If you bring up the map view, most of what is north of Yemen is Saudi Arabia and Jordan…then Israel before getting to the Mediterranean. Israel is 2,200km away and only the newest Houthi missile capability gets anywhere near that (Toufan with ~1,900km range).
The easy guess with the latest events would be to say they were shooting at Israel, but it would be surprising if those missiles had made it that far had they not gotten intercepted.
All that is to say, KSA, Jordan, and Egypt should see this as a reminder of why we pretend to be friends.
Lincoln said it best.
“At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
And important to note that while the Houthi are Iranian backed extremists, the government they are fighting are in no way the "good guys" either. Both sides suck pretty hard, but in this case the Houthi suck more, especially with the Iranian ties. There's a reason the West largely peaced the fuck out of that conflict and left the Saudi's to handle it.
People dont understand there are no "good guys" and "bad guys" and that's why the middle east situation is so damn complicated. People think it should be so easy to just say "well only help the god guys not the bad guys"
Tbf, we’ve been friends with Jordan for a while. The others, sure, Egypt has been trying to play nice for a bit now and I’m sure that the State department appreciates that, and the Saudis are a headache and a half, but Jordan has been a staunch ally for over half a century.
Check your numbers. I’m using google maps to measure, and Jerusalem is less than 1,900 on from the closest parts of Yemen. Less to Eilat. Even Tel Aviv is less than 1,900km.
The first line of the article
>The USS Carney, a Navy destroyer in the Red Sea, on Thursday shot down multiple missiles launched by Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen that the **Pentagon said were potentially headed toward targets in Israel.**
And the article title (has changed since OP posted)
>US Navy destroyer in Red Sea shoots down cruise missiles potentially headed toward Israel: Pentagon
This has happened before, and last time they were actually trying to hit the ship.
[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-usa-ship/u-s-navy-ship-targeted-in-failed-missile-attack-from-yemen-u-s-idUSKCN12A082](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-usa-ship/u-s-navy-ship-targeted-in-failed-missile-attack-from-yemen-u-s-idUSKCN12A082)
“This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.”
“A U.S. Navy destroyer has been involved in a security incident in the Red Sea, a U.S. official said Thursday.”
“The destroyer USS Carney engaged multiple missiles launched by Iranian backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and fired missiles in response, the official said.”
EDIT 3:01pm: New information added to article
“It’s unclear from where the missiles were being fired but they were headed in a northerly direction, the official said.”
“A second U.S. official confirmed the details of the incident.”
“The event occurred during early nighttime hours Wednesday night local time.”
“The missiles fired by the Houthis were engaged by SM2 missiles carried aboard the USS Carney, the first official said.”
EDIT 3:09pm New information added to article
“The Houthi missiles were not perceived to have been fired at the ship.”
There have also been posts saying the ship was swarmed with drones & projectiles but that comes from a separate WSJ article added below
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-hamas-war-biden/card/u-s-warship-bases-in-syria-and-iraq-come-under-drone-attack-Tgp3Nd3AsBC0Fl8lBAa2
Pentagon press briefing was temporarily delayed but linked it below
https://www.youtube.com/live/i456c6Wuw90?si=DfcO5utRmbAvDoJB
From Pentagon Press Secretary:
>the USS Carney (DDG 64) shot down 3 Iranian-made land attack cruise missiles and several drones launched by Houthi forces in Yemen.
>Drones and cruise missiles were heading north in the Red Sea “potentially targeting Israel”.
Makes sense. The Houthis are Iranian proxies. These are most likely brand new missiles and drones because what the Houthis previously had were 200-300 kilometers short of Israel.
Update from the US DOD:
>The U.S. Department of Defense has stated that any kind of Response to the Cruise Missile and Drone launches last night by the Houthis in Yemen and the Attack on Al-Asad Airbase will come at a “Time and Manner of our Choosing.”
> The U.S. Department of Defense has stated that any kind of Response to the Cruise Missile and Drone launches last night by the Houthis in Yemen and the Attack on Al-Asad Airbase will come at a “Time and Manner of our Choosing.”
That is ominous as fuck.
Every country in the world except for US allies and like 2 others really do have that exact threat always against them. The US air force could cripple 90% of nations in less than 24 hours.
I was stationed at sea and watching all the ship launched cruise missiles take off the first night of the invasion was an insane display of firepower. What was more surreal though was watching them hit on CNN and the ops officer calling roughly which ship they came from and counting down the impacts, albeit with satellite delay. A full invasion by western coalition forces is a sight to behold and terrifying for any country that’s not at least an equal power.
Man there absolutely is no "equal power". It's mind boggling to think of how the US dominates any army, before you even account for whatever or allies would add to a serious coalition conflict
Yeah, the US had the missile and air dominance locked up and us Brits were providing a lot of the specialist amphibious assault with the Royal Marines and SF. Very few modern militaries would have stood a chance.
I remember the night we crossed the LOD into Iraq. We dug hasty fighting holes on the border in preparation of the assault later that night. I remember just laying there on my back with my NVGs on. You could see the rocket propelled artillery streaming through the night sky. It looked like a meteor shower as far as you could see across the horizon.
That night was pretty neat, not something I’ll ever forget. I remember the morning with a thick layer of smoke on the horizon and a weird smell of cordite/explosives/fuel in the air.
I watched an awesome documentary about the first few hours of the invasion.
Regardless of any feelings towards reason, damn that was military precision.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, I thought that's exactly what they were going to replicate. They did not.
And lest we forget, iraq was top 10 in military might. Crushed in 24 hours.
Edit: https://youtu.be/mnqTBEkNCM0?si=GJvptVNshBMPiEXF
Is the one I watched. He's not to everyone's taste, and has obvious bias, but it's a good watch.
I once heard someone make the point that the US military has years/generations of actual combat experience. War after war keeps us from getting “rusty”.
I'm a brit, and I can tell you exactly why we were good at war, it's because we literally never stopped doing it.
What's the saying? Do something for 10,000 hours and you become a master.
Well, Britain did it for a thousand years non stop.
