The Red Sea’s importance to global trade – and therefore global politics – shows no sign of diminishing anytime soon. One way to tell is that there are two aircraft carriers there already and another – a British one – on the way. There’s a solid correlation between global hotspots and aircraft carrier presence, although I’m fully aware that those who think warships in general and carriers in particular are now obsolete are a tough crowd to convince. These people don’t think that our ships can survive in – or even dare to enter – hostile missile footprints: their constant presence in them notwithstanding.
The southern Red Sea is certainly a dangerous place. The US Navy has sustained a round-the-clock bombing campaign that started on 15 March – ironically, during a rare Houthi ceasefire. The only advantage of the US Defence Secretary splurging national secrets all over an unsecure Signal thread was seeing the Vice President in the same thread wondering if now was really the time to restart this war. I agreed with J D Vance’s thinking (on this). But restart the fighting they did – and they’ve been going 24/7 ever since.
There has been a cost: so far, luckily, only financial. Over a billion dollars’ worth of munitions have been expended, mainly by the F/A-18 Hornet jets of the USS Harry S Truman in the central Red Sea, although last week the RAF also sent in some long-range strike missions from Cyprus. Three of the Truman’s F/A-18s have now been lost on this deployment: one in a blue-on-blue and one in a landing incident where the arrester gear didn’t work properly and the jet disappeared over the bow. The aircrew ejected safely in both cases. The third lost jet was being towed by a tractor when the ship made a hard turn and the deck tilted, sending plane and tractor sliding towards, and then over, the side of the ship. Both the tractor driver and the sailor who was in the cockpit steering the jet managed to jump clear. This sort of problem happens from time to time: I have heard stories of US Navy pilots taxiing on deck having to engage full power to avoid slipping off when the ship rolled unexpectedly.
It’s to be hoped, given the superstitious nature of sailors, that the Truman isn’t getting a reputation as a hard-luck ship. We know that she was delayed leaving the US as she needed “more time to get ready.” Not a good sign; and nor was her recent collision with a merchant vessel near the Suez Canal, which led to her captain being removed. But we also know that the replacement captain – bounced out to take over at short notice after the Suez collision – is outstanding. He proved his leadership credentials time after time in the same spot last year while in command of USS Dwight D Eisenhower. He has work to do, but might also be the best person in the US Navy to do it.
The Red Sea’s importance to global trade – and therefore global politics – shows no sign of diminishing anytime soon. One way to tell is that there are two aircraft carriers there already and another – a British one – on the way. There’s a solid correlation between global hotspots and aircraft carrier presence, although I’m fully aware that those who think warships in general and carriers in particular are now obsolete are a tough crowd to convince. These people don’t think that our ships can survive in – or even dare to enter – hostile missile footprints: their constant presence in them notwithstanding.
The southern Red Sea is certainly a dangerous place. The US Navy has sustained a round-the-clock bombing campaign that started on 15 March – ironically, during a rare Houthi ceasefire. The only advantage of the US Defence Secretary splurging national secrets all over an unsecure Signal thread was seeing the Vice President in the same thread wondering if now was really the time to restart this war. I agreed with J D Vance’s thinking (on this). But restart the fighting they did – and they’ve been going 24/7 ever since.
There has been a cost: so far, luckily, only financial. Over a billion dollars’ worth of munitions have been expended, mainly by the F/A-18 Hornet jets of the USS Harry S Truman in the central Red Sea, although last week the RAF also sent in some long-range strike missions from Cyprus. Three of the Truman’s F/A-18s have now been lost on this deployment: one in a blue-on-blue and one in a landing incident where the arrester gear didn’t work properly and the jet disappeared over the bow. The aircrew ejected safely in both cases. The third lost jet was being towed by a tractor when the ship made a hard turn and the deck tilted, sending plane and tractor sliding towards, and then over, the side of the ship. Both the tractor driver and the sailor who was in the cockpit steering the jet managed to jump clear. This sort of problem happens from time to time: I have heard stories of US Navy pilots taxiing on deck having to engage full power to avoid slipping off when the ship rolled unexpectedly.
It’s to be hoped, given the superstitious nature of sailors, that the Truman isn’t getting a reputation as a hard-luck ship. We know that she was delayed leaving the US as she needed “more time to get ready.” Not a good sign; and nor was her recent collision with a merchant vessel near the Suez Canal, which led to her captain being removed. But we also know that the replacement captain – bounced out to take over at short notice after the Suez collision – is outstanding. He proved his leadership credentials time after time in the same spot last year while in command of USS Dwight D Eisenhower. He has work to do, but might also be the best person in the US Navy to do it.