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Have the Houthis Defeated the U.S. Navy?

(Telegraph-UK) Tom Sharpe - Operation Prosperity Guardian was set up in December 2023 in response to the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, where 17,000 ships and 10-12% of global trade pass through every year. The aim was to provide a unified international front that would both deter the Houthis from further attacks and reassure the shipping companies who, due to reasons of risk and associated insurance costs, were already starting to take the long route round the Cape of Good Hope. The problem was, it didn't work. The Houthis were not deterred and continued taking pot shots at anyone and everything, including Iranian grain carriers and Russian dark fleet oilers. Back in May when the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower was present, the U.S. had 12 warships on station providing a mix of missile picket and escorting duties. Now they have zero. The U.S. could have ships in the Red Sea if it wanted to. There can only be one conclusion: that the U.S. has given up on Operation Prosperity Guardian. Freedom of navigation is in the U.S. Navy's DNA. Now is a bad time for the world's most powerful navy to abandon that key principle. The writer spent 27 years in the Royal Navy, where he commanded four different warships.
2024-09-03 00:00:00
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