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

after Hamas launched its deadly terrorist attack in Israel this past October and Israel began its unrelenting war in Gaza in response President Biden warned Iran and its proxies in the Middle East to stay out of it one of those groups decided instead that it was all in that group is a Shia militia from Yemen known as the houthis Yemen is the poorest country in the Middle East but its 12200 miles of Coastline leads in and out of the Suez Canal the primary route by sea between Europe and Asia responsible for a trillion dollars a year in global trade so when the houthis began to attack commercial ships in solidarity with Hamas President Biden faced a crisis in the redc and sent the US Navy into its first major fight of the 21st century the story will continue in a moment yeah the left turn back around our report begins not on the water but in the air where from a US Navy reconnaissance plane 500 ft above the Red Sea we were the first journalists to see the types of commercial ships the houthis have targeted and the US warships sent to protect [Music] them we are not going to let the hoies hold this straight hostage vice admiral Brad Cooper is the us military's Deputy commander in the Middle East after October 7th as the Navy's top officer in the region he ordered the fifth Fleet into an area it typically sailed right through how many sailors are now in the Red Sea yeah we've got about 7,000 uh right now so it's a it's a large commitment what makes the Red Sea one of the most important waterways in the world 15% of global trade flows exactly through the Red Sea and so keeping these wild waterways open is critical it's a core commitment the United States has from a strategic perspective maintaining the free flow of Commerce the Red Sea is about the size of California in the north the Suez Canal in the South the 20 mile wide straight known in Arabic as the Babel MB or in English as the Gate of grief it was near there 3 months ago that a Japanese chartered ship built to carry cars was hijacked by the houthis who posted 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 one-third of Yemen including the capitol sa as houthi attacks intensified in December in January the world's largest container ship companies all made the decision to avoid the Suz and go around Africa's Cape of Good Hope adding as much as a month of travel time and a million dollars in fuel US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell told 60 minutes two weeks ago the diversions pose a risk to the global economy and in the near term that's going to affect Europe much more than it's going to affect us Tesla and Volvo were both forced to suspend some European production last month due to supply chain disruptions there are still ships going through the Suz mostly smaller regional carriers that are willing to run the current risks of the Red Sea how much has that in terms of that traffic has it been reduced by half it's been reduced um on any given day sometimes 40% but it's clearly flowing and I think in many respects it's flowing because of the defensive umbrella that we put over the southern Red Sea for sure the official name of that defensive umbrella is Operation Prosperity Guardian it's a coalition of more than 20 Nations that includes the United Kingdom but most of the ships aircraft and Firepower are coming from America when was the last time that the US Navy operated at this pace for a couple months I think you'd have to go back to World War II where you have ships who are engaged in combat when I say engaged in combat where they're getting shot at we're getting shot at and we're shooting back initially the houthis backed by Iran stated they would only shoot at ships linked to Israel in support of the Palestinian people and to force a ceasefire in Gaza their ultimate political aims as well as their actual aim appears to be less precise they have fired at ships tied to dozens of Nations the houthi official motto is God is great death to America death to Israel a curse upon the Jews Victory to Islam while their slogan may not be new their weapons and tactics are according to Admiral Cooper the houthis are the first entity in the history of the world to use anti- ship ballistic missiles ever firing against shipping no one has ever used no one has ever used an anti- ship ballistic missile certainly against commercial shipping much less against US Navy ships Admiral Cooper took us inside the fifth fleet's Command Center at Naval headquarters in Bahrain I think there's a sense that the houthis are sort of like a rag tag kind of terrorist group yeah yeah yeah that can be a sense and it would be a false sense and we we would be unwise to consider that you know 10 years of being supplied uh by the Iranians very sophisticated Advanced weapons they have hit a few ships all those targets how many of them are directed at US Naval assets the overwhelming majority over these last couple months have been directed at um internationally flag Merchant ships a small percentage of them are directly at US Navy ships what kind of damage would one of those anti- ship ballistic missiles do on a commercial ship well let's go right here this is exactly what it looks like the houthis attacked it and you can see in Practical terms what the damage was the houth also o have inexpensive Iranian designed attack drones in their Arsenal