Following the apprehension of the pirates who boarded an Israeli-linked cargo ship earlier on Sunday, the USS Mason (DDG 87) was fired upon by Houthi rebels, reports Jennifer Griffin for Fox News. The Houthi forces fired two ballistic missiles, both of which fell short of their intended target . . . just another couple of splashes in a waterway that has seen its share of missiles and pirates.
Given the Biden administration’s unwillingness to protect servicemen (see Afghanistan and the multivarious attacks currently suffered by U.S. forces abroad) through shows of force, one cannot expect that the Houthis who fired these missiles are in any great danger. Please prove me wrong, Biden. Remarkably, the USS Mason survived a similar attack in 2016.
USNI News reported:
During the attack against USS Mason (DDG-87), the ship’s crew fired the missiles to defend the guided-missile destroyer and nearby USS Ponce (AFSB(I)-15) from two suspected cruise missiles fired from the Yemini shore, two defense officials told USNI News.
Mason launched two Standard Missile-2s (SM-2s) and a single Evolved Seasparrow Missile (ESSM) to intercept the two missiles that were launched about 7 P.M. local time. In addition to the missiles, the ship used its Nulka anti-ship missile decoy, the sources confirmed. Mason was operating in international waters north of the strait of Bab el-Mandeb at the time of the attack.
According to a defense official on Monday, Mason “employed onboard defensive measures” against the first suspected cruise missile, “although it is unclear whether this led to the missile striking the water or whether it would have struck the water anyway.” The official did not specify that the defensive measure was a missile fired from the ship.
Given the chronological proximity of the Mason‘s experiences, it’s positively gobsmacking to be reminded that the Biden administration removed the Houthis’ Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation in 2021 while admitting that the admin “remains clear-eyed about [the Houthis] malign actions, and aggression . . . attacking U.S. partners in the Gulf, kidnapping and torturing citizens of the United States and many of our allies, diverting humanitarian aid, brutally repressing Yemenis in areas they control, and the deadly attack on December 30, 2020, in Aden against the cabinet of the legitimate government of Yemen.”
If one has to list several terrorist acts as qualifiers while suggesting a group no longer deserves the monicker of “terrorist,” forgive the rest of us for thinking that the State Department drone providing the argument is an idiot at best. Monty Python could make a masterpiece from such a bureaucratic absence of self-reflection: “A terrorist? No, no, no. Simply a down-and-out man with more missiles than sense. Off the FTO and the dole, that’s the way. . . . He used the money to buy more missiles, you say? Ah.”
Enough negativity. A big shoutout to the sailors in CIC aboard the Mason — many an OS, FC, STG, and CT is earning his keep tonight. Cheers to the tactical-action officer keeping things locked down. And big ups to the electrician’s mate who is keeping CIC’s gizmos energized. Stay safe out there.