USN Searching for Missing Sailors off Somalia as US Launches Second Strike

CENTCOM is reporting that it is searching for two missing sailors from one of the vessels deployed off the coast of Somalia as the U.S. also continued its strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen. American officials continue to say their efforts are aimed at degrading the rebels’ ability to launch missiles and drones against commercial shipping in the region. 

At 3:45 a.m. local time on January 13, U.S. forces conducted a strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen. CENTCOM classified it as a “follow-on action on a specific military target associated with strikes taken on January 12 designed to degrade the Houthi’s ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels.”

The USS Carney is the only vessel reported involved in the latest strikes which were more targeted and isolated versus January 12. CENTCOM says they used Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles.

At the same time, CENTCOM said two sailors from one of the vessels in the region have been reported missing. Rescue operations are currently ongoing to locate the two sailors. They were reported missing at sea while conducting operations off the coast of Somalia, but CENTCOM said for operational security purposes, “we will not release additional information until the personnel recovery operation is complete.”

The second round of strikes came hours after the Houthis vowed to retaliate on the U.S. and British after the first strikes. They said the strikes would not stop their attacks on shipping and as if to prove it they launched a new attack later on January 12. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organizations reported that an unnamed ship saw a missile explode in the ocean approximately 400 to 500 meters from its position which was approximately 90 nautical miles south of Aden, Yemen in the Gulf of Aden. 

TankerTrackers.com and others later reported that it was a laden crude oil tanker that reported the missile.  The same unnamed vessel reported that it was being followed by three small boats but the vessel was able to proceed unharmed. Later, UKMTO reported that other vessels sailing approximately 80 miles south east of Aden also saw small boats making approaches and in one case a ship said two small boats followed it for nearly an hour.

UKMTO numbered these as the seventh and eighth incidents in 2024 after it issued 24 incident warnings in 2023. CENTCOM reports since November 19, 2023, Iranian-backed Houthi militants have by its count attempted to attack and harass vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden 28 times.