like the 15 ft wide Samad with a range of up to 1100 miles some of their anti-ship ballistic missiles resemble 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 about Mach 5 about 3,000 mph how much time is there between a houthi launch and then it could breach a US ship if it's coming toward them now just put yourself in the seat of the Destroyer captain on that ship he has about 9 to 15 seconds to make a decision they're going to shoot that down it's intense to speak to one of those Destroyer captains deployed in the southern Red Sea we took a 5em helicopter ride from the USS Dwight D Eisenhower over to the USS Mason where we met Commander Justin Smith the Destroyer is one of four American warships in the area that have shot down more than a dozen of the houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles how quickly can you see those anywhere from 1 to two minutes out and providing me that decision space to give me the 9 to 15 seconds as the captain of this ship on what my actions are going to be you made it sound like that's a lot of time 9 to 15 seconds it doesn't sound like much seems very small and very shorten duration uh but my crew has that ready proficiency to be able to engage we learned that so far in this crisis the Navy has fired about a hundred of their standard surfac to- a missiles that can cost as much as $4 million each Roger over the decision to fire one at an incoming houthi missile or kamakazi attack drone is made in the ship's combat information center or cic 373 we can be attacked at any time and any place that's where Commander Smith showed us a video of the USS Mason doing just that you see an intercept here Follow by a quick explosion showing a successful engagement the weapon systems that 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 is that worth it I don't think you can put a price tag on safety and the defense of our sailor on on board you have to be right 100% of the time they just have to get right once it at 27 knots to close a day before our visit to the USS Mason about 100 miles away another US Destroyer needed its weapon of Last Resort a defensive Cannon called a SE whiz to shoot down a hothy cruise missile that was a mile out and closing fast most us warships have one of these gun systems seen here in exercises the USS Dwight de Eisenhower has two on that ship with its 5,000 Sailors and more than 75 aircraft strike group Commander rear Admiral Mark migz told us the houthis have proven to be resourceful adversaries there are the intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance drones that the houthis are launching how have you seen them use when we first got to this this uh area that uh we would detect the Drone and then all of a sudden you know 10 minutes later or 5 minutes later there was an attack in other words a ballistic missile being launched or a cruise missile being launched and we've deduced over time that they are obviously using these drones to perfect their targeting solution since the war in Israel and Gaza began other Iranian backed militias have targeted US forces in Jordan Iraq and Syria with at least 170 attacks that injured 183 service members and killed three Admiral miguez told us so far the USS Eisenhower has only been focused on the houthis in the southern Red Sea since January 11th its planes have been regularly striking their launch SS in Yemen as have US destroyers the US also conducted a Cyber attack on an Iranian spy ship that was gathering intelligence in and around the Red Sea but the houthi attacks keep coming could the houthis do this without Iranian support no for a decade the Iranians have been supplying the houthis they've been resupplying them they're resupplying them as we sit here right now uh it see we know this is happening they're advising them and they're providing targeting information this is Crystal Clear are there members of Iran's Elite revolutionary guard Corps that are actually on the ground in Yemen providing intelligence and targeting the Iranian revolutionary guard Corps is inside Yemen and they are serving side by side uh with the houthis advising them and providing targeted information and so what have we done to degrade that capability yeah that's that will obviously end up being a policy decision our role at this point is to Simply Be Ready and continue to be uh aggressive in exercising our right to self-defense do these offensive US air strikes against these houthi Targets in Yemen risk escalating this conflict yeah I don't think so we're targeting those platforms that are targeting us if we were to look at the calendar right since October 7th the surging of US forces to the Red Sea and yet they keep firing back they keep seeming to be opportunistic in their response it's the US Navy the fifth Fleet are the actions having an effect it's very clear that we are degrading their capability and every single day they attempt to attack us we're eliminating and disrupting them in ways that are meaningful and I do believe have an impact how long does this go on well I have a pretty clear uh endgame in mind and that is the restoration of the free flow of Commerce and safe navigation in the southern Red Sea

Channel: 60 Minutes

Views: 1,905,994

Keywords: 60 Minutes, CBS News, u.s. navy, houthis, yemen, red sea, iran, pharma

Id: dRRJmOTCqqQ

Length: 13min 9sec (789 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 19 2024