Inside look at U.S. Navy response to Houthi Red Sea attacks | 60 Minutes

After Hamas launched its deadly terrorist attack on Israel last October and Israel began its relentless war in Gaza in

response

, President Biden warned Iran and its proxies in the Middle East to stay away, one of those groups decided in change that everything was in that. The group is a Shiite militia from Yemen known as the Houthis. Yemen is the poorest country in the Middle East, but its 12,200 miles of coastline run in and out of the Suez Canal, the main sea route between Europe and Asia, responsible for $1 trillion a year. in global trade, so when the Houthis began attacking commercial ships in solidarity with Hamas, President Biden faced a crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and sent the US Navy into its first big fight of the century XXI, the story will continue in a moment, yes, the left turned back.

Our report begins not in the water but in the air, where from a US Navy reconnaissance plane 500 feet above the Red Sea we were the first journalists to see the types of commercial ships the Houthis have attacked and the American warships sent to protect them. We're not going to let the hoies hold this hostage. Vice Admiral Brad Cooper is the deputy commander of the US military in the Middle East after October 7, as the top Navy officer in the region, he ordered the Fifth Fleet into an area it normally sailed through. Many sailors are now in the Red Sea.

Yeah, we have about 7,000 uh right now, so it's a big commitment that makes the Red Sea one of the most important waterways in the world. Exactly 15% of world trade flows through the Red Sea. So keeping these wild waterways open is critical, it's a fundamental commitment that the United States has from a strategic perspective, keeping the free flow of commerce, the Red Sea is about the size of California in the north, the Suez Canal in the south, the straight 20 miles wide. Known in Arabic as Babel MB or in English as the Gate of Mourning, it was near there 3 months ago that a Japanese charter ship built to transport cars was hijacked by the Houthis who released this video.

Since then, according to the Pentagon, the Houthis have attacked at least 45 ships and the US Navy has shot down more than 95 drones and missiles fired by the militia that controls a third of Yemen, including the capital, as Houthi

attacks

intensified in December, in January, the The world's largest container shipping companies made the decision. to avoid Suz and go around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, adding up to a month of travel time and a million dollars in fuel, US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on 60 Minutes two weeks ago that Detours represent a risk to the global economy and in the short term, that will affect Europe much more than it will affect us.

Tesla and Volvo were forced to suspend some European production last month due to supply chain disruptions. There are still ships passing through Suz, mostly smaller regional carriers that are willing to take the current Red Sea risks, how much does that count in terms of that traffic? Has it been reduced by half? It's down on any given day, sometimes by 40%, but it's clearly flowing and I think in many ways it's flowing because of the defense. The umbrella that we put over the southern Red Sea surely the official name of that defensive umbrella is Operation Guardian of Prosperity.

It is a coalition of more than 20 nations that includes the United Kingdom, but most of the ships, planes and firepower come from the United States. When was the last time the US Navy operated at this pace for a couple of months, I think you would have to go back to World War II where there are ships that are in combat when I say in combat in the that they shoot them. They are shooting at us and we are shooting back. Initially, the Iran-backed Houthis stated that they would only fire on Israeli-linked ships in support of the Palestinian people and to force a ceasefire in Gaza, their ultimate political objectives as well as their actual objective. appears to be less precise they have fired on ships linked to dozens of nations the official Houthi motto is God is great death for the United States death for Israel a curse for the Jews Victory for Islam although their motto may not be new their weapons and tactics are consistent For Admiral Cooper, the Houthis are the first entity in the history of the world to use anti-ship ballistic missiles, they have never fired at ships, no one has used them, no one has ever used an anti-ship ballistic missile, certainly against commercial ships and much less against US Navy ships Admiral Cooper took us inside the Fifth Fleet Command Center at Naval Headquarters in Bahrain.

I think there is a sense that the Houthis are some kind of heterogeneous terrorist group, yes, yes, yes, that may have a meaning and it would be false. sense and it would be reckless to consider that, you know, 10 years of being supplied by the Iranians, very sophisticated advanced weapons, they have hit some ships, all those targets, how many of them are directed at US naval assets, the overwhelming majority in recent A couple of months have been aimed at merchant ships with an international flag. A small percentage of them are aimed directly at US Navy ships. What kind of damage would one of those anti-ship ballistic missiles do to a commercial ship?

