Posted on 10/02/2016 7:39:38 PM PDT by Chode
The futuristic looking HSV-2 Swift, an ex-U.S. Navy experimental high-speed logistics catamaran now being utilized by the UAE government, was struck by a missile on the evening of October 1, according to multiple reports. The ship was operating near the Yemeni port of Mokha located on the northeastern edge of the Mandeb Strait, a narrow and strategic body of water that connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. Iranian-backed Houthi rebel fighters have claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Saudi-led coalition of Sunni Arab states fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen has largely pushed them out of the southern reaches of the country, but the group is still entrenched in the west, especially along the Red Sea.
Destabilizing the Mandeb Strait could be part of a larger Iranian-backed regional strategy, one that has the potential to inflict significant economic pain on Saudi Arabia and the west. And this isn't the first time a Sunni Arab coalition vessel has been attacked by the Shiite anti-Yemeni government group; a year ago, two coalition ships were supposedly sunk by Iranian-supplied anti-ship missiles. A third ship was struck just months before that.
The UAE has formally acknowledged that there was an “incident” with the ship, but claims that no lives were lost. If the video above is legitimate, which it appears to be, that would be a miracle.
This attack is another reminder of the growing danger that anti-ship missiles represent—especially those that are more frequently being obtained by unpredictable non-state actors. This strike in particular is reminiscent of the 2006 attack on an Israeli Sa'ar 5 class corvette by another Iranian-backed group, Hezbollah, that had been supplied with a similar anti-ship missile system. Although in that case, the targeted ship was armed with a CIWS, albeit one that was not fully activated at the time.
well..... its been a possibility for quite some time
we will see
when the Iran-Iraq war ran, over a million people died but the oil shipments continued through the war zone (Persian gulf)
we will see....(since I don’t know what will happen, ha, we will see).
Falkland Islands and an Exocet missile.
1980’s
That was a different story.
The way that thing lit off makes me wonder about the survivabilty of our littoral combat ships should they take ONE missile hit.
aluminium burns real good
The Houthi rebels need to be very careful about this type of attack least the Saudi led Sunni coalition will attack the Houthis.
Oh, wait ... the Saudis were already attacking them. Silly me.
Ping for later.
>Iranian-backed Houthi rebel fighters have claimed responsibility for the attack.<
.
Missile could have been fired from somewhere in Somalia. You can actually see the lights in Somalia looking across the water from the port of Mokha at night.
>Iranian-backed Houthi rebel fighters have claimed responsibility for the attack.<
.
Missile could have been fired from somewhere in Somalia. You can actually see the lights in Somalia looking across the water from the port of Mokha at night. This could result in $150/barrel of crude oil.
>Iranian-backed Houthi rebel fighters have claimed responsibility for the attack.<
.
Missile could have been fired from somewhere in Somalia. You can actually see the lights in Somalia looking across the water from the port of Mokha at night. This could result in $150/barrel of crude oil.Somalian pirates could’ve gotten a hold of ship missiles.
The ship does not fly any flag.
You may thinking of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). The Navy just announced in the past two weeks or so that its multi mission modular design was deficient and that they were scaling back on the total number of ships being constructed. The ships that are going to be built will be dedicated to single mission configurations. Part of the confusion may arise from the fact that there are two different LCS designs, one of which is a trimaran design.
The High Speed Vessel is a passenger and cargo catamaran ferry of Austrailian design built to commercial not military standards. It’s not a combatant; its role is intratheater logistics. They are lightly armed and would likely not have the detection and jamming system needed to defeat an anti ship missile. It is a successful design built in the US for both the Army and Navy.
By the way, this was a large missile. In the video, you can see the glow of the launch booster rocket as it detaches from the missile after launch.
Thanks for that.
I watched it and thought it looked like the Achille Lauro fire footage.
Closing the sea gates.
Well, because it was...
Some of it also was from some movies in the late 90’s. can’t remember their names right now.
http://www.janes.com/article/58194/uae-naval-vessels-using-eritrea-s-assab-port
sure-nuff
Ping
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