The USS Gravely (DDG 107) sails alongside the USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) during maneuvering exercises with the Finnish Navy in the Baltic Sea, May 16, 2022. (U.S. Navy, by MC3 Taylor Parker)
The Houthis (Ansar Allah) in Yemen announced on January 31 that they had fired “several” anti-ship missiles at a United States warship in the Red Sea.
“The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces, with the help of God Almighty, fired several… naval missiles at the American destroyer USS Gravely in the Red Sea,” Houthi spokesman, Brigade General Yahya Sare’e, said in a statement.
The spokesman noted that the group will continue to target Israel-affiliated ships in the Red and Arabian seas “until a ceasefire is achieved, and food and medicine are allowed into the besieged Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”
Earlier, the U.S. Central Command said the USS Gravely, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, shot down a Houthi missile late on January 30.
“Iranian-backed Houthi militants fired one anti-ship cruise missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward the Red Sea,” the command said in a brief statement posted on the X social platform, previously known as Twitter.
“The missile was shot down by USS Gravely. There were no injuries or damage reported,” it added
The USS Gravely was the second U.S. Navy vessel to be targeted by the Houthis in less than a week. On January 29, the Houthis said that they had fired a missile at the USS Lewis B. Puller, an expeditionary mobile base vessel. U.S. defense officials denied that the vessel was hit, however.
The Houthis have targeted dozens of Israel-affiliated vessels and others owned by the U.S. and the UK since November 19 in response to the ongoing Israeli war and siege on Gaza, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 26,000 Palestinians.
In response, the U.S. and the UK carried out dozens of strikes on military targets in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen in recent weeks. Despite this, the group, which is backed by Iran, remains undeterred.
