Two days ago the head of the US Navy, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, publicly praised the performance of her people in the Red Sea for shooting down more than 70 drones, seven cruise missiles, and “for the first time in history, 14 anti-ship ballistic missiles” (ASBMs).
She also conceded that a few weapons had made it through the screen and hit commercial shipping causing damage and fires but thankfully, no fatalities.
Admiral Franchettti also mentioned that a US Marine pilot flying a Harrier jump jet from the USS Bataan – the USMC, unlike Britain, still has Harriers – has shot down seven drones, which makes him the first American fighter ace since the Vietnam War. Or at least it would if they had been crewed. Denied by a technicality, but impressive nonetheless.
A few hours after Admiral Franchetti’s speech, footage started to emerge of yet another Russian Black Sea Fleet ship being hit and sunk by surface drones. This time it was the landing ship Caesar Kunikov, the fourth of its type to have been destroyed since the start of the full-on war in Ukraine.
So, on the one hand, we have the US Navy providing a master class in carrier and escort-based air defence, with the air wings of carrier USS Eisenhower – Ike – and big-deck amphibious ship USS Bataan providing the fighters, and Aegis combat system warships armed with Standard Missiles proving their worth again and again against the weapons the jets didn’t stop.
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R&I – TP
Bugs Marlowe