Posted on 04/27/2025 4:56:51 AM PDT by MtnClimber
While the media and military have been silent, what the Navy did against a Houthi attack is pretty magnificent.
Has the U.S. grown ashamed of its military victories? There are reasons to believe this is true. In April 1988, the U.S. Navy effectively destroyed the Iranian navy following a mine attack on the destroyer USS Roberts. The Navy sank an Iranian frigate, four armed speedboats, blew up two armed oil platforms, and damaged another frigate in one of the shortest and most successful campaigns of the postwar period.
Yet even today, there is no actual name attached to the engagement. It’s known simply as “Operation Praying Mantis,” not the obvious “Battle of the Persian Gulf.”
More recent events can also act as evidence for cynicism toward American feats of arms, both within the media and elsewhere. A few months ago, in the AT newsletter, we covered one such instance – the stunning victory over Iranian aggression in which USAF jets shot down over eighty missiles and drones launched at Israel, to almost no notice in the U.S. Last month saw another such incident, involving the ongoing campaign against Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
Public domain image. U.S. Navy.
Operations against the Houthis, a loose aggregation of terrorist groups centered on a single bandit family, had been continuing on a desultory basis since October 2023, when the Houthis carried out long-range strikes on Israel in support of Iranian attacks. In early 2025, the campaign against the Houthis intensified for some reason. Serious strikes began against Houthi targets by both USAF bombers and the Harry S. Truman carrier strike group.
On March 15, heavy strikes against Houthi targets were made by B-1 bombers, F-35 Lightning II fighters launched from the Harry Truman, and BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from accompanying warships.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
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Be sure to read the entire article.
“In early 2025, the campaign against the Houthis intensified for some reason.”
However... the sentence quoted above is almost certainly satire. Satire does not always translate well on the Internet.
Also unsung was the USAF taking out the Hootie command and control center deep under a mountain. They not only took out the C&C, but the entire mountain. leaving just a huge hole in the ground - and they did not use the largest bunker buster munitions ...
The reason the campaign intensified in 2025? President Trump.
US Media saddened the Gettysburg wasn’t sunk.
there is no actual name attached to the engagement. It’s known simply as “Operation Praying Mantis,” not the obvious “Battle of the Persian Gulf.”
—
Just like there is no “actual name” for the Battle of 73 Easting on 26 February 1991- the largest tank engagement in modern history.
A few years before 911, a friend on the USS Vincennes (CG 49) told us the meaning of ‘TEAM 49’ being displayed all over the ship: Time to Eliminate Another Muslim. There are only a handful of the Ticonderoga class ships left. They dominate the sea for 40+ years. It’s fast and cost effective for the Navy to just build them again instead of wasting time and resources on those fancy smart ships.
Agreed. Read the whole article.
We have a lot of haters of the current American military here, more coverage of our successes would help dilute that.
Same with the frigates we had and now retired. They would have made much better LCS vessels than the junk they designed and built.
Yes, do read the whole article. As for why not publish more, this is more than enough. Xi knows too much already.
Good article.
1980s era US Ticonderoga class cruisers,
9 remaining in active service:
Choppo: "There are only a handful of the Ticonderoga class ships left.
They dominate the sea for 40+ years.
It’s fast and cost effective for the Navy to just build them again instead of wasting time and resources on those fancy smart ships."
The US Navy is overhauling three of its nine remaining old Ticonderogas (of the 27 originally built), with the idea of adding another 10 years to their active life.
The overhaul cost is pushing up close to $1 billion per ship, which sounds like a lot, but is still far less than the newest Arleigh Burke Flight IIIs.
Those are now running close to $3 billion per.
And the new Arleigh Burke Flight IIIs (9,900 tons) are larger than the old Ticonderogas (9,600 tons).
Yes, Arleigh Burkes do have slightly fewer VLS cells, but their advanced radars are the best we have (SPY-6).
In the end, it appears that the US will replace its original 27 1980s-era Ticonderogas with 19 new Arleigh Burke Flight IIIs, plus the existing 73 older Arleigh Burke versions.
Add to those some 20 Constellation class frigates ($1.2 billion each), which carry only half the VLS cells of an Arleigh Burke but will have more advanced radars (EASR) than the Ticonderogas.
Arleigh Burke destroyer
Flight IIIs are larger than the old Ticonderogas:
So, bottom line: Arleigh Burkes are, in effect, being promoted to cruisers, replacing Ticonderogas, while Constellation frigates will be capable of doing most older destroyer missions.
Do we really need all this?
Well, it seems the CCP Chinese are outbuilding us by several-to-one, and their technical competence appears to advance by leaps & bounds every year.
So, what was, years ago, the latest in our state-of-the-art Ticonderogas from the 1980s, just won't cut it today.
Also, in the meantime, some 25 LCSs are still looking for their real purpose in life (beyond catching drug smugglers for the Coast Guard), and I suspect that would turn out to be really bad-assed, high-speed, close-in support for Marine amphibious assault units, if only LCSs had some serious weapons...
Constellation frigate, almost as large as, and far more capable than, the old Spruance destroyers:
LCS firing Naval Strike Missile (NSM), range: 100 miles:
LCS also carry shorter range (~5 miles) RAMs, Hellfires, a 57 mm cannon, multiple machine guns and, potentially, a 150 kW laser weapon:
I have a very good friend who was the Chief Gunners Mate on the USS Roberts in charge of the frigate’s missile battery that day. He has a great picture with the forward launcher which has Kill Marking painted on it representing Iranian ships. It was one of the very few naval engagements fought by the US Navy since WWII that resulted in the sinking of an enemy ship. It was a good day.
Correction: I think my friend was on the USS Simpson, that launched the response to Iranian aggression.
Even the class bully doesn't brag about kicking @$$ on the class runt.
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