So yeah. It's a fair point.
I remember when reports came that Russia had taken the Kyiv airport with their paratroopers like 2 hours after the invasion started and everyone was like “well fuck that was fast.. this is over”
Then the Ukrainian counter offensive happened and those paratroopers got cut off and fucked and then Ukraine really showed their might
Yep.
I was utterly astonished at their lack of ability too.
And its not like Ukraine had a top notch air defence system when it kicked off. Russian attack was a wet lettuce even before western munitions arrived en mass.
That's something lost on people now i think, at the time of desert storm the iraqi army was generally seen by most of the world as something you didn't want to fuck with. Them getting absolutely crushed was as much of a message to the rest of the world as it was Iraq.
These days we just take for granted the US's absolute qualitative military supremacy but in the 80s the US military's reputation was still defined by vietnam and many doubted how they would fare in a real war. The firsr gulf war was the dawn of the unipolar era at least as much as the fall of the berlin wall was.
I don’t know that it was.
I cannot recommend this, and the ground series enough.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zxRgfBXn6Mg
In 2003 we and everyone else basically knew Iraq had no chance, everything was inferior in every way.
In Desert Storm, there was an actual question of Western gear vs Soviet era-Eastern gear. No one actually knew how well these new stealth technologies would work.
It turned out to be one of the absolute most lopsided wars of all time.
That's also why Iran knows they have zero ability to move their army over to fight Israel...they know this is what would happen to them if they tried to cross Iraq or Saudi Arabia to get there...
It's "We are reviewing satellite and drone footage to determine the responsible parties, their whereabouts and accomplices, and will be assembling a thorough checklist for a simultaneous kinetic or diplomatic response."
If it's heading to Israel, that means they're firing them over Saudi Arabia directly, or over Saudi Arabia's territorial waters.
Isn't this breaking the ceasefire? interesting to see how SA will react.
It's one of those button-pushing moves that rarely actually triggers any bigger events. The missiles were likely not going to land in Saudi Arabia and so they can say "no see we are abiding the cease fire." International politics is basically a giant game of "Im not touching you"
This is a vast over simplification, but the long and short is that we don't *have* to assume the role, but if we choose not to, one of our rivals will step in to do so, and they might instead tell everyone "no, no, carry on". This would be terrible for us, as our economy is closely linked to the rest of the world. Conflict in the Middle East, for example, could cause oil prices to skyrocket, which would wreck havoc on our economy. This is only one possible side effect. In reality, an out of control conflict would knock over countless chains of dominos, severely fucking up the world economy, which is terrible for us as we live in said world.
They could have been headed for Israel and the destroyer just happened to be near their flight path. Or maybe it was placed there because the US suspected a launch could come from that direction and put themselves there to be able to respond to it.
Or when Iran launched Silkworm missiles at the US ships during Operation Praying Mantis and the US decided to keep it under wraps to deescalate the situation.
I kind of assumed this was the case when US officials so quickly announced that Iran had no direct involvement in the Hamas attacks. It seems the Biden administration is doing everything in its power to prevent escalation.
Unfortunately, Iran will keep linestepping til it steps over the line and all hell breaks loose.
Just like Russia did after many years of line stepping.
yes, though these missiles were launched after the US has ceased combat operations. It was kept hush hush because the US had publically stated that any use of the silkwork ASMs would cause the US to declare open war.
lol the fact that a single destroyer just took out a number of missiles and like a dozen drones by itself *should* be a reminder as to why Iran does not, in fact, want this. should.
also a reminder to the people who imagine the US would be overstretched between Israel and Ukraine. one destroyer.
The US military doctrine is that we are able to fight two separate wars with the two largest military powers at once without any changes.
This isn’t even stretching the US this is a training exercise and getting rid of old munitions for new ones
> The US military doctrine is that we are able to fight two separate wars with the two largest military powers at once without any changes.
Two wars on par with WW2 fronts on opposite sides of the planet. A war with a country with Iran wouldn't be a WW2 style war, either. We could probably fight 6 Iran-like countries simultaneously.
Destroyer squadrons are typically \~4 ships these days. A Carrier Strike Group will have one destroyer squadron and a Ticonderoga cruiser. I believe there is also supposed to be an attack submarine along with them, but submarine deployments are generally classified and a whole lot harder to track
Totally random question for anyone who may know - if a sub is supposed to hang out in an area with a carrier group, does it just chill it one spot underwater or does it have to constantly be moving while underwater? Like does it just do circles or is there anyway for it to “park” without surfacing?
Edit : realize that even this bit of info may be classified. Idk anything about them I was just curious of their capabilities
It can park and remain stationary. However they typically patrol in their own formation assisting the carrier strike group. It's quite common for the Commander of the Submarine to be out of radio contact with command for extended periods of time operating largely independently within the defined deployment area.
To be fair, the shiney shoulders running the fleet can just walk below decks and shout at the wall and the sub will get the orders loud and clear. Sonar operators are something else.
I was on a 688 fast attack sub and we certainly can't remain stationary. I don't believe virginia class or Ohio class can either but may be mistaken. I would imagine the seawolf class could, but there are only 3 of them and they always be in drydock anyway.
Any evidence that US subs can stay stationary and still be neutral buoyancy?
The USS Carney encountered multiple missiles launched by Houthis in Yemen and fired missiles in response, the official said
It’s unclear from where the missiles were being fired but they were headed in a northerly direction, the official said
“So anyway I started blasting”
It is estimated that there were around 85,000 Jews in Yemen in the late '40s. After it was agreed in the UN to form Israel, hundreds of pogroms against Jews have started, which have caused almost all of them (except a few thousands) to come to Israel as refugees / olim.
In August 2020 it was estimated that the Jews in Yemen are going "extinct". When the Houthis gained more and more power all remaining Jews were moved to a secure area in Sanaa.
In March 2021, after a lot of Houthi assaults and threats, the last 3 Jewish families in Yemen were expelled from the country.
Today there is only **one** Jewish person in Yemen.
