Have the Houthis really just sunk a US warship?

Right, so following the first attack in three months on Yemen and the Houthis still blockading shipping in the Red Sea and now with the capabilities to reach the Arabian and Mediterranean seas as well, which I covered the other day, at the time I was writing that video, it came out that the Houthis had retaliated by allegedly targeting for the first time a US warship, upping their game still further, a strike on the aircraft carrier the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, which subsequent to that attack, was then attacked for a second time, and this has resulting in all manner of claims being made as to the condition of that ship now, ranging anywhere from having been sunk by the Houthis, to not having been damaged at all and it’s all Houthis stuff and nonsense. The truth however might well be somewhere in between the two.
Right, so this story may be straying into the realms of conspiracy theory on social media, but it isn’t dying down any so I figured it’s worth looking into to see what the heck is going on, have the Houthis really upped the ante now by making not one but two strikes on a US warship and have they cause significant damage, some saying it was sinking or had sunk, but this would be one heck of an upgrade from the sinking of the Rubymar a bulk carrier, and besides which the Houthis up until now – if true, which I doubt - have not sought to sink ships overtly anyway, not sought to kill, they’ve rescued people from ships they’ve crippled, and have only done that to interfere with shipping headed to or from Israel, or domestic shipping belonging to the UK or US due to their pro Israel stances. So let’s start with what the Houthis themselves have said about this, because they do love a televised briefing:
‘In support of the oppressed Palestinian people and in response to the crimes of the zionist enemy against the displaced people in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip, and as part of expanding military operations in the fourth phase of escalation, and in response to the American and British aggression against our country, The Yemeni Armed Forces, by the grace of Allah, carried out six military operations as follows: The first operation targeted the American aircraft carrier "Eisenhower" north of the Red Sea with several missiles and drones. This is the second attack on the carrier within 24 hours. The second operation targeted an American destroyer in the Red Sea, hitting it directly with several drones. The other four operations targeted ships belonging to companies that violated the decision to ban entry to the ports of occupied Palestine, including the ship (MAINA), which was targeted in two operations in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. The third operation targeted the ship (ALORAIQ) in the Indian Ocean. The fourth operation targeted the ship (ABLIANI) in the Red Sea. The operations successfully achieved their objectives, with precise and direct hits, by the grace of Allah. The Yemeni Armed Forces will continue to carry out their military operations in support of and in solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people and in resistance to the American and British aggression against our country, which supports the "israeli" zionist enemy in continuing its crimes and aggression against the Palestinian people. The support operations will not cease until the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted.’
Right, so there’s a few things to note there. The USS Eisenhower was targeted with missiles and drones for a second time, they don’t actually confirm as to whether or not it was successful and that they hit anything, just that it was targeted for a second time. They do claim to have struck another military ship though, a US destroyer, which curiously they don’t name, and which I can find no reporting on at all, which is equally weird and then discuss hitting several other ships, the sort of ships they’ve been targeting since late last year, all in solidarity with the people of Gaza, we know this is the reason they’ve been attacking shipping after and again, it would all stop if the US instead of attacking Yemen made Israel get out of Gaza, they can exert the economic and military pressure on them to do so.
So is this just Houthi mischief making then? False claims?
Well the USS Eisenhower is the lead ship for the US in the Red Sea response to the Houthis and in its group there are two destroyers, the USS Gravely and the USS Mason, along with a cruiser called Philippine Sea, but I have found a tweet put out by CENTCOM alluding to the USS Gravely having been targeted by drones and missiles from Yemen, though the tweet in question claims they were all intercepted and no damage was done:
‘Between 9 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. (Sanaa time) June 1, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) forces destroyed one Iranian-backed Houthi uncrewed aerial system (UAS) in the southern Red Sea. USCENTCOM forces also observed two other UAS crash into the Red Sea. No injuries or damage was reported by U.S., coalition, or commercial ships. Additionally, between 7 and 11:30 p.m., USCENTCOM forces successfully engaged two Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM) in the southern Red Sea. The ASBM were fired in the direction of USS Gravely and were destroyed in self-defense, with no damage or injuries reported by U.S., coalition, or commercial ships. It was determined these UAS and ASBM presented an imminent threat to U.S., coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region. USCENTCOM's actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S., coalition, and merchant vessels.’
This has also been the craic from US sources throughout. No damage done, the Houthis are full of it, they’re bigging themselves up, nothing to see here.
However, there is a reason why this story is still growing in volume and this is down to the reported movements of the USS Eisenhower since, as it has apparently been moving north in the Red Sea at a reasonable clip. Verifying that has been a swine, military vessel movements, you can imagine tracking domestic is a lot easier, so I’m putting a heavy caveat on that. Adding weight to that caveat is that despite people claiming it is travelling north, it’s at the end of it’s deployment, it actually isn’t and that I have been able to confirm, as it’s been reported that the Eisenhower and it’s accompanying ships have had their deployment extended by another month according to an article in US armed forces magazine Task & Purpose. Now being an armed forces magazine, could that just be providing cover for what might have really happened? Well you can certainly argue it would necessarily be the most impartial of sources here, but if the Eisenhower is moving north, as some are claiming, why would that be if it’s tour of duty had just been extended?
Perhaps it is damaged? Well certainly they don’t want people to think that, you can certainly understand, that and to that end, we got a bit of footage from the USS Eisenhower itself:
Now that might seem a bit of innocuous footage there, posted on the account of the captain of the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, they call it Ike for short, I’m gonna say Ike now, the account of the Captain of the Ike a chap called Chowdah Hill, and he posted that on the 1st June and although he doesn’t tweet any particular reason for having posted that footage, the timing of doing so kind of implies that this was done in response to Houthi claims of having struck the ship and a nice sweeping bit of footage of a jet landing on the deck, very much seems to show everything is A-OK. The problem is, it didn’t take long for someone to realise, this isn’t recent footage, because that video clip as it turns out dates back to the 3rd March and that I have verified, because Chowdah Hill posted this exact video clip to his own Instagram account on the 4th March.
Why therefore, has he posted a nearly 3 month old clip again now, just as reports that his ship has been damaged come out?
Clearly, the fact he’s tweeting and people are tracking allegedly the movements of the Ike via satellite show it has not not sunk. Posting old video rather than a new one raises people’s suspicions that some damage has occurred and that despite having it’s tour of duty extended, it’s movement north implies it might be damaged.
The fact we only have, still at this point, pro US or pro Houthi voices speaking out on the situation, and giving completely conflicting accounts of what really happened, only encourages conspiracy theories and we do need independent verification and reporting on what has occurred. The truth I fancy is somewhere in between.
From a publicity point of view, if the US are playing down damage, they will suffer more fallout than the Houthis will if they’ve exaggerated their achievements here, when the truth eventually comes out. I worked in ship repair, it’s my trade and if the Ike ends up docking somewhere, seeking wharfage, Saudi Arabia I suppose, since it is allegedly headed north right now, when it is supposed to be on active duty, will raise suspicions even further and it will end up in the media somewhere at some point if in need of repairs.
All of this was of course in retaliation to that attack on Yemen, the first such attack by US and UK forces on the Houthis for three months, the details of that attack which prompted the Houthis to strike back and for the first time strike US military craft can be seen here on this video recommendation and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.