The Iranian Rescue Mission: Why It Failed

Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, c1985. First? Edition. First? Printing. Hardcover. very good/good. DJ somewhat soiled. Some wear to DJ edges. 24 cm, 185 pages, illus., Former owner's label inside front board. Paul B. Ryan, 1913-1987, was a captain in the United States Navy, a historian, and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. He received a BS from the US Naval Academy in 1936, a master's degree in international relations from Stanford University, and a master's degree in history from San Jose State University. His time in the Navy included combat in World War II, three commands at sea, two tours of duty at the Pentagon, and service as US Naval Attaché for the US embassies in Havana, Cuba and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He also served as Deputy Director of Naval History in the Department of the Navy from 1969-1972. As a Hoover scholar and historian he published multiple books, including The Panama Canal Controversy: U.S. Diplomacy and Defense Interests (1977), First Line of Defense: The U.S. Navy Since 1945 (1981), and The Iranian Rescue Mission: Why It Failed (1985). In 1987 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Navy League of the United States for his writings on naval history. This work offers a detailed account of the failed attempt to rescue the American hostages in Iran in 1980, and explains what tactical lessons were learned from the failure. Operation Eagle Claw (or Operation Evening Light or Operation Rice Bowl) was a United States Armed Forces operation ordered by US President Jimmy Carterr to attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis by rescuing 52 embassy staff held captive at the Embassy of the United States, Tehran on 24 April 1980. Its failure, and the humiliating public debacle that ensued, damaged US prestige worldwide. Carter himself blamed his loss in the 1980 US presidential election mainly on his failure to win the release of U.S. hostages held captive in Iran.The operation encountered many obstacles and was eventually aborted. Eight helicopters were sent to the first staging area, Desert One, but only five arrived in operational condition. One encountered hydraulic problems, another got caught in a cloud of very fine sand, and the last one showed signs of a cracked rotor blade. During planning it was decided that the mission would be aborted if fewer than six helicopters remained, despite only four being absolutely necessary. In a move that is still discussed in military circles, the field commanders advised mission abort, which President Carter accepted and confirmed. As the U.S. force prepared to leave, one of the helicopters crashed into a transport aircraft which contained both servicemen and jet fuel. The resulting fire destroyed both aircraft and killed eight servicemen. Operation Eagle Claw was one of Delta Force's first missions.