A Houthi missile got so close to a US destroyer the warship turned to a last-resort gun system to shoot it down

insider---- MSN ^ | JAN 31 | @insider.com (Ella Sherman,Jake Epstein)

[dennisw]

A Houthi missile recently put a US destroyer's close-in weapons system to the test, a report said. A warship's CIWS is usually considered its last line of defense and is for close-range intercepts. The Tuesday incident marks the latest Houthi missile attack, though not the latest exchange of fire. A Houthi anti-ship cruise missile fired into the Red Sea came within a mile of a US Navy destroyer on Tuesday, a report said, close enough that the American warship turned to its close-in weapons system — a last line of defense.

Most missiles are shot down farther out. This was the closest that a Houthi attack had come to an American warship, four US officials told CNN, which reported additional details of the incident on Wednesday. US Central Command initially said on Tuesday that around 11:30 p.m. local time, the Houthis fired a single anti-ship cruise missile from Yemen toward the Red Sea, and it was shot down by USS Gravely.

For several months, the Iran-backed rebels have relentlessly fired one-way attack drones and missiles into key waterways off the coast of Yemen. Many of these threats have been shot down by US warships — and sometimes by British or French forces No warships have been struck.

US Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are equipped with at least one CIWS, which features a close-range, radar-guided automatic 20 mm cannon that can fire up to 4,500 rounds a minute and has an effective range out to about two nautical miles.

Before a ship's CIWS is engaged, capabilities such as the warship's SM-2 or SM-3 interceptors come into play. These are fired from vertical-launch-system cells before they then intercept and destroy airborne threats. An SM-3 "hits threats with the force of a 10-ton truck traveling 600 mph," according to Raytheon, the weapon's manufacturer.

[Elsie]

Lessee...


300*160 = 48000 sq ft.

Rate of fire	Block 0/1: 3,000 rounds/minute (50 rounds/second) Block 1A/1B: 4,500 rounds/minute (75 rounds/second)

 

 

The Block 1A and newer (pneumatic driven) CIWS mounts fire at a rate of 4,500 rounds per minute with a 1,550-round magazine.

 

On Block 0 reloading of the drum can take between 10 to 30 minutes if loaded from prelinked ammunition boxes.

Block 1 and later guns use a preloaded ammunition loader/unloader cart.

The loader/unloader cart uses linked live ammuntion and a drum loader adapter.

The linked ammunition is connected to the adapter (yellow part in the photographs) that attaches to the end of the drum. 

[Elsie]

Things have definitely sped up a bit!

https://meggittdefense.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Phalanx.pdf