OT: US Navy ship attacked twice this week

Submitted by StephenRKass on

This week, for the first time in history, a US Navy Destroyer, DDG87, the Mason, was attacked with ballistic missiles. They were fired by Houthi rebels from a land-based site in Yemen. The first attack of two missiles took place around noon ET Sunday, the second attack with two more missiles took place today. I know that there was at least one hard kill (incoming attacking missile taken out with a countermeasure defensive missile from the Mason.) The ship continues under heightened alert as it patrols the Red Sea. The Pentagon has vowed retaliation, and this has been confirmed. There are two other ships in the area:  Destroyer USS Nitze and US Ponce, a ship that transports special forces.

This post is completely offtopic to the board . . . but is relevant to me because my daughter is an Aegis Computer Network Technician on this ship. Her job is to maintain and repair the network of computers controlling the Aegis Radar and Missile weapons system. That is precisely what protected the ship. My daughter wrote via FB, "We heard (the code for) "incoming missile attack, all hands stand by." She then added, "I just can't describe the feeling of knowing you could all possibly die in a matter of seconds."

Retaliation was planned prior to this morning's attack. With this second missile launch, a military response is virtually dictated from the US Navy. Follow the story, if of interest to you.

Now, back to our regularly programmed wife day and football posts.

EDIT:  latest news from Washington Post as of 11:15pm EST, Wed. Oct. 12:  Navy launches Tomahawk Missiles at Rebel Sites in Yemen after attacks on U.S. Ships.

According to the article 3 remote radar sites on the Yemen coast were hit by US missiles launched from the USS Nitze. This is close to real time:  the missiles were launched about 4am local time Thurs. morning (8pm EST Wed. night). It appears they were specifically not targeting any heavily populated area.

EDIT 2:  FTR, all information in this post came from public media sources (with the exception of my daughter's personal emotions when under attack.) Do a Google News Search on "USS Mason" to find dozens of news sources.

MGoBoard
Recruiting

UofM Marine

October 13th, 2016 at 6:53 AM ^

You have nothing to worry about, I know you don't necessarily need to hear this, but your daughter will be fine. The systems on the ship as well as the personnel are top notch and the ship has all the support it could need. She may not see it, but everyone else in the CentCom AOR is ready to help.

You hang in there too. It is far harder on the families.

On a happier note, it's the Navy's birthday, so happy birthday to your daughter.

S/F

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Jon06

October 13th, 2016 at 3:09 AM ^

Discussion of Yemeni aggressions against US forces in the Middle East would certainly turn political.

Let's hope SRK's daughter makes it home safely and then goes to Michigan.

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StellaBlue

October 13th, 2016 at 3:45 AM ^

No politics allowed.

Unless it is the dominantly accepted politics of course.

With all due respect to the OP and his daughter, and the mods, why are warfare issues accepted here and other poltical issues not? Warfare is political, as are warships, navy size and the fact that we are patrolling off other nation's coasts.  Reasonable people can disagree strongly on these issues, but they are political.

My teenage daughter is very upset at the dangerous verbal missiles fired at her and our democracy by Trump.  Can I worry about hers and our nations safety here because of that?  

I think I would (will?) get negged and banned.

Come on.  Go Blue.

 

 

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ats

October 13th, 2016 at 4:41 AM ^

The US and other navies have been patrolling off that cost for decades.  It has been a major shipping route for centuries and is a crucial part of global commerce with a significant portion of all goods in the world going through those sea lanes.  It is also a rather hot bed of piracy and smuggling activity before the yemen conflict and will still be long after the yemen conflict. 

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03 Blue 07

October 13th, 2016 at 4:16 PM ^

Holy pedantic seventh-grade quip! Glad to see your civics class taught you something new today and you could share it with the rest of us who learned it when we, too, were children. I mean, wow, I haven't heard an adult use that "durr, it's a representative democracy" outside of an actual political discussion in a political theory class....ever. 

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pescadero

October 14th, 2016 at 12:55 PM ^

A Constitutional Republic IS a Democracy.

 

Democracy is a set, and Constitutional Republic is a member of that set.

 

A Constitutional Republic is a Democracy.

A Parliamentary Democracy is a Democracy.

A Direct Democracy is a Democracy.

 

What you're saying is the equivalent of "That isn't a car, that is a Honda Civic"

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Brady Thomas

October 13th, 2016 at 4:56 AM ^

Thanks for sharing, and thank your daughter for her service. Way bigger balls than many of us have, no question. Sending positive vibes and good juju your way.

