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

[NickB79]

https://www.businessinsider.com/houthi-missile-close-us-warship-close-in-weapon-system-2024-1

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.

At the speed those missiles travel, the Gravely was only about 10-15 seconds away from being hit when the 20mm CIWS made contact.

That's cutting it pretty close. A sunk naval ship is all it would take for US boots on the ground in Yemen.

[WarGamer]

1. Here's the thing... the way technology is going...

Ships are going to be about as useful as tanks...

Russia and China BOTH have hypersonic ASM's... running around 5000mph or 5-7x the speed of the Houthi missile.

And now that all the major countries are in "share the weapons" mode... I'd expect non state actors to start using them.

All the professional wargaming of a Taiwan invasion I've seen with US involvement have a high risk of a US carrier being sunk.

[Igel]

2. And yet my go-to news station only said

that Houthis were targeting "civilian" cargo ships, which they took to mean that they weren't much of a threat because they quickly moved on to more pressing issues and themes. It's like saying the IDF is hitting Hamas members and targets and forgetting that there's collateral damage, but worse--because the military vessels aren't "collateral."

If not for the fact that I have crap news station, all harshly RW/Carlson/etc. leaning or this one; and the fact that I didn't want to replace the radio in my car today; I'd have found something heavy and hard and pounded the radio into an electronic pulp.

[EX500rider]

3. Phalanx saves the day!

[NickB79]

5. I will forever call it the Horny Minion after seeing this

[EX500rider]

6. Also known as R2D2

[ripcord]

4. Whenever the Houthis fire a missile

We should fire 5 at the launch site.

[former9thward]

7. The sites are mobile.

They move as soon as they fire.