In the face of the missile attack of the powerful Houthi forces, the destroyer USS Mason was able to survive. What's going on here?How did this famous battleship avoid being sunk?Perhaps you remember that a few days ago, the ** ship was accused of "standing by and watching" when it was attacked. So, how exactly do we make sense of all this?
As for the launcher of the missile, it is not difficult to guess that it was the Houthis active in the Yemeni region. They have in their hands a large number of anti-ship missiles and ballistic missiles supplied by Iran and manufactured on their own, and they have a wealth of experience in actual combat.
After the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Houthis quickly declared their support for the Palestinian forces and actively joined the attacks on Israel. Some pointed the finger at the Chinese ** ship, saying that it "stood by and watched" in the hijacked Israeli oil tanker incident. So, did the Chinese ** ship really not take any action?
For the above questions, we still need to further ** and understand. The truth can only be revealed with the passage of time and more information. Let's wait and see what the future holds. In order to strike Israel's industrial base, the Houthis have had to use long-range strikes such as cruise missiles and drones**. In fact, Israel's air defense capabilities were difficult to intercept these cruise missiles with good performance, and the United States decided to send its navy to assist. They separated the USS Mason from the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier battle group and headed to the Red Sea to intercept Houthi cruise missiles.
Since the beginning of the conflict, the Mason has successfully intercepted several batches of cruise missiles and drones launched by the Houthis. This has caused considerable disruption to Houthi attacks.
If the Houthis want to attack Israel more effectively, they must first overcome the Mason obstacle. However, the Mason has a weakness in that it is now operating alone in the Red Sea, and the Red Sea is relatively small. Thus, the "Mason" has a limited range of activity when intercepting cruise missiles flying to Israel. Even the Houthis have the ability to capture the location of the "Mason" and launch anti-ship missiles to attack it.
However, this ballistic missile attack did not hit the "Mason", and the US military claimed to have landed in the sea area of about 10 kilometers around **. The destroyer "Mason" can be described as the most outstanding combat ship of the US military. It has been operating in the waters off Yemen for many years and has repeatedly successfully intercepted attacks by anti-ship missiles.
This achievement is partly due to the technical capabilities of the "Mason" itself, and on the other hand, it also shows how high the level of training of its crew is.
The USS Mason is a Burke-2A destroyer equipped with an Aegis system and phased array radar, and carries a large number of "Standard 2" missiles and ESSM missiles for air defense operations.
The anti-ship missiles used by the Houthis are mainly the "Noor" anti-ship missiles produced by Iran, which are imitations of the C802 anti-ship missiles exported by China in the last century, which are subsonic anti-ship missiles, and their penetration capabilities and anti-jamming capabilities are relatively limited.
In 2018, when the Houthis launched an attack on the Mason, there was only one Al-Nur anti-ship missile, which was successfully intercepted by the Mason using electronic jamming.
Many actual combat experiences in history show that the advanced equipment is only one aspect, and the training level of personnel also determines the performance of the equipment to a large extent.
That's all for the brilliant performance of the destroyer "Mason"!The ship demonstrated the strength and technical prowess of the U.S. military, while also highlighting the importance of their level of training. It is believed that the combat capability of the US military will be even stronger by strengthening the skills training of the ship's crew and improving the actual combat capability of the advanced system. Let's look forward to the continued achievements of the "Mason"!It is not excluded that the next missile attack may be aimed at the destroyer "Mason", so it is quite dangerous for a single ship to fight anti-ship missiles without the support of the system.
The missile attack was just a warning, and the next attack could be against the Mason. If the U.S. military cannot increase its support and let the destroyer continue to be deployed alone in the Red Sea, then in the face of the next missile attack by the Houthi forces, the "Mason" will still face great danger and may even be sunk. After the Israeli merchant ship hijacked by Somali pirates was successfully recaptured by the U.S. Navy, some claimed that the Chinese merchant ship was "sitting on the sidelines" at the time. Our refutation of this accusation is very clear, because it is completely groundless slander against China.
Our navy is currently carrying out escort missions in the waters of the Gulf of Aden with the 45th escort group, and in accordance with China's principle of not engaging in military hegemony and non-interference in regional affairs, the size of the formation only needs to meet the needs of escort missions. Therefore, the size of the 45th escort group is not large, including only 1 destroyer, 1 frigate and 1 supply ship, and all 3 ** ships are required to be dispatched for each escort operation.
At the same time, the Chinese Navy organized escort operations in the Gulf of Aden to group merchant ships that applied for escort and sail through the area of piracy, rather than acting alone like the Israeli merchant ship.
Therefore, when the Israeli merchant ship was hijacked, the Chinese Navy escort group was carrying out escort missions in other sea areas, protecting the safe navigation of dozens or even hundreds of merchant ships, so what does the hijacking of the Israeli merchant ship have to do with us?
The United States does not agree with this assertion, only mentioning it occasionally and then not mentioning it again, as if it never existed. They don't treat it as if it's true.