of how the USS Spruance and USS Michael Murphy fought off waves of Iranian Shahed drones and C-802 anti-ship missiles while the USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. — the strike group's dedicated Aegis ballistic missile defense ship — quietly waited for the moment that actually mattered. We break down every weapons system involved: the Phalanx CIWS, the SM-2 intercept chain, the SM-3 Block IIA kinetic intercept vehicle that had to physically collide with a maneuvering reentry vehicle above the atmosphere, and the F/A-18 counterstrike that used Iran's own missile exhaust plumes as a return address. Operation Epic Fury just got personal — and the US Navy answered in the only language that works out here.
