Super Hornet Incident, Houthi Attacks Help Refine How Surface Force Fights, Say Admirals

January 14, 2025 6:26 PM - Updated: January 15, 2025 6:15 AM
Sailors prepare an F/A-18F Super Hornet, attached to the ‘Red Rippers’ of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 11, to take off from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), Sept. 25, 2024. US Navy Photo

The Navy is already analyzing and training to prevent a repeat of a December friendly fire incident that saw USS Gettysburg (CG-62) shoot down a F/A-18 fighter jet. However, investigations into what happened are still underway and public details are few.

Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, commander of Naval Air Forces, told reporters Tuesday that he could not give details about the incident citing the ongoing investigations. However, he did say that a “big debrief” has happened.

“Those investigations don’t stop us at the tactical level from learning everything and training and changing our training to make sure that never happens again,” Cheever said.

Training and learning from ships that already spent months in the Red Sea was focus of a panel that included the heads of naval surface forces and aviation at the Surface Navy Association Symposium Tuesday.

USS Nimitz (CVN-68), a West Coast-based aircraft carrier, and USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) are being prepared for deployment to the Red Sea, Cheever said.

If Nimitz goes to the Red Sea, it would be the third West Coast-based carrier sent to Central Command. The Navy sent Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike groups to the Red Sea in order to send the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group home after a nine-month deployment.

The two West Coast carrier strike groups filled in the gap while the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group prepared for its current deployment.

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG-55) approaches the fast combat support ship USNS Arctic (TAO-E-8) before a replenishment-at-sea (RAS) in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility on Jan. 3, 2025. US Navy Photo

It is unclear if the back-to-back deployment schedule will continue to be needed, Cheever said, referring to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, which makes decisions about extensions.

“I will tell you that the demand signal for your carriers and for your strike groups is as high as it’s ever been. There have been multiple extensions of each carrier strike group. So that tells you the value and the return on investment of those carriers directors, and then if you look into the future, the demand is as high as it’s ever been for what’s needed,” Cheever said.

While the Harry S. Truman CSG and its aircraft continue to strike Houthi infrastructure in Yemen, strikes come at a slower pace in the past few months. The Houthis have also taken a different approach to the Red Sea in the past couple months, firing more at Israel rather than commercial ships.

However, the Houthis have said they attacked the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group three times so far in 2025, although Central Comand has yet to acknowledge the alleged strikes. Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters last week that the Houthis have not struck the carrier strike group.

Still, the Navy is preparing its carrier strike groups to be ready if needed, using lessons from engagements with the Houthi weaponry and time in Central Command.

“So the forward folks are connected to our weapons tactics instructors back here, and they’ll do anything from the sensor settings to the system settings to the tactics, techniques and procedures… The forward guys tell us what the environment’s like, what the changes are and what’s happening. And then the folks back here think about it and develop the tactics, techniques and procedures needed to defeat that,” Cheever said during the panel.

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG-64) defeats a combination of Houthi missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles in the Red Sea, Oct. 19, 2023. US Navy Photo

That includes seeing unconventional platforms being used to protect the fleet.

A MH-60 Romeo helicopter from the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group shot down a uncrewed aerial vehicle about a month ago, Cheever said.

Cheever could not give more details about the helicopter, including what unit it came from, but the helicopter is likely part of the “Proud Warriors” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 72 assigned to the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group.

Seeing a helicopter shoot down a drone is part of the “diversity of threat” the aircraft and ships in the Red Sea must deal with, said Rear Adm. Douglas Verissimo, commander of Naval Air Force Atlantic.

Speed is key when it comes to the training based on incidents happening in Central Command, said Commander of Naval Surface Forces Vice Adm. Brendan McLane, referencing how quickly lessons from the Red Sea are being analyzed and turned into training.

“We have had 26 ships so far operate in the Red Sea weapons engagement zone, and thanks to the efforts of many in this room, we’ve rapidly learned a tremendous amount, allowing us to better prepare the next deploying warships like the ones in Nimitz Strike Group,” he said during his keynote later on Tuesday.

He said the Navy has kept pace with how the Houthi weapons and tactics have grown more complex.

“We observed a marked escalation in the scale and complexity of enemy techniques and capabilities with the employment of anti-ship ballistic missiles and roving one-way [unmanned aerial vehicles] with pre-assigned kill boxes. We’ve sped up our own learning and teaching so that our deploying ships are always prepared with the latest [tactics, techniques and procedures] before they go over the horizon,” McLane said.
“A ship after battle can send off the large data package containing the detected to engage sequence over the air. This rapid data transfer is followed by expedient analysis at [Naval Surface Warfare Center] Dahlgren, which is now running 24/7. Within 48 hours, [Dahlgren] provide[s] our warfighters with a quick look on the engagement and actionable information for the holding force on how to best counter the tactics and threats of our enemy.”

McLane used an example of how a destroyer leaving the Red Sea via the Bab el-Mandeb repelled a complex Houthi attack.

The destroyer fended off “three anti-ship ballistic missiles that were shot at a depressed trajectory, three anti-ship cruise missiles and seven one-way attack UAVs,” during the transit McLane said.

Simulations created at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren and Naval Air Station Fallon are helping to train sailors and aviators for the contested environment, Cheever said during the panel. Crews also have access to the war diaries of other surface ships that have fought in the Red Sea.

Live virtual construct (LVC) is helping to better train the fleet in a way that is more cohesive for the surface warfare and aviation communities, said Rear Adm. Joseph Cahill, the commander of Naval Surface Force Atlantic.

“I think being able to be anywhere in the world to include peer side and transport that warship team into a combat environment, to fight the latest defensive fight, to execute the latest offensive tactics, is what we must continue to do to succeed, as we look In both Fifth Fleet and Sixth Fleet combat operations in the eastern Mediterranean, I see a level of cohesion across the force that I have never experienced before,” Cahill said.

Heather Mongilio

Heather Mongilio

Heather Mongilio is a reporter with USNI News. She has a master’s degree in science journalism and has covered local courts, crime, health, military affairs and the Naval Academy.
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