The U.S. Navy is engaged in intense combat with Iran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen, in the most significant sea battle since World War II, as the Houthis target over 50 vessels in the Red Sea to disrupt shipping and support Palestinians while strengthening their position in Yemen, leading to near-daily confrontations involving advanced weaponry.
The U.S. Navy prepared for decades to potentially fight the Soviet Union, then later Russia and China, on the world's waterways. But instead of a global power, the Navy finds itself locked in combat with a shadowy, Iran-backed rebel group based in Yemen.