On the same night a U.S. Navy fighter jet was shot down over the Red Sea, a second jet nearly suffered the same fate. An F/A-18 Super Hornet was forced to take evasive maneuvers after a second surface-to-air missile was fired from the cruiser USS Gettysburg, narrowly missing the second jet by 100 feet while preparing to land aboard the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman.
A Navy official confirmed that a second SM-2 missile was fired from USS Gettysburg, and the Navy is investigating whether that missile was targeting the second jet. The Navy is also looking into whether the USS Gettysburg switched off the guidance system on the second missile. The near shoot-down of a second U.S. Navy jet has not been previously reported.
