Yemeni missile almost hit US aircraft carrier in Red Sea

The National Interest website said that a missile launched by the Yemeni Houthi group earlier this year came dangerously close to the US aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower while it was operating in the Red Sea, but it eventually passed within 200 meters of it.

Although the missile launched last June did not hit the aircraft carrier – as Peter Socio reported for the website – it highlighted the Houthis’ growing capabilities in targeting US ships, the ongoing threat, and the need for increased vigilance, especially since similar incidents have occurred, such as another missile that nearly hit the US aircraft carrier Gravely.

The website stated that no US Navy aircraft carrier has been sunk in a military confrontation since the end of World War II, noting that the Houthi missile may not be enough to sink the giant nuclear aircraft carrier or even paralyze it, but it could cause serious damage and possibly lead to a significant loss of life.

“The combination of wide-area surveillance, close target tracking, and terminal guidance has allowed the Houthis to pull off some impressive marksmanship feats, such as coming very close to hitting a U.S. aircraft carrier,” Michael Knights wrote in Sentinel, a magazine published by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.

Some sources were quoted as saying that the anti-ship ballistic missile came very close, and there was not enough time to issue a proper warning or enough opportunity to intercept, but the missile fell about 200 meters from the Eisenhower.

He added that the Houthis returned the ballistic missile and successfully targeted the US aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, and pictures spread on social media claiming to show the damage it sustained.

According to the National Interest, an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the Houthis – on January 30, 2024 – passed within one mile of the destroyer “USS Gravely”, but the destroyer’s Phalanx close-in weapons system was able to destroy the missile in flight.

The site concluded that these incidents confirm that the US Navy needs to remain vigilant, while the Houthis only need luck to hit US ships deployed in the eastern Mediterranean, where the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower was located, and where other groups of US Navy vessels are deployed.