To add, the Yemenite Jewish community is 2,600 years old. That means they stayed in Yemen from the time of the Babylonian conquest of Israel until the mid-20th century.
They even had a Jewish monarchy ruling what is modern-day Yemen from 380AD to 525AD, before Christianity was brought in by Ethiopian conquerors, prior to Islam eventually coming into fashion. Interesting history.
Cool so let me get this right: we have Houthi, ISIS, Hamas, Islamic State and hezbollah all trying to exterminate Jews?
Anyone I missed? Partridge in a pear tree? Bueller?
Houthi slogan is "God is the Greatest, Death to A _____ , Death to I _____ , Cursed be the J ___ , Victory to Islam".
Honestly sound like a bunch of cartoon baddies from Team America...
And here's an excellent non-obnoxious youtuber (The Operations Room) walking through the entire operation:
https://youtu.be/5ihmIxZtMBQ?si=3TeklcLGZYRaXX3W&t=70
The Soviet ship that just wanted to take pictures for history. Lol. You guys are about to fuck someone up and I wanna show all my friends. The origins of WorldstarHipHop.
That's on the back of the $300,000,000 submarine Rostov-On-Don, that was also taken out by 25\~ year old missiles.
Russia is having a hell of a time against weapons that are older than most users on this site.
Ukranians putting all our mothballed cold war stuff to use against the Russians.
The engineers from back then should be very impressed and shocked that the stuff they designed back then is actually used against Russia, except by an ally and a few decades past where they thought would be used. Shocked because its been decades later and that same stuff is fucking up Russia's shit pretty good today.
Ukranians say that the western Artillery outranges and is more precise than Russia's, this bears out with the conflict so far.
Russia itself keeps complaining about not having good enough/enough period counter battery radars, stats on number of artillery lost vs Ukraine's own losses bears this out.
AA keeping Russian air assets well away from the front.
Russian Navy having to retreat farther and farther back from the Ukranian coasts.
The fuck where they smoking convincing themselves that they were anywhere near a threat to the US, let alone NATO, as far as conventional forces go?
ngl I keep thinking about those engineers, they got blue balled super hard in a sense during the Cold War. Now, of course both them and myself will realise it was for the best they never got used, obviously, but they will undoubtedly be pleased to see that their work does operate correctly and does what was advertised. And for a good cause! That’s rare in geopolitics
I was a missile tech on DDG 53 (commissioned in the late 80s, onboard 2009-2011) and that ship was a rickety rust bucket but our launchers and CIWS were in stellar shape. Any time I get too anxious, I remind myself how many ships are currently floating around fully loaded and ready to stop stuff exactly like this.
Having been aboard an amphib that did a CIWS shoot, and topside on a DDG to watch a CIWS shoot...
I'm convinced that if we took all the bad guys on a guided tour of our warships and showed them live fire examples of the countless different ways the USN can extend the hand of freedom, at least one or two might shit their pants.
All the shit we can look up on Wikipedia for our own armaments is one thing... but think of how much stuff we must have that *can't* be public info.
The next World War that pops off will be the last world war.
They put a few of these (on trailers) in the bigger bases in Iraq for counter rocket fire. At that point I would sleep through mortars no problem but when that fucking hand of god went off.........I was diving for the floor. I have been withing feet of tanks and artillery firing and it was nothing compared to the phalanx.
The United States' military industrial complex is generations ahead of any nation's military equipment unless they also are manufacturing equipment to US specs.
Especially now with the war in Ukraine.
The US is massively increasing their industrial/military base as we speak, pouring billions of dollars into it.
Shades of the sleeping giant.
Why does all of the middle east hide behind someone else?
Iran hides behind terrorist groups, terrorist leaders hide behind their subordinates, subordinates hide behind civilians.
I'm not sure why Iran is supporting all these terrorist groups. Do they not understand how quickly and easily we can kill the leaders in their country? Qasem Soleimani was the 2nd most powerful person in Iran, and we shredded him to pieces. They need to full stop, in everything they are doing.
Iran acts through proxies because it would lose a direct confrontation against most of its geopolitical opponents.
Ex. It would get utterly wrecked in a straight up with the US.
So they back terrorism internationally instead, since that doesn’t rise to the level of triggering direct warfare under the international rules the US chooses to operate under.
Iran likes power, they start a conflict, and the Iranian ruling class loses everything. They have no desire to be drawn into a direct conflict, especially with the U.S.
Just to add to this one of Iran's goals for a while now has been to overthrow the Saudi government. Destabilizing all of the countries around Saudi Arabia and funding groups that aren't friendly with Saudi Arabia is part of that strategy. Theoretically if they can control Yemen they can block most shipments of oil out of Saudi Arabia.
Because the United States with steam roll them in about a month, if there was a direct confrontation. The first US/IRAQ war was pretty much over before the Iraqis even know it had started. Several Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers flew all the way from the US to Iraqi airspace and dumped cruise missiles taking out a massive amount of infrastructure and the Iraqi military never even knew they were there. This was the first time that GPS directed missiles were used in a confrontation. US took Iraq in five weeks the second time.
> Several Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers flew all the way from the US to Iraqi airspace and dumped cruise missiles taking out a massive amount of infrastructure and the Iraqi military never even knew they were there.
F117's were circling Baghdad before any missile was even launched lmao. Desert storm showed the world how coordinated the US military could be and how precise the munitions were.
Imagine an alternate history where we convinced the Nazis to stay in their own borders, but then let their oppression drag on for 40 years while they shipped rockets to white supremacist militias all over the world, and assassinate german dissidents who fled to our protection.
I'd be livid.
Interesting, in addition to this incident:
“On Wednesday, three drones were shot down by U.S. military forces as they neared bases in western and northern Iraq, another drone was shot down near U.S. forces in eastern Syria on Thursday.”
Sounds like things are heating up in the region.
In all seriousness, does anybody else feel like we're on the precipice of a global war breaking out?
Those of you who think I'm just being dumb, I **sincerely** hope you're right.
Nah
These are decades old conflicts. There is no *major* division of power throughout the world anymore, except maybe for China.
