Has the U.S. grown ashamed of its military victories? There are reasons to believe this is true. In April 1988, the U.S. Navy effectively destroyed the Iranian navy following a mine attack on the destroyer USS Roberts. The Navy sank an Iranian frigate, four armed speedboats, blew up two armed oil platforms, and damaged another frigate in one of the shortest and most successful campaigns of the postwar period.
Yet even today, there is no actual name attached to the engagement. It’s known simply as “Operation Praying Mantis,” not the obvious “Battle of the Persian Gulf.”
More recent events can also act as evidence for cynicism toward American feats of arms, both within the media and elsewhere. A few months ago, in the AT newsletter, we covered one such instance – the stunning victory over Iranian aggression in which USAF jets shot down over eighty missiles and drones launched at Israel, to almost no notice in the U.S. Last month saw another such incident, involving the ongoing campaign against Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
the Houthis, a loose aggregation of terrorist groups centered on a single bandit family, had been continuing on a desultory basis since October 2023, when the Houthis carried out long-range strikes on Israel in support of Iranian attacks. In early 2025, the campaign against the Houthis intensified for some reason. Serious strikes began against Houthi targets by both USAF bombers and the Harry S. Truman carrier strike group.
On March 15, heavy strikes against Houthi targets were made by B-1 bombers, F-35 Lightning II fighters launched from the Harry Truman, and BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from accompanying warships. These strikes hurt the Houthis badly, destroying weapons stores, headquarters, and oil targets and prompting them to make a serious effort at striking back.
The Houthis had launched a series of missile and drone attacks against the task force to no result. Now they decided on a concerted attack with a large number of missiles at once aimed at a single U.S. warship, hoping to overwhelm its defenses. The target was the USS Gettysburg.
The Gettysburg (CG-64) is a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, a veteran ship first launched in 1989. Sinking or heavily damaging a ship of this class could be presented as a major victory for the Houthis. Apart from that, there was the possibility that U.S. forces would retreat and give the Houthis a reprieve, something that might well have occurred under previous presidents like Obama or Biden.
The Gettysburg had endured a rough few months. On December 22, the ship mistakenly shot down an F/A-18 Hornet landing on the Truman while narrowly missing a second plane. After an investigation, in February, the Gettysburg’s captain was relieved and replaced. The ship was going into its first major combat under a new skipper.
At around noon, the ship’s crew detected approaching Houthi missiles, a dozen of them closing in from different directions. The problem for the Gettysburg was that, after a long deployment, it was running short of missiles, particularly the SM-6 (Standard Missile), the weapon that acted as its main defense against attacks by aircraft and missiles. The ship was due for replenishment in a week, but until then, it had to make do.
The Gettysburg’s captain ordered two accompanying guided missile destroyers, the Stout and the Jason Dunham, to take down four of the missiles that were trailing behind the first wave. This left only eight for the Gettysburg to deal with.
Still concerned about the number of remaining defensive weapons, particularly in light of the possibility that the missile attack might be followed by a wave of drones, the captain decided on a bold tactic. Navy doctrine called for launching two missiles at each incoming threat to assure that they were taken out. Instead, the captain fired only single SM-6s at the closest six Houthi missiles. Since the probability of a kill from any single interception is a little over 90%, there was a distinct chance that one would get through and have to be dealt with by short-range missiles or Phalanx anti-aircraft cannons.
This time it worked — all six incoming missiles were splashed a good distance from the ship.
That left two other missiles to be taken care of. Rather than play it safe, the Gettysburg’s captain doubled down. Along with the SM-6s, the cruiser had a number of RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles, descended from a venerable air-to-air missile. Although much faster than the SM-6s at a top speed of Mach 4 (3,000+ mph), the Sea Sparrows were considered useful only as point defense weapons — last-ditch ordnance used only after more potent weapons had failed. But the Gettysburg was going to use them as a substitute for the diminishing number of SM-6s.
As the Sea Sparrows launched, weapons crews watched their scopes tensely. Within seconds, both successfully intercepted the Houthi missiles, destroying them ten miles from the ship.
Little was heard from the Houthis the rest of the day. The Gettysburg resumed its operations a short time later.
Yet another example of American intelligence, ingenuity, and simple courage. So why all the silence about this and all the other recent U.S. military successes? I suppose it’s just not as interesting as waxing hysterical over the attempts to sabotage Pete Hegseth. But I can tell you this: you can be damn sure that Xi Jinping is paying close attention.
Jesus Christ is King
