US fighter jet rolls off aircraft carrier, sinks into ocean, Navy says

[southwestforests]

Naval Aviation is dangerous, belike.

Which may or may not be a factor in why there was a January 1995 book of photographs titled, No Easy Days: The Incredible Drama of Naval Aviation.

 

[TomcatViP]

The extend of their stay in the mouth of the Dragon speaks volume in term of the efficiency duly proved during this cruise. People are focusing only at the loss of metal when the fact that no crew were lost, mission were launched en-masse, all while the battle group was probably under constant fire the all time is a strong assertion of American Naval power in modern days.

Last but not least, Standoff range would have been of no use dealing with the mission they were sent for that calls mainly for Persistence.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Carrier Strike Groups are a pale shadow (at best) of the Cold War era Carrier Battle Groups though. Which is ironic given that Carrier Strike Groups were supposed to have been designed, initially during the Age of Transformation / War on Terror era, primarily to counter such threats as the Houthis.

 

[EmoBirb]

Carrier Strike Groups are a pale shadow (at best) of the Cold War era Carrier Battle Groups though. Which is ironic given that Carrier Strike Groups were supposed to have been designed, initially during the Age of Transformation / War on Terror era, primarily to counter such threats as the Houthis.

The issue here is that asymmetric threats like the Houthis have genuinely transformed employing modern tactics as well as armaments like long range drones as well as armaments previously unthinkable for "insurgents" like AShMs and AShBMs.

I think it comes down to an overextended deployment, bad luck (resulting in low motivation and morale) and the USN genuinely being overconfident. Yes, the Houthis haven't sunk any USN ship, but it's not like the USN deployment did anything significant either. The Houthis operate as usual and the USN lost 3 Super Hornets and crashed the Truman into a merchant ship. Thinking you can just do as you please and put your CSG in immediate danger (didn't they say the Truman had to literally take evasive action which threw one Hornet over board?) because your opponent is a non-state actor reeks of overconfidence and arrogance. And Hubris results in downfall, or in this case in tens of millions of material lost/damaged. Expending munitions and eating into the life of airframes for very little real world gain.

An opponent like the Houthis doesn't disappear because you yeet a couple bombs at them and dodge missiles and drones in return. You either go all in on the ground or go home, it's that easy. Either be serious about it or don't be there at all. Such token operations are just dumb in my opinion, half measures aren't getting anyone far. Look how being half assed in the February 2022 resulted in much higher expenditure for Russia for example.

To conclude, I believe:

> The people that participate in this deployment need genuine rest.

> The USN is poorly equipped as of now to deal with threats similar to the Houthis, let alone a much superior opponent which could field better and more numerous missiles and drones.

> The USN underestimated the challenges at hand.

> The mission itself should be reevaluated based on the cost to benefit ratio compared to employing other methods, be it diplomacy, proxy warfare or a short full scale deployment in Yemen with regional allies.

 

[DWG]

The issue here is that asymmetric threats like the Houthis have genuinely transformed employing modern tactics

I'm not sure the Houthi threat in the Bab al Mandeb is too different to the Boghammer/mine threat in the Gulf in the 1990s. (Or the Barbary and Bugis pirates in earlier eras).

 

[Archibald]

Also, in case the Truman doesn't have one, this is a theme tune they can use:

Fun fact: poor Julius Fucik wrote that music thinking about GLADIATORS - not CLOWNS. He must be spinning in his grave.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B0CyOAO8y0