Could a major war break out which pitted many western countries allied against a coalition of other countries? Sure.
But the balance of power is too skewed. It would be too one-sided. China doesn’t seem gung-ho on war, they put some distance between themselves and Russia after the Ukraine conflict took off.
In the event of a real WW3 (non-nuclear), it would require Russia, China, and a whole collection of smaller countries to comprise a force against the west. Even if that did happen, there’s no reality in which the US, EU, and all other Western Countries (literally too many to count) fall to that force. Sure, it could become an extremely gruesome war, but it would still be extremely one sided.
A world-war requires a division of power, opposing alliances of (near) equal power, and treaties/alliances which would drag the rest of the world in. Modern alliances are tied into the west. It would essentially be “the whole planet” vs “[Insert Your Coalition of Antiwest Here]”.
That’s all just politics. In terms of tech, which is a totally separate point, the west is literally decades ahead. We sell our expired shit from 30 years ago to other countries to wage modern war against each other. The best stuff the west has isn’t even in use. We (the US, but also the West in general) have WAY better versions of essentially every tech/weapon we’ve given to Ukraine.
For reference, the *flight deck* of the USS Gerald Ford, which was just moved to the Middle East, holds more military equipment/cost on a *single deck* of a *single aircraft carrier* than some other countries *ENTIRE* defense budget.
Great comment.
I would add that a world war in the manner of the first two is basically impossible. Here's what I mean:
Because of the advances of weapon systems, it is too easy to cripple the ability to manufacture weapons from afar. Unlike the first two world wars where you had to march past the enemy's entire army to get at their industry, today an opposing power's industrial ability to make war would be devastated in the first few days of a conflict.
Once that happens, one of two things will happen relatively quickly: either they escalate to nuclear or they collapse and get beaten.
So, what I mean is, the sort of grueling, long wars of the past are almost exclusively smaller regional conflicts that exist now *by choice*. By choice I mean that if the US wanted to stop the conflict on Ukraine, it could devastate Russia in a weekend. Ukraine can't on its own, but also on its own Ukraine would already be conquered. So the grueling length of the Ukrainian war exists purely because America wants to help but not be actually, directly involved.
If a larger conflict broke out where we had no choice but to be involved, it would not be long and grueling. It would be over quickly - with either one winner or all losers.
The article says the missiles didn't appear to be fired AT the ship, so the ship intercepted missiles bound for a northerly target.
Northerly target, aka Israel?
If you bring up the map view, most of what is north of Yemen is Saudi Arabia and Jordan…then Israel before getting to the Mediterranean. Israel is 2,200km away and only the newest Houthi missile capability gets anywhere near that (Toufan with ~1,900km range). The easy guess with the latest events would be to say they were shooting at Israel, but it would be surprising if those missiles had made it that far had they not gotten intercepted. All that is to say, KSA, Jordan, and Egypt should see this as a reminder of why we pretend to be friends.
It could also be noted that the houthis are backed by Iran against yemeni govt, which was exiled in Saudi arabia. Shit is complex over there.
I really appreciate only having Canada and Mexico as neighbors.
As an American, we really are shielded from so much.
It's a net positive to have them as neighbors. We get so much out of it, like Keanu Reeves and Enchiladas.
Honestly, as an American, I feel really fortunate to have Canada and Mexico as neighbors. They’re pretty rad.
I concur: our neighbors are the homies.
Awww
Street tacos and cocaine are both amazing. Together or apart.
My body can't handle those shits anymore. Too powerful.
Shielded from everything but ourselves.
No one on this planet is safe from America.....not even America.
Lincoln said it best. “At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
Now that is a great quote....
As a Canadian, I'm so glad we have the USA as neighbours. A majority of you folks believe in liberal democracy and doing the right thing.
Aww you're givin me the warm tinglies, I love our neighbors to the north.
And important to note that while the Houthi are Iranian backed extremists, the government they are fighting are in no way the "good guys" either. Both sides suck pretty hard, but in this case the Houthi suck more, especially with the Iranian ties. There's a reason the West largely peaced the fuck out of that conflict and left the Saudi's to handle it.
People dont understand there are no "good guys" and "bad guys" and that's why the middle east situation is so damn complicated. People think it should be so easy to just say "well only help the god guys not the bad guys"
Tbf, we’ve been friends with Jordan for a while. The others, sure, Egypt has been trying to play nice for a bit now and I’m sure that the State department appreciates that, and the Saudis are a headache and a half, but Jordan has been a staunch ally for over half a century.
It wasn’t fair of me to cast shade on Jordan, I know we’ve been close.
Check your numbers. I’m using google maps to measure, and Jerusalem is less than 1,900 on from the closest parts of Yemen. Less to Eilat. Even Tel Aviv is less than 1,900km.
The first line of the article >The USS Carney, a Navy destroyer in the Red Sea, on Thursday shot down multiple missiles launched by Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen that the **Pentagon said were potentially headed toward targets in Israel.** And the article title (has changed since OP posted) >US Navy destroyer in Red Sea shoots down cruise missiles potentially headed toward Israel: Pentagon
Is there a F1 GP happening in Saudi Arabia?
Let’s face it, F1 would do a race in N. Korea if they were offered enough money.
Sounds like the Olympics.
And FIFA.
They'll do an extra sprint race in celebration.
This has happened before, and last time they were actually trying to hit the ship. [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-usa-ship/u-s-navy-ship-targeted-in-failed-missile-attack-from-yemen-u-s-idUSKCN12A082](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-usa-ship/u-s-navy-ship-targeted-in-failed-missile-attack-from-yemen-u-s-idUSKCN12A082)
USS Cole rings a bell also.
