ABOARD THE USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER IN THE RED SEA — The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower may be one of the oldest aircraft carriers in the U.S. Navy, but it’s still fighting — despite repeated false claims by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The USS aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower sails June 12 in the Red Sea.
The Houthis and social media accounts supporting them repeatedly have falsely claimed they hit or even sank the carrier in the Red Sea. The carrier leads the U.S. response to the rebels’ targeting of commercial vessels and warships in the crucial waterway — attacks the Houthis say are aimed at bringing an end to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The Eisenhower’s leader, Capt. Christopher “Chowdah” Hill, is creatively striking back on social media to counter the misinformation — and boost the morale of the ship’s 5,000 personnel — as the Navy faces its most intense combat since World War II.
“I think it’s been about two or three times in the past six months we’ve allegedly been sunk, which we have not been,” Hill told The Associated Press during a recent visit to the carrier. “It is almost comical at this point. They’re attempting to maybe inspire themselves through misinformation, but it doesn’t work on us.”
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Fighter jets maneuver during take-off operations on the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower on June 11 in the Red Sea.
The visit by two AP journalists and others to the Eisenhower represents part of the effort the Navy has made to try to counter the Houthi claims. While on board for about a day and a half, journalists escorted by sailors crisscrossed the nuclear-powered ship’s 1,092-foot length. AP journalists also repeatedly circled the Eisenhower from the air in a Seahawk helicopter.
Other than rust on its side from the hot, humid Red Sea air, and water apparently leaking from a pipe in a dining room, the ship appeared no worse for wear. Its flight deck bore no blast damage or gaping holes, just the stink of jet fuel, pooled puddles of oily water and the scream of engines before its F/A-18 fighter jets took flight.
The other half of the information warfare effort has been Hill himself, a native of Quincy, Massachusetts, something noticeable immediately in his South Boston accent. While even the secretive leader of the Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, has name-dropped the carrier in speeches while making false claims about the vessel, Hill has offered ceaselessly positive messages online about his sailors on board.
An aircraft handling officer directs a plane on the flight deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower on June 11 in the Red Sea.
Videos of flight operations from the bridge and images of sailors eating cookies in the captain’s chair are constant. After one false Houthi claim, Hill responded by posting images of cinnamon rolls and muffins in the bakery on board the Eisenhower — a subtle jab at the claims.
“The whole intent of the social media outreach was to connect with families, to bring them closer to the ship,” Hill said. “So if I can post pictures of sons and daughters, husbands and wives out here, or even fathers and mothers, get it out there, it just kind of brings the family closer to us. And again, that’s our support network. But it also took on another role because everyone else was watching to see what we’re doing.”
Then there’s the “Star Wars” memes and images of Captain Demo, the Labrador-golden retriever mix who roams the ship as a support animal for sailors. And as far as the Houthi forces watching his postings, Hill takes special pleasure in writing about “Taco Tuesday” on the ship.
“We’re going to celebrate ‘Taco Tuesdays’ because it’s my absolute favorite day of the week. That will never end,” the captain said. “If you call that an information warfare campaign, you can. It’s just who I am, you know, at the end of the day.”
An ordnance worker transports ammunition to a fighter jet on the flight deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower on June 11 in the Red Sea.
But morale remains a deep concern for Hill and other leaders on board the ship. The Eisenhower and its allied ships have gotten just one short port call during the eight-month rotation so far to Greece. The carrier also has been the most-deployed carrier among the entire U.S. fleet over the past five years, according to an analysis by the U.S. Naval Institute’s news service.
One sailor, Lt. Joseph Hirl from Raleigh, North Carolina, wore a patch reading: “Go Navy, Beat Houthis.” While that’s a play on the classic call for the annual Army-Navy football game, the naval flight officer stressed that he knew the combat was deadly serious.
“It’s pretty much the day-in, day-out stress of knowing that we are being shot at definitely gives a realism to the whole experience that this is not a normal deployment,” Hirl said.
Meanwhile, munitions also remain a concern. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro told the U.S. Senate’s Armed Services Committee in May the Navy had spent at least $1 billion in armaments to fight in the Red Sea. Every leader on board the Eisenhower that the AP spoke to acknowledged the Navy was trying to use the right weapon against the Houthis, whose asymmetrical warfare sees them use far cheaper munitions.
“My sailors, my ships are priceless — that’s not a calculus I want a captain to have,” said Capt. David Wroe, the commodore overseeing the guided missile destroyers escorting the Eisenhower. “Now, using the appropriate effect weapon system on the appropriate threat to preserve magazine depth, to have more missiles, is certainly a germane tactical question.”
For now, the Eisenhower continues its patrol along with the USS Philippine Sea, a cruiser, and two destroyers, the USS Gravely and the USS Mason. It’s been extended twice and there’s always the chance it could happen again. But Hill said his sailors remained ready to fight and he remained ready to continue to captain in his style.
