HSV-2 Swift Destroyed Off Yemeni Coast By Anti-Ship Missile
Source: The Drive
The futuristic looking HSV-2 Swift, an ex-U.S. Navy experimental high-speed logistics catamaran now being utilized by the UAE government, was struck by a missile on the evening of October 1, according to multiple reports. The ship was operating near the Yemeni port of Mokha located on the northeastern edge of the Mandeb Strait, a narrow and strategic body of water that connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. Iranian-backed Houthi rebel fighters have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Destabilizing the Mandeb Strait could be part of a larger Iranian-backed regional strategy, one that has the potential to inflict significant economic pain on Saudi Arabia and the west. And this isn't the first time a Sunni Arab coalition vessel has been attacked by the Shiite anti-Yemeni government group; a year ago, two coalition ships were supposedly sunk by Iranian-supplied anti-ship missiles. A third ship was struck just months before that.
The video below supposedly shows the attack. The missile launch does appear to be that of an anti-ship missile, and the ship on fire does appear to be an HSV-2. A massive explosion is shown when the supposed missile impacts the ship; it likely detonated the fuel onboard, plus any flammable or explosive cargo. The ship's aluminum hull and commercial ship design standards offer little resilience to an anti-ship missile attack, and the HSV-2 is not equipped with a close-in weapon system (CIWS) capable of fending off such attacks.
This attack is another reminder of the growing danger that anti-ship missiles represent—especially those that are more frequently being obtained by unpredictable non-state actors. This strike in particular is reminiscent of the 2006 attack on an Israeli Sa'ar 5 class corvette by another Iranian-backed group, Hezbollah, that had been supplied with a similar anti-ship missile system. Although in that case, the targeted ship was armed with a CIWS, albeit one that was not fully activated at the time.
Read more: http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/5404/hsv-2-swift-destroyed-off-yemeni-coast-by-anti-ship-missile
Nobody is talking about Yemen.
= new reply since forum marked as read
with players with delusions of grandeur.
Sadly, they may achieve some local grandeur.
Problem is, the entire "Iran isn't a good guy" idea is a problem. It's a "smear," a RW talking point, racist.
I can only recall my mild surprise when Pakistan exploded nuclear ordnance and the world went ballistic. It, after all, had said it was doing nothing of the kind and it was considered bad manners to question both the US government's verdict on their truthfulness and the word of a Muslim country.
Still, when there after the 
everybody managed to act appropriately united behind the effort of those who had ignored claims of ill intent in order to punish the miscreant country.
Until, of course, 9/11, when we suddenly needed their help to get rid of the people that the miscreant country had aided. And, again, we decided to be blind. Sometimes we're our own worst enemy. Or at least the best ally of our worst enemy.