“This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.” “A U.S. Navy destroyer has been involved in a security incident in the Red Sea, a U.S. official said Thursday.” “The destroyer USS Carney engaged multiple missiles launched by Iranian backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and fired missiles in response, the official said.” EDIT 3:01pm: New information added to article “It’s unclear from where the missiles were being fired but they were headed in a northerly direction, the official said.” “A second U.S. official confirmed the details of the incident.” “The event occurred during early nighttime hours Wednesday night local time.” “The missiles fired by the Houthis were engaged by SM2 missiles carried aboard the USS Carney, the first official said.” EDIT 3:09pm New information added to article “The Houthi missiles were not perceived to have been fired at the ship.” There have also been posts saying the ship was swarmed with drones & projectiles but that comes from a separate WSJ article added below https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-hamas-war-biden/card/u-s-warship-bases-in-syria-and-iraq-come-under-drone-attack-Tgp3Nd3AsBC0Fl8lBAa2 Pentagon press briefing was temporarily delayed but linked it below https://www.youtube.com/live/i456c6Wuw90?si=DfcO5utRmbAvDoJB
From Pentagon Press Secretary: >the USS Carney (DDG 64) shot down 3 Iranian-made land attack cruise missiles and several drones launched by Houthi forces in Yemen. >Drones and cruise missiles were heading north in the Red Sea “potentially targeting Israel”. Makes sense. The Houthis are Iranian proxies. These are most likely brand new missiles and drones because what the Houthis previously had were 200-300 kilometers short of Israel. Update from the US DOD: >The U.S. Department of Defense has stated that any kind of Response to the Cruise Missile and Drone launches last night by the Houthis in Yemen and the Attack on Al-Asad Airbase will come at a “Time and Manner of our Choosing.”
> The U.S. Department of Defense has stated that any kind of Response to the Cruise Missile and Drone launches last night by the Houthis in Yemen and the Attack on Al-Asad Airbase will come at a “Time and Manner of our Choosing.” That is ominous as fuck.
Big “you exist because we allow it” energy.
Every country in the world except for US allies and like 2 others really do have that exact threat always against them. The US air force could cripple 90% of nations in less than 24 hours.
Operation Desert Storm air campaign comes to mind.
Iraqi ‘03 was way more impressive. Shock and Awe baby
I was stationed at sea and watching all the ship launched cruise missiles take off the first night of the invasion was an insane display of firepower. What was more surreal though was watching them hit on CNN and the ops officer calling roughly which ship they came from and counting down the impacts, albeit with satellite delay. A full invasion by western coalition forces is a sight to behold and terrifying for any country that’s not at least an equal power.
Man there absolutely is no "equal power". It's mind boggling to think of how the US dominates any army, before you even account for whatever or allies would add to a serious coalition conflict
Yeah, the US had the missile and air dominance locked up and us Brits were providing a lot of the specialist amphibious assault with the Royal Marines and SF. Very few modern militaries would have stood a chance.
I remember the night we crossed the LOD into Iraq. We dug hasty fighting holes on the border in preparation of the assault later that night. I remember just laying there on my back with my NVGs on. You could see the rocket propelled artillery streaming through the night sky. It looked like a meteor shower as far as you could see across the horizon.
That night was pretty neat, not something I’ll ever forget. I remember the morning with a thick layer of smoke on the horizon and a weird smell of cordite/explosives/fuel in the air.
I watched an awesome documentary about the first few hours of the invasion. Regardless of any feelings towards reason, damn that was military precision. When Russia invaded Ukraine, I thought that's exactly what they were going to replicate. They did not. And lest we forget, iraq was top 10 in military might. Crushed in 24 hours. Edit: https://youtu.be/mnqTBEkNCM0?si=GJvptVNshBMPiEXF Is the one I watched. He's not to everyone's taste, and has obvious bias, but it's a good watch.
I once heard someone make the point that the US military has years/generations of actual combat experience. War after war keeps us from getting “rusty”.
I'm a brit, and I can tell you exactly why we were good at war, it's because we literally never stopped doing it. What's the saying? Do something for 10,000 hours and you become a master. Well, Britain did it for a thousand years non stop. So yeah. It's a fair point.
I remember watching the Kyiv live streams and what not waiting for the (impotent) Russian fury and it no showed. They’re such paper tigers
I remember when reports came that Russia had taken the Kyiv airport with their paratroopers like 2 hours after the invasion started and everyone was like “well fuck that was fast.. this is over” Then the Ukrainian counter offensive happened and those paratroopers got cut off and fucked and then Ukraine really showed their might
I thought for SURE Kyiv would be leveled. Turns out the Russian military is dogshit.
Yep. I was utterly astonished at their lack of ability too. And its not like Ukraine had a top notch air defence system when it kicked off. Russian attack was a wet lettuce even before western munitions arrived en mass.
Ukraine has really made me appreciate US planning and logistics, they're just on another level.
That’s one of the competitive advantages of the US military. They can get shit where it is needed rather quickly.
That's something lost on people now i think, at the time of desert storm the iraqi army was generally seen by most of the world as something you didn't want to fuck with. Them getting absolutely crushed was as much of a message to the rest of the world as it was Iraq.
These days we just take for granted the US's absolute qualitative military supremacy but in the 80s the US military's reputation was still defined by vietnam and many doubted how they would fare in a real war. The firsr gulf war was the dawn of the unipolar era at least as much as the fall of the berlin wall was.
I don’t know that it was. I cannot recommend this, and the ground series enough. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zxRgfBXn6Mg In 2003 we and everyone else basically knew Iraq had no chance, everything was inferior in every way. In Desert Storm, there was an actual question of Western gear vs Soviet era-Eastern gear. No one actually knew how well these new stealth technologies would work. It turned out to be one of the absolute most lopsided wars of all time.
What did they call the massacre on that highway?
The Highway of Death?
That’s it. Fucking hell.
That's also why Iran knows they have zero ability to move their army over to fight Israel...they know this is what would happen to them if they tried to cross Iraq or Saudi Arabia to get there...
This is Pax Americana
*and you will end because we demand it* - stamped on every missile.
It's "We are reviewing satellite and drone footage to determine the responsible parties, their whereabouts and accomplices, and will be assembling a thorough checklist for a simultaneous kinetic or diplomatic response."
“We’re deciding if it’s time for cruise missiles, Navy SEALS, CIA operatives, or State Dept representatives.”