Well, let's go here, this is exactly what it

look

s like the Houthis attacked it and you can see in practical terms what the damage was. The Houthis also have inexpensive Iranian-designed attack drones in their arsenal, such as the 15-foot-wide Samad with a range of up to 1,100 miles, some of their anti-ship drones. The ballistic missiles

look

similar to the Iranian weapons seen here and can hit targets up to about 300 miles away if there is an anti-ship ballistic missile launch. This ballistic missile travels at approximately Mach 5 approximately 3000 mph how long is there between a Houthi launch and then? you could tear through an American ship if you get close to them now just get in the captain's seat of the destroyer on that ship, he has 9-15 seconds to make a decision, they are going to shoot you down, it's intense to talk to one.

From destroyer captains deployed to the southern Red Sea, we took a 5-minute helicopter ride from the USS Dwight D Eisenhower to the USS Mason, where we met Commander Justin Smith. The Destroyer is one of four US warships in the area that have shot down over a dozen Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles, how quickly can you see them in 1 to two

minutes

and giving me that decision space to give me 9 to 15 seconds as captain of this ship on what my actions are going to be? You made it sound like it's a long time, 9 to 15 seconds, it doesn't seem like a lot, it seems very small and the duration is very short, eh, but my crew has that skill ready to be able to participate, we learned that so far in this crisis.

The Navy has fired about a hundred of its standard surface missiles that can cost up to $4 million each. Roger on the decision to fire one against an incoming Houthi missile or Kamakazi attack drone is made in the ship's combat information center or cic. 373 we can be attacked anytime, anywhere, that's where Commander Smith showed us a video of the USS Mason doing just that. Here you see an interception. A quick explosion follows showing a successful engagement with the weapons systems you have on board here and. specifically the standard missiles, those are expensive weapons and you're using them to shoot down $10,000 drones.

It's worth it? I don't think you can put a price on the safety and defense of our sailor on board. You have to be right. 100% of the time they only have to get it right once at 27 knots to close one day before our visit to the USS Mason, about 100 miles away, another American destroyer needed its weapon of last resort, a defensive cannon called a genie. of the SE to demolish. a hothy cruise missile that was a mile away and approaching rapidly most American warships have one of these weapons systems seen here in the exercises Eisenhower's USS Dwight has two on that ship with its 5,000 sailors and more than 75 aircraft of the strike group Commander Rear Admiral Mark Migz told us that the Houthis have proven to be resourceful adversaries.

There are reconnaissance and intelligence surveillance drones that the Houthis are launching. How did you see them used when we first came to this area? We would detect the Drone and then all of a sudden you know that 10

minutes

later or 5 minutes later there was an attack, that is, a ballistic missile or a cruise missile was launched and over time we have deduced that they are obviously using these drones to perfect their solution Since the war in Israel and Gaza began, other Iranian-backed militias have attacked US forces in Jordan, Iraq and Syria with at least 170

attacks

that wounded 183 service members and killed three.

Admiral Miguez told us While the USS Eisenhower has so far only focused on the Houthis in the southern Red Sea since January 11, its planes have been periodically attacking their launch SS in Yemen, as have American destroyers. The United States also carried out a cyberattack against an Iranian spy ship that was collecting intelligence in and around the Red Sea, but Houthi attacks continue. the Houthis do this without the support of Iran no, for a decade the Iranians have been supplying the Houthis, they have been resupplying them, they are resupplying them as we sit here right now, look, we know this is happening, they are advising them and We are providing targeting information, this is very clear, are there members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Elite Corps who are actually on the ground in Yemen providing intelligence and targeting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard?

The Corps is inside Yemen and they are serving alongside the Houthis advising. them and provide them with specific information, so what have we done to degrade that ability? Yes, that will obviously end up being a political decision. Our role at this time is simply to be prepared and continue to be aggressive in exercising our right to self-defense. These American offensive airstrikes against these Houthis? Targets in Yemen risk escalating this conflict. Yes, I don't think so. We are targeting those platforms that are targeting us if we were to look at the calendar from October 7th, the surge of US forces. to the Red Sea and yet they continue to respond, they continue to seem opportunistic in their

response

, it is the US Navy, the Fifth Fleet, actions have an effect, it is very clear that we are degrading their capability and every day They try to attack us.

We are removing and disrupting them in ways that are significant and I think have an impact on how long this lasts. I have a pretty clear goal in mind and that is the restoration of the free flow of trade and safe navigation in the southern Red Sea.