The 100,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the United States is the core surface ship of the US Navy and one of the largest reliance of the United States in the world.
Once something happens, the first reaction of the United States is often "the nearest aircraft carrier is in" In the minds of Americans, the American aircraft carrier is not only a sea carrier, but also a symbol of the "national strength" of the United States.
Because of the importance of U.S. aircraft carriers to the country, many countries that are unwilling to submit to the United States have been thinking about how to "fight aircraft carriers" since World War II, but they have rarely been verified by actual combat, whether it is the so-called "saturation attack" idea of the Soviet era or the large-scale speedboat raid of Iranian research.
After World War II, only one small escort aircraft carrier was sunk by frogmen during the Vietnam War. Now the Houthis on the Arabian Peninsula are also ready to test the strength of American aircraft carriers. According to open sources, a real combat strike on the American aircraft carrier has already begun.
Recently, the United States organized the "Red Sea Armed Escort" operation, in which the British and Indian navies also sent ships. However, the Houthis chose the strongest target, which was the US aircraft carrier!
According to the U.S. Naval Research Institute news network, Yemen's Houthi rebels have carried out direct armed strikes against the US Navy's USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the Red Sea. It is said that at that time, the US aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower entered the Red Sea with a large group of escort ships in a vigorous manner, and at one time approached the coastal waters.
In this situation, the Yemeni Houthis saw this as an undoubted "God-given opportunity" and made a decisive attack on the American aircraft carrier.
Striking American aircraft carriers is certainly not easy, and the Houthis in Yemen are well aware of this. In the past, the Soviet Union put forward the theory of "saturation attack" that used a large number of means of attack to overwhelm the defense system of US aircraft carriers, and finally succeeded. However, the Houthis have adopted the method of drones + anti-ship missiles to carry out multiple and multi-directional strikes on the US ** aircraft carrier.
The destroyers and cruisers carried by the US aircraft carrier group are its "personal guards," and the biggest advantage of these "close guards" is the so-called "Aegis system," and the main role of this system is to launch interceptor missiles to intercept missiles attacking the aircraft carrier group.
The Houthis took the lead in launching a large number of drones, first attracting the anti-aircraft fire of the US aircraft carrier escort ships, in order to exhaust them and create opportunities for direct attacks on aircraft carriers.
The Houthis successfully used drones to attract anti-aircraft fire and attention from U.S. aircraft carrier escort ships, followed by high-altitude strikes with anti-ship ballistic missiles. Although these three missiles were quickly discovered by US radar, the Houthis immediately launched ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming anti-ship cruise missiles, forming a wave of high-altitude and sea-skimming missiles that were jointly assaulted.
This type of strike is very powerful, and it is difficult for ordinary ships to deal with it. It is estimated that it will be difficult to deal with the medium and light aircraft carriers of other countries, and even the single destroyers or cruisers of the US military will be difficult to parry. The most powerful 100,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the United States still shows the quality of the "world's strongest navy" under such a strike.
The U.S. military quickly took off the F A-18EF Super Hornet fighter jets on the aircraft carrier, preparing for an aerial interception to prevent a missile attack launched by the Houthis. Although this fighter is usually used in air-to-air combat, the air-to-air missiles it carries are also fully capable of intercepting missiles.
In an emergency, the US military's F A-18EF Super Hornet fighters quickly switched to air combat mode, intercepted the missiles launched by the Houthis as enemy aircraft, and successfully shot down the missiles, protecting the safety of the US aircraft carrier.
Overall, the failure of this missile attack by the Houthis does not mean that their tactics are not viable. In fact, the small number of missiles is their biggest shortcoming. According to public information, they only used five missiles to attack the US aircraft carrier, and the US aircraft carrier carried only a few dozen carrier-based fighters, and if the Houthis can launch a large-scale missile attack, it will become very difficult for the US military to intercept them all.
In addition, if they have a certain number of shore-based fighters, or some anti-aircraft missiles, they can effectively balance the activities of US carrier-based fighters. It is worth mentioning that the US aircraft carrier has not yet withdrawn, and if the Houthis are supported by Iran and other Asian powers, they will still have a certain threat capability in the future.