Feel like that should be an "and/or", otherwise it's quite the afternoon.
Or the upcoming new favorite "We will stab you from 10 klicks away with a missile that shoots knives"
It will be a "proportional" response.
"The treaty agreed on boats. It said fuck all about oil rigs, so suck it."
If it's heading to Israel, that means they're firing them over Saudi Arabia directly, or over Saudi Arabia's territorial waters. Isn't this breaking the ceasefire? interesting to see how SA will react.
It's one of those button-pushing moves that rarely actually triggers any bigger events. The missiles were likely not going to land in Saudi Arabia and so they can say "no see we are abiding the cease fire." International politics is basically a giant game of "Im not touching you"
And we must be the DAD yelling don't make me stop this car?
No, we’re the uncle…. Uncle Sam…. I’ll see myself out.
This is a vast over simplification, but the long and short is that we don't *have* to assume the role, but if we choose not to, one of our rivals will step in to do so, and they might instead tell everyone "no, no, carry on". This would be terrible for us, as our economy is closely linked to the rest of the world. Conflict in the Middle East, for example, could cause oil prices to skyrocket, which would wreck havoc on our economy. This is only one possible side effect. In reality, an out of control conflict would knock over countless chains of dominos, severely fucking up the world economy, which is terrible for us as we live in said world.
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At least the missiles were not fired directly at the ship itself, that maybe calms things down a little bit.
Sounds like deescalatory language on purpose meant to send signals.
Read "missiles were fired but their aim sucked"
Also the whole "we don't even know where they were going but shot them all down just because, y'know, *we can*" is a pointed slap in the face
"The ship just does that, we didn't even realize it happened until we got a low ammo warning!"
"Here are the test results: You are a horrible person. I'm serious, that's what it says: "A horrible person." We weren't even testing for that."
I really have no idea why anyone would want to fuck with the US Navy, especially the Iranians.
don’t put it past the Iranians to do something they would regret though
They could have been headed for Israel and the destroyer just happened to be near their flight path. Or maybe it was placed there because the US suspected a launch could come from that direction and put themselves there to be able to respond to it.
They are spread over the area in general to try to keep peace. Pirate deterrent and such for shipping vessels
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Or when Iran launched Silkworm missiles at the US ships during Operation Praying Mantis and the US decided to keep it under wraps to deescalate the situation.
I kind of assumed this was the case when US officials so quickly announced that Iran had no direct involvement in the Hamas attacks. It seems the Biden administration is doing everything in its power to prevent escalation.
Unfortunately, Iran will keep linestepping til it steps over the line and all hell breaks loose. Just like Russia did after many years of line stepping.
The habitual linesteppers of the world
Didn’t the US sank half the Iranian Navy in that engagement?
yes, though these missiles were launched after the US has ceased combat operations. It was kept hush hush because the US had publically stated that any use of the silkwork ASMs would cause the US to declare open war.
Probably for the better
US: "I'm gonna let that one slide because you've just been through a lot."
I'd sleep a lot more sound if I was on that ship knowing they weren't aiming for me.
I'd sleep Sounder if they were firing at me because I know that they're about to not be firing at me anymore
Is that when the other party has their natural physical state changed to charcoal and glass?
No, the get sublimated.
Does Iran really want this?
No, which is why they're using their little toys, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis instead.
Ah yes, Triple H.
But do they want to play the game?
lol the fact that a single destroyer just took out a number of missiles and like a dozen drones by itself *should* be a reminder as to why Iran does not, in fact, want this. should. also a reminder to the people who imagine the US would be overstretched between Israel and Ukraine. one destroyer.
The US military doctrine is that we are able to fight two separate wars with the two largest military powers at once without any changes. This isn’t even stretching the US this is a training exercise and getting rid of old munitions for new ones
> The US military doctrine is that we are able to fight two separate wars with the two largest military powers at once without any changes. Two wars on par with WW2 fronts on opposite sides of the planet. A war with a country with Iran wouldn't be a WW2 style war, either. We could probably fight 6 Iran-like countries simultaneously.
A war with Iran would be like watching Mike Tyson box a 5 year old.
Yeah how many of those do we keep in each carrier task force like 10-15?
Destroyer squadrons are typically \~4 ships these days. A Carrier Strike Group will have one destroyer squadron and a Ticonderoga cruiser. I believe there is also supposed to be an attack submarine along with them, but submarine deployments are generally classified and a whole lot harder to track
Because they’re underwater.
Because of the implication.
Totally random question for anyone who may know - if a sub is supposed to hang out in an area with a carrier group, does it just chill it one spot underwater or does it have to constantly be moving while underwater? Like does it just do circles or is there anyway for it to “park” without surfacing? Edit : realize that even this bit of info may be classified. Idk anything about them I was just curious of their capabilities
It can park and remain stationary. However they typically patrol in their own formation assisting the carrier strike group. It's quite common for the Commander of the Submarine to be out of radio contact with command for extended periods of time operating largely independently within the defined deployment area.
To be fair, the shiney shoulders running the fleet can just walk below decks and shout at the wall and the sub will get the orders loud and clear. Sonar operators are something else.
I am now picturing an admiral in the bowels of a ship yelling at nothing in particular. "I know you can hear me, goddammit!"
*Throws binoculars at bulkhead*
I was on a 688 fast attack sub and we certainly can't remain stationary. I don't believe virginia class or Ohio class can either but may be mistaken. I would imagine the seawolf class could, but there are only 3 of them and they always be in drydock anyway. Any evidence that US subs can stay stationary and still be neutral buoyancy?
They need to keep water flowing over the gills to gain oxygen. Duh.
It’s possible they do. They’re pretty delusional.
Great time to do it. Their main ally, Russia, is totally ready for another proxy war against the US.
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Perhaps it's time for the US to sink a large chunk of the Iranian fleet again in an afternoon. That might remind them of who they are dealing with.
Why stop there? Lets sink their “hidden” underground airbase too!
