In a recent and alarming development, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) narrowly avoided a potentially devastating attack by Houthi militants from Yemen. This incident marks the closest that a Houthi attack has come to a U.S. warship to date. The USS Gravely, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer stationed in the Red Sea, managed to intercept a cruise missile launched by the militants on Tuesday. According to four U.S. officials, the missile came within one mile of the Gravely before it was successfully shot down.
The Houthi militants have been responsible for numerous attacks on international shipping lanes, including direct assaults on U.S. warships. The recent incident highlights the gravity of the situation, considering the increasing frequency and proximity of these attacks. Prior to this event, previous launches were typically intercepted at ranges of eight miles or more using interceptor missiles. The fact that the missile got this close to the USS Gravely suggests a failure in the defensive layers that should have intercepted the threat. Fortunately, the ship's close-in weapons system (CIWS), an automated machine gun, managed to track and shoot down the cruise missile at a range of one mile.
