Red Sea Experience: Don't Let Others Ignore It

facts don't care about your theories

It’s Inauguration Day…so let’s not waste time.

On the long list of things I will keep repeating until I am sick of saying it, because that is when I’m sure people are actually starting to listen, is if you are wondering what you need to equip and prepare your forces for when the next big war comes along, look at the small and medium-sized wars that happen in between.

When it comes to war at sea, we get few opportunities to see what works, what does not work. What we need more of, what we can do without. The last 15-months of experience in the Red Sea have been priceless, unscheduled range time.

The Europeans have learned that they need to work on their software integration and need find some extra money for improvements to existing kit, but as the US Navy has done the bulk of the fighting—from Aegis software to proving that Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles are not boogeymen—we have a lot to leverage.

In a companion to last week’s post, did you catch this bit from Geoff Ziezulewicz?

The U.S. Navy’s surface fleet has fired nearly 400 individual munitions while battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea over the past 15 months. That includes the firing of 120 SM-2 missiles, 80 SM-6 missiles, 160 rounds from destroyers and cruisers’ five-inch main guns, as well as a combined 20 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM) and SM-3 missiles.

…

All told, Navy ships, aircraft and submarines have engaged more than 400 Houthi aerial drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles since October 2023, when the Yemen-based group began attacking vessels transiting the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Look at those numbers again. What weapon system was used more than any other?

The 5” gun.

What I would like to see is a list of what was shot down by what list…but probably not on this net.

Never forget—you’ve heard me say it 1,000 times over a couple of decades—when war at sea starts one thing becomes very clear, very fast: you don’t have enough guns, and those you have are a size smaller than you really need.