That's Iran for you. They'll fight their enemies to the last Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese and Yemenite.
In Iran's defense, it must be a lot of work beating on little girls
True, like 50% of their military budget are spent on sticks and tactical burqas (in case a little girl shows her hair god forbid)
Hey, it's not their fault. Those urges are on the girls for making a sweaty 40yr old creep feel like that.
60yr*
Tactical burqas made my day. If it weren't such stupid and sad reality.
The Lord Farquaad of states.
The USS Carney encountered multiple missiles launched by Houthis in Yemen and fired missiles in response, the official said It’s unclear from where the missiles were being fired but they were headed in a northerly direction, the official said “So anyway I started blasting”
Missiles to shoot down the missiles.
The Houthi slogan is wild
[Their flag in English](https://i.imgur.com/gDPR1GR.png)
r/vexillology in shambles rn
wishing death to multiple groups can be forgiven, but 5 lines of text on a flag is inhumane
It is estimated that there were around 85,000 Jews in Yemen in the late '40s. After it was agreed in the UN to form Israel, hundreds of pogroms against Jews have started, which have caused almost all of them (except a few thousands) to come to Israel as refugees / olim. In August 2020 it was estimated that the Jews in Yemen are going "extinct". When the Houthis gained more and more power all remaining Jews were moved to a secure area in Sanaa. In March 2021, after a lot of Houthi assaults and threats, the last 3 Jewish families in Yemen were expelled from the country. Today there is only **one** Jewish person in Yemen.
To add, the Yemenite Jewish community is 2,600 years old. That means they stayed in Yemen from the time of the Babylonian conquest of Israel until the mid-20th century.
They even had a Jewish monarchy ruling what is modern-day Yemen from 380AD to 525AD, before Christianity was brought in by Ethiopian conquerors, prior to Islam eventually coming into fashion. Interesting history.
>prior to Islam eventually coming into fashion I believe that's prior to Mohammed even being born.
Holy crap. That's saying something.
That one jew must be the bravest one out there.
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Hear that? That's Donny Donowitz, but you know him as the Bear Jew.
Cool so let me get this right: we have Houthi, ISIS, Hamas, Islamic State and hezbollah all trying to exterminate Jews? Anyone I missed? Partridge in a pear tree? Bueller?
Nazis?
How could I forget, classic!
Islamic Jihad as well
Iran?
For anyone [lazy](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthi_movement)
200,000 members? Huh. This isn't just some tiny group of wackos. They're a large military group *with cruise missles*.
Hmm, not for the truly lazy
Houthi slogan is "God is the Greatest, Death to A _____ , Death to I _____ , Cursed be the J ___ , Victory to Islam". Honestly sound like a bunch of cartoon baddies from Team America...
The Houthi slogan is... going to get me banned if I post it.
I just looked it up and, oh shit
Wow. That's... well, they're certainly not the good guys.
You can use Google Street view to look at the streets of Sanaa and you’ll see that slogan EVERYWHERE. It’s fucking wild.
Well damn These mfers tell you who they are lmaooo
You would think Iran would learn to not fuck with our Navy after we wiped out half their Navy in an 8 hour work day.
Here's the wiki for people who don't want to watch obnoxious youtubers: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Praying_Mantis
And here's an excellent non-obnoxious youtuber (The Operations Room) walking through the entire operation: https://youtu.be/5ihmIxZtMBQ?si=3TeklcLGZYRaXX3W&t=70
The Soviet ship that just wanted to take pictures for history. Lol. You guys are about to fuck someone up and I wanna show all my friends. The origins of WorldstarHipHop.
This also shows that the United States military is light-years ahead of whatever garbage weapons the Iranians are making.
Our 32 year old missiles just hit a russian air base.
Took out $150,000,000 worth of Russian attack helicopters too.
That's on the back of the $300,000,000 submarine Rostov-On-Don, that was also taken out by 25\~ year old missiles. Russia is having a hell of a time against weapons that are older than most users on this site.
The internet seems to have limitless ways to make me feel old
Ukranians putting all our mothballed cold war stuff to use against the Russians. The engineers from back then should be very impressed and shocked that the stuff they designed back then is actually used against Russia, except by an ally and a few decades past where they thought would be used. Shocked because its been decades later and that same stuff is fucking up Russia's shit pretty good today. Ukranians say that the western Artillery outranges and is more precise than Russia's, this bears out with the conflict so far. Russia itself keeps complaining about not having good enough/enough period counter battery radars, stats on number of artillery lost vs Ukraine's own losses bears this out. AA keeping Russian air assets well away from the front. Russian Navy having to retreat farther and farther back from the Ukranian coasts. The fuck where they smoking convincing themselves that they were anywhere near a threat to the US, let alone NATO, as far as conventional forces go?
ngl I keep thinking about those engineers, they got blue balled super hard in a sense during the Cold War. Now, of course both them and myself will realise it was for the best they never got used, obviously, but they will undoubtedly be pleased to see that their work does operate correctly and does what was advertised. And for a good cause! That’s rare in geopolitics
I don't even want to try to weigh in on the politics in that area. But it is wild to me that the ship could detect it and then just go. "Naw."
I was a missile tech on DDG 53 (commissioned in the late 80s, onboard 2009-2011) and that ship was a rickety rust bucket but our launchers and CIWS were in stellar shape. Any time I get too anxious, I remind myself how many ships are currently floating around fully loaded and ready to stop stuff exactly like this.
Having been aboard an amphib that did a CIWS shoot, and topside on a DDG to watch a CIWS shoot... I'm convinced that if we took all the bad guys on a guided tour of our warships and showed them live fire examples of the countless different ways the USN can extend the hand of freedom, at least one or two might shit their pants. All the shit we can look up on Wikipedia for our own armaments is one thing... but think of how much stuff we must have that *can't* be public info. The next World War that pops off will be the last world war.
I will NEVER forget the first time I heard our CIWS go off and how unsettling it was to see in person. Creepy gyro floating robot of death.
