Yoon taken at dawn in dramatic showdown

Navy Just Revealed Tally Of Surface-To-Air Missiles Fired In Ongoing Red Sea Fight

Navy surface combatants have fired off hundreds of missiles and five-inch shells to repel Houthi drone and missile attacks.

By: Geoff Ziezulewicz for TWZ //

The U.S. Navy’s surface fleet has fired nearly 400 individual munitions while battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea over the past 15 months.

That includes the firing of 120 SM-2 missiles, 80 SM-6 missiles, 160 rounds from destroyers and cruisers’ five-inch main guns, as well as a combined 20 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM) and SM-3 missiles. That unprecedented disclosure of munition expenditures was revealed by the head of Naval Surface Forces, Vice Adm. Brendan McLane, during the annual Surface Navy Association conference on Tuesday, which TWZ attended.

The remarks by McLane and other Navy brass offered fresh insight into what sailors are facing in the Red Sea, beyond the generalized U.S. Central Command press releases that often only offer very limited details of a given day’s kinetic events, if information is released at all.  All told, Navy ships, aircraft and submarines have engaged more than 400 Houthi aerial drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles since October 2023, when the Yemen-based group began attacking vessels transiting the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.