Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. This week…One of the key companies crucial to the development and fielding autonomous surface vessels is Leidos. Two of that company’s top officials, Dave Lewis, senior vice president of the Maritime Business and Dan Brintzinghoffer, vice president in the Maritime Systems Division, are with us to shed some light not just into the complexities of developing ships able to operate without people aboard, but also what they’re ready to do – today.
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This Week’s Naval Round Up:
Houthi-launched attacks targeting shipping in the southern Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden continued over the past week. According to US Central Command, as of January 5 there have been 25 series of attacks since November 18 using a variety of weapons and platforms, including anti-ship ballistic missiles, land-attack cruise missiles, so-called one-way suicide unmanned aerial vehicles and, for the first time in this series of attacks, a one-way attack unmanned surface vessel. The USV, launched on January 4, exploded in international shipping lanes but caused no damage or casualties.
An Iranian frigate, the ALBORZ, entered the Red Sea on January 2 to add complexity to the situation. With a support ship, the ALBORZ constitutes Iran’s 94th Flotilla, or escort mission, ostensibly on anti-piracy patrol in the region. Iran is backing and supplying the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are using weapons made in Iran and elsewhere.
The United States on January 3 issued a joint statement with thirteen partner nations condemning the Houthi attacks and the seizure of commercial ships and declaring the Houthis quote, “will bear the responsibility of the consequences” should the actions continue. To date, however, neither the U.S. nor its allies have carried out any strike on Houthi forces launching the attacks. Notably absent from the nations signing on to the joint statement is France, who has military forces in the region escorting French operated or owned ships.
Some estimates have the number of commercial merchant ships affected by the Red Sea crisis to be well over 400 ships, with the overwhelming majority being diverted around southern Africa rather than use the Red Sea and Suez Canal between Asia and Europe.
The US Navy on January 2 recognized the crew of the destroyer USS CARNEY for their actions against Houthi-launched aerial drones and missiles. US Naval Forces Central Command commander Vice Admiral Brad Cooper came aboard the ship to present individual awards and award the entire crew a Combat Action Ribbon.
The Pentagon said January 1 that the USS GERALD R FORD Carrier Strike Group would be released from extended duty in the Mediterranean Sea and return to the US East Coast. The group, which deployed in May, was due to return in late November but was twice extended due to the Israel-Hamas War. USS DWIGHT D EISENHOWER, the other deployed US carrier in the region, was last publicly reported as operating in the Gulf of Aden near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
Turkey on January 2 blocked the transit of two newly-acquired Ukrainian minesweepers attempting to enter the Black Sea via the Turkish Straits. Turkey cited the Montreux Convention preventing warships of warring nations from using the straits, apparently the first time since Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014 the treaty has been cited. The Ukrainian ships CHERNIHIV and CHERKASY are the former British Royal Navy Sandown-class minehunters GRIMSBY and SHOREHAN, transferred in mid-2023.
The deployed carrier USS CARL VINSON with ships from her strike group maneuvered with three Philippine Navy warships January 3 and 4 in the South China Sea, a series of exercises that China – locked in a series of territorial disputes with the Philippines — called a military provocation and muscle flexing. The Philippine Navy released images of a Chinese warship closely monitoring the maneuvers. On January 5, the VINSON called at the Filipino capital of Manila for a port visit in another demonstration of US support.