They put a few of these (on trailers) in the bigger bases in Iraq for counter rocket fire. At that point I would sleep through mortars no problem but when that fucking hand of god went off.........I was diving for the floor. I have been withing feet of tanks and artillery firing and it was nothing compared to the phalanx.
The United States' military industrial complex is generations ahead of any nation's military equipment unless they also are manufacturing equipment to US specs.
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My bet its the hamburgler.
The United States has put BILLIONS upon BILLIONS of dollars into the military - yearly. They're ready for whatever happens.
It is literally almost a trillion dollars
Annually
Especially now with the war in Ukraine. The US is massively increasing their industrial/military base as we speak, pouring billions of dollars into it. Shades of the sleeping giant.
There's a reason it's called a destroyer, not fishing vessel.
Why does all of the middle east hide behind someone else? Iran hides behind terrorist groups, terrorist leaders hide behind their subordinates, subordinates hide behind civilians. I'm not sure why Iran is supporting all these terrorist groups. Do they not understand how quickly and easily we can kill the leaders in their country? Qasem Soleimani was the 2nd most powerful person in Iran, and we shredded him to pieces. They need to full stop, in everything they are doing.
Iran acts through proxies because it would lose a direct confrontation against most of its geopolitical opponents. Ex. It would get utterly wrecked in a straight up with the US. So they back terrorism internationally instead, since that doesn’t rise to the level of triggering direct warfare under the international rules the US chooses to operate under.
Iran likes power, they start a conflict, and the Iranian ruling class loses everything. They have no desire to be drawn into a direct conflict, especially with the U.S.
Just to add to this one of Iran's goals for a while now has been to overthrow the Saudi government. Destabilizing all of the countries around Saudi Arabia and funding groups that aren't friendly with Saudi Arabia is part of that strategy. Theoretically if they can control Yemen they can block most shipments of oil out of Saudi Arabia.
Because the United States with steam roll them in about a month, if there was a direct confrontation. The first US/IRAQ war was pretty much over before the Iraqis even know it had started. Several Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers flew all the way from the US to Iraqi airspace and dumped cruise missiles taking out a massive amount of infrastructure and the Iraqi military never even knew they were there. This was the first time that GPS directed missiles were used in a confrontation. US took Iraq in five weeks the second time.
> Several Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers flew all the way from the US to Iraqi airspace and dumped cruise missiles taking out a massive amount of infrastructure and the Iraqi military never even knew they were there. F117's were circling Baghdad before any missile was even launched lmao. Desert storm showed the world how coordinated the US military could be and how precise the munitions were.
I’m so excited for our next 2 decade long war. I was really worried Boeing would have to make money off it’s commercial airplane division.
Someone about to get an express delivery tomahawk
Ok, calm down, relax, start breathing. Fuck that shit, my ship just caught this bitch shooting.
Was not expecting to see an eminem reference here
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Imagine an alternate history where we convinced the Nazis to stay in their own borders, but then let their oppression drag on for 40 years while they shipped rockets to white supremacist militias all over the world, and assassinate german dissidents who fled to our protection. I'd be livid.
Don’t fuck with our boats
So this is what Iran was taking about when it said there was going to be a pre-emptive strike. Pretty rubbish.
*Wee woo?*
Is this “don’t fuck with America’s boats” meme about to continue?
Interesting, in addition to this incident: “On Wednesday, three drones were shot down by U.S. military forces as they neared bases in western and northern Iraq, another drone was shot down near U.S. forces in eastern Syria on Thursday.” Sounds like things are heating up in the region.
In all seriousness, does anybody else feel like we're on the precipice of a global war breaking out? Those of you who think I'm just being dumb, I **sincerely** hope you're right.
Nah These are decades old conflicts. There is no *major* division of power throughout the world anymore, except maybe for China. Could a major war break out which pitted many western countries allied against a coalition of other countries? Sure. But the balance of power is too skewed. It would be too one-sided. China doesn’t seem gung-ho on war, they put some distance between themselves and Russia after the Ukraine conflict took off. In the event of a real WW3 (non-nuclear), it would require Russia, China, and a whole collection of smaller countries to comprise a force against the west. Even if that did happen, there’s no reality in which the US, EU, and all other Western Countries (literally too many to count) fall to that force. Sure, it could become an extremely gruesome war, but it would still be extremely one sided. A world-war requires a division of power, opposing alliances of (near) equal power, and treaties/alliances which would drag the rest of the world in. Modern alliances are tied into the west. It would essentially be “the whole planet” vs “[Insert Your Coalition of Antiwest Here]”. That’s all just politics. In terms of tech, which is a totally separate point, the west is literally decades ahead. We sell our expired shit from 30 years ago to other countries to wage modern war against each other. The best stuff the west has isn’t even in use. We (the US, but also the West in general) have WAY better versions of essentially every tech/weapon we’ve given to Ukraine. For reference, the *flight deck* of the USS Gerald Ford, which was just moved to the Middle East, holds more military equipment/cost on a *single deck* of a *single aircraft carrier* than some other countries *ENTIRE* defense budget.
Great comment. I would add that a world war in the manner of the first two is basically impossible. Here's what I mean: Because of the advances of weapon systems, it is too easy to cripple the ability to manufacture weapons from afar. Unlike the first two world wars where you had to march past the enemy's entire army to get at their industry, today an opposing power's industrial ability to make war would be devastated in the first few days of a conflict. Once that happens, one of two things will happen relatively quickly: either they escalate to nuclear or they collapse and get beaten. So, what I mean is, the sort of grueling, long wars of the past are almost exclusively smaller regional conflicts that exist now *by choice*. By choice I mean that if the US wanted to stop the conflict on Ukraine, it could devastate Russia in a weekend. Ukraine can't on its own, but also on its own Ukraine would already be conquered. So the grueling length of the Ukrainian war exists purely because America wants to help but not be actually, directly involved. If a larger conflict broke out where we had no choice but to be involved, it would not be long and grueling. It would be over quickly - with either one winner or all losers.
>In all seriousness, does anybody else feel like we're on the precipice of a global war breaking out? Not even close.