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NFG

October 13th, 2016 at 5:08 AM ^

While I am glad she's safe, operational security is very, very important. If your name is really Stephen R. Krass, it would not take long for the Iranian government who is backing the rebels to then begin a search of your daughter and then go after her private emails, phone(s), and finances after seeing this post. You must be very cautious about posting details of who, where, and when. They have a brigade of IT war fighters doing such things. As does North Korea, China, Russia and yes, US of A. To be blunt, you've just provided intelligence on a blog of a individual serving on a top secret naval vessel and her location.

Mods, this needs to be deleted.



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Artie

October 13th, 2016 at 6:05 AM ^

To be fair, his daughter throwing that up on facebook is probably a little more detrimental to security than his blog post about the fb message. Regardless, this thread's getting deleted in short order since half the blog can't handle news events such as this.



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StephenRKass

October 13th, 2016 at 8:45 AM ^

OPSEC is very important. Her name has never been put up anywhere. We never discuss ship location or movement, particularly current or future. We don't discuss when and whether she will be in a port of call until after the fact. We never discuss strategy or missile payloads. (That's far above her paygrade, and she wouldn't know anyway). I have been very careful only to cite information that is from public, searchable news media sources. The fact that the Mason was attacked, the fact that 3 radar sites in Yemen were fired on by US Naval forces yesterday, the fact that no one on the Mason was injured, all of these facts come from news stories. Oh, and even when we communicate, and FTR communicate about things stateside at home, or how she's doing, it is always private and not for public dissemination. You have to take OPSEC seriously.

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AHM16

October 13th, 2016 at 5:52 AM ^

Uh the United States has continued to support the Saudi attacks in Yemen which killed 400 people at a funeral this past weekend. If you ask me these attacks are justified

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03 Blue 07

October 13th, 2016 at 4:18 PM ^

Umm, yes? Do you think that people couldn't easily trace your IP address? Or, put differently, do you think the NSA couldn't figure out who was posting it within a day or three? If you don't think that, then you should do some research. Hell, I can track down an anonymous internet poster, through legal means, as an attorney in this country. Someone's done it to a client of mine once who was posting defamatory things about a business under a pseudonym. It's not hard at all, frankly, to get that information, at least not if you're an attorney and your client is willing to file a case so you can issue subpoenas. 

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thisisme08

October 13th, 2016 at 6:18 AM ^

Being pedantic but the Mason was not attacked with "ballistic missiles".  Ballistic missiles, as the name suggests, utilize an arching flight path (i.e. ground>space>ground) to reach their target as well as being powered by gravity during the terminal guidance phase.  In short; what every was and still is afraid about being used to deliver nuclear weapons halfway across the world in 30 minutes or less.  

The Mason was attacked with anti-ship guided missiles which are launched and actively guided towards their target.  Additionally, ASM's are under power for the entirety of their flight and can make adjustments on the fly or be programmed with different attack profiles.

   

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StephenRKass

October 13th, 2016 at 8:21 AM ^

You are correct. Sometimes, in the interest of shorthand, you use a word that isn't really correct. In communicating with my daughter, there are an absolute ton of Navy acronyms that briefly and succinctly describe an area or a weapon or a strategy, etc. I tried to communicate simply and intelligibly without an overlong post.

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uferfan

October 13th, 2016 at 7:08 AM ^

- So thank you, SRK, for your daughter's service.

- Thank you to everyone on this board who has served.

- Thanks to all of our armed forces for the job they do each day.

- Thanks to each and every one of you who has posted on this thread so far; who has exercised their right to speak freely and express their opinions from all angles.

 

....and remember:

Go Blue, everybody!!!!

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bluebyyou

October 13th, 2016 at 7:57 AM ^

Thank you to your daughter for her service to our country, and I hope she continues to be safe.

Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one, but very few around here do more than yap. Your daughter, on the other hand, has done something to protect us and for that, in my opinion, she is special.

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MGoBlue24

October 13th, 2016 at 7:14 AM ^

May the remainder of her and her shipmates' tours be incident free. Having said that, the OPSEC concerns voiced by others on this thread are real. Mods, I'm confused - this is on the fringe of politics. I don't come to MGoBlog for armed conflict-related predictions or UFRs. What the hell?

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jblaze

October 13th, 2016 at 7:15 AM ^

OP, I sincerely hope your daughter and all of our troops make it through this. As a parent I kind of want to cry imagining my own kids in that situation.

I'm going to go political here and simply ask why are US ships in Yeman and why are our troops there in the 1st place. When has Yeman attacked us?

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