Over the last few days, Houthi spokesman triumphantly announced to the world that they had hit the American aircraft carrier Eisenhower in the Red Sea. The Americans vehemently denied this. Its Captain even posted a TikTok clip showing F18 hornets landing and taking off from the aircraft carrier, meaning nothing had happened to dismiss the claim by the Houthis. Unfortunately viewers of the American Admiral's TikTok clip was immediately exposed as an old clip posted several months ago. The big question, why would the Captain post a dated TikTok clip only to be confirmed as fake, disinformation when he was trying to prove that all is well?
Did the Houthis hit the Eisenhower or they did not? There are now two competing versions of the truth. There is no recent pics of the Eisenhower to prove otherwise. It would be so easy for the Americans to do so, not so easy for the Houthis.
The Eisenhower was on its way down the Red Sea, in the southern half of the Red Sea when Houthis claimed to have hit it. Under normal circumstances, if the Eisenhower is safe and sound, not hit, it would have continued its journey south into the Arabian Sea. Why did the Eisenhower make a U turn back north? Was it going back to the Mediterranean Sea? No, it was doing a circus trick, going round and round near Jeddah in the middle of the Red Sea. Why? Why going no where, not going south or north? What was its mission to enter the Red Sea but now sticking around Jeddah when it was steaming into the Arabian Sea?
It was engaged in a massive attack on Houthi positions in Yemen. Has it completed its mission? It does not make sense for an aircraft carrier to be floating in the middle of the Red Sea doing nothing. A very wasteful and costly manoeuvre. It must have many important tasks to carry out.
Or was the Einsenhower hit and damaged by the Houthis? Is it waiting for a dock in Jeddah to do some repairs on its deck? Very likely Jeddah would not have the capability or facility to repair a damage aircraft carrier. It would be better to sail back to the Mediterranean Sea and back to the USA for repairs if the damage is serious. It cannot go further south as the Houthis would drop more bombs onto it and causing more damages.
One analyst suggested that it could not sail through the Suez Canal as many journalists would be waiting there with their drones to take pics of its damage platform. It would then not be able to cover up its lie that it was not hit by the Houthis. It would be a big embarrassment to the Americans and exposing the weakness of the defensive capability of their aircraft carrier.
When the Houthis could easily target and hit an American aircraft carrier, what would be the fate of American aircraft carriers in the South China Sea against China's aircraft killer missiles? For the moment, until proven, the Eisenhower is going nowhere except to hide in the middle of the Red Sea, hoping no one can take a pic of its damage top, and do a quick repair job to hide the damage. The longer the Eisenhower is stuck in the Red Sea, cannot go anywhere, the higher is the fact that it was hit and damaged by the Houthis.
How long can the Americans hide the truth from the world? What a joke if the mighty American aircraft carrier can be hit by a rebel people's militia, not a regular armed force? The Americans can continue to lie about their invincibility and superiority in weapons and technology, only to be discredited day by day in real combat situation. Well done, Houthis!