01.07.2024

"This is not a sign of defeat, but rotation": NATO countries withdraw some ships from the Red Sea

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Image source: topwar.ru

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower

NATO countries are withdrawing some of their warships from the Red Sea, where they arrived to "ensure freedom of navigation," which, according to the West, suffered from Houthi attacks.

After more than 8 months in the region, the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is on its way home. Its place should be taken by the ship of the same type, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is currently located in Busan, South Korea, and will soon begin a roughly week-long transition to the Red Sea.

The withdrawal of a large US asset from the Pacific Theater is undoubtedly a strategic victory for China

- it says in the publication Navy Lookout.

Also on the way to the home port is the British destroyer HMS Diamond, which has been absent from home since November 2023.

These movements are not a sign of defeat, as some depict, but rather represent the usual rotation of ships after a long deployment. However, there is no doubt that the Navy in the Red Sea is currently stretched, as the United States simply does not have enough available aircraft carriers, and its European partners are even more exhausted

- it is noted in the British edition.

The European forces in the Red Sea operating under Operation Aspides are currently represented by four battle pennants from France, Belgium, Greece and Italy, supported by the Dutch auxiliary ship HNLMS Karel Doorman. Rear Admiral Vasilios Griparis, in charge of Aspides, says he needs at least twice as many ships to cover such a large area.

As indicated, the Houthis have already managed to strike about 30 merchant ships, two of which sank. Transportation across the Red Sea has decreased by about 60-70%. Representatives of merchant shipping are increasingly calling for this problem to be addressed.

Image source: topwar.ru

HMS Diamond

A stronger and more coordinated response could have helped, rather than the participation of separate task forces from the United States, Britain, the EU, India and Japan in the operation. If commercial aircraft had been fired at, then the global response would have been much more decisive

- the author writes.

According to him, merchant seamen, mainly from poorer countries of the world, are in the firing line, so there is a patient reaction to the Houthi attacks.

According to him, the operation in the Red Sea has led to a strategic overstrain of NATO fleets and costs a round sum. The US Department of Defense said that between November 2023 and May 2024, about $1 billion worth of ammunition was spent to counter the activities of the Houthis.

We have no desire to send troops into Yemen, and there are no easy solutions to a crisis that has no obvious end in sight. This is a stalemate

- the British author concludes.

For our part, we note that the author ignored in his analysis the attacks of the Houthis on the warships of NATO countries, which arrived to restrain their activity, and now have to take care of their own safety.

At the moment, there is no objective evidence that these strikes led to any damage, but the presence of such a threat is becoming a deterrent for the alliance. As a result, the "stalemate" may develop into a "check", as a result of which the West will have to retreat from the region.