“I came to a revelation at some point in my career that, one of the things that all humans require is to be loved and valued,” Hill said. “So I shouldn’t be afraid, as a leader, to try to love and value everybody, and also to expect other leaders that I’m responsible for to love and value their sailors.”
How Houthi attacks crimp global trade
Why are Houthis attacking ships?
The Houthis are Iranian-backed rebels who seized most of northern Yemen and the country's capital of Sanaa in 2014. The following year, a Saudi-led coalition entered the conflict, seeking to restore Yemen's internationally recognized government to power.
The Houthis have sporadically targeted ships in the region, but the attacks have increased since the start of the Oct. 7 Israel-Hamas war. They have used drones and anti-ship missiles to attack vessels and in one case used a helicopter to board and seize an Israeli-owned ship and its crew.
They have threatened to attack any vessel they believe is either going to or coming from Israel. That's now escalated to apparently any vessel, with container ships and oil tankers flagged to countries like Norway and Liberia being attacked or drawing missile fire.
Above: The USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, passes a dock in Norfolk, Va., April 8, 2021.
Why is the Red Sea important?
The Red Sea has the Suez Canal at its northern end and the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end, leading into the Gulf of Aden. It's a busy waterway with ships traversing the Suez Canal to bring goods between Asia and Europe and beyond.
In fact, 40% of Asia-Europe trade normally goes through the area, including a huge amount of oil and diesel fuel for import-dependent Europe. So do food products like palm oil and grain and anything else brought over on container ships, which is most of the world’s manufactured products.
In all, about 30% of global container traffic and more than 1 million barrels of crude oil per day typically head through the Suez Canal, according to global freight booking platform Freightos Group.
Above: Sea Viper missiles are prepared Jan. 10, 2024, to be fired in the Red Sea from the operation room of HMS Diamond.
How are Houthi attacks affecting trade?
Huge shipping container companies, including Maersk, are avoiding the Red Sea and sending their ships around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope. That adds a week to two weeks to voyages and increases costs for for shipping, fuel and more.
At least 90% of the container ships that had been going through the Suez Canal are now rerouting around the tip of Africa, said Simon Heaney, senior manager of container research for Drewry, a maritime research consultancy.
The cost to ship a standard 40-foot container from China to northern Europe has jumped from $1,500 to $4,000, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany. But that is still far from the $14,000 seen during the pandemic.
The delays contributed to a 1.3% decline in world trade in December, reflecting goods stuck on ships rather than being offloaded in port.
“There will be initial shock and there will be possibly initial shortages of parts that will potentially slow up production,” Heaney said.
But “pretty soon,” the system “will adjust to the new reality of having to go around the Cape” and manufacturers have to prepare and plan for longer wait times, Heaney said.
He thinks the crisis is shaping up to last for months, but that shipping has more capacity — unlike during the pandemic — and lessons from that time mean companies have more inventory on hand. Plus, shipping costs are a tiny fraction of the value of items.
“Noticeable consequences for consumer prices in Europe are scarcely to be expected, since the share of freight costs in the value of high priced goods such as consumer electronics is a fraction of a percent,” said Julian Hinz, director of the Research Center Trade Policy at Kiel.
However, analysts at JP Morgan say that the cost increase could slow the recent decline in inflation: “While these cost increases are coming off low levels, they will reinforce the fading of recent deflationary dynamics for goods prices.”
Above: Sea Viper missiles are fired in the Red Sea on Jan. 10, 2024, seen from the bridge of HMS Diamond.
What does it mean for oil prices?
Crude prices rose about 4% following the U.S.-led airstrikes. International benchmark Brent traded at around $78 per barrel Friday, still down from about $84 on the eve of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
“While this puts upwards pressure on global oil prices, it is unlikely to represent a serious energy supply shock for now,” Simone Tagliapietra, an energy analyst at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, tweeted.
That could change if the Hamas-Israel and Houthi conflicts escalate and lead to trouble at the Strait of Hormuz at the southern end of the Persian Gulf, he said.
"That would have massive implications for global energy markets,” Tagliapietra said.
And White House spokesman Andrew Bates said, "We are monitoring conditions” on oil prices.
“Let me be very clear," Bates said. "It is the Houthis who have been endangering the freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most vital waterways.”
Above: A satellite image shows damage from airstrikes Jan. 12, 2024, on a radar site at Sanaa Airport in Yemen.
How is the world responding?
The U.S. is leading a security initiative to protect ships in the Red Sea that includes United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain. The Houthis have no navy to impose a cordon, relying on harassing fire and only one helicopter-borne assault so far.
Friday's strikes killed at least five Houthi troops and wounded six, the rebels said, without elaborating on what was targeted. It was unclear how extensive the damage from the U.S. strikes were, though the Houthis said at least five sites, including airfields, had been attacked.
Above: An RAF Typhoon aircraft takes off Jan. 11, 2024, from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, for a mission to strike targets in Yemen. The U.S. and British militaries bombed more than a dozen sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen the day before, in a massive retaliatory strike using warship- and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets.
