A Wall Street Journal investigation reveals that the USS Truman lost three jets during the Navy’s most intense combat since WWII, as US forces struggled to contain Ansarallah operations in the Red Sea while facing rising costs, operational strain, and shifting regional dynamics.
The USS Harry S. Truman lost three fighter jets in less than five months during Washington’s military campaign against Yemen’s Ansarallah in the Red Sea, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The report draws on official sources and internal Navy accounts to illustrate the scale and strain of the US campaign, which is described as “its fiercest battles since World War II, despite fighting from primitive quarters and caves in one of the world’s poorest countries.”
On the evening of May 6, an F/A-18 Super Hornet reportedly slid off the carrier’s runway and into the water after a landing mechanism failed. The $67 million aircraft was the third fighter jet the Truman had lost during the deployment.
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The accident occurred just hours after US President Donald Trump announced a truce with Ansarallah, a move that reportedly caught Pentagon officials by surprise.
The Truman had been stationed in the Red Sea since December 2024 to support a large-scale US-led operation to suppress Ansarallah missile and drone attacks on Israeli-bound commercial and military vessels.
According to the WSJ, officials are now investigating the incidents. “It’s unprecedented,” a Navy official told the Wall Street Journal. “Perhaps it’s just pure coincidence or bad luck—or there are some underlying issues.”
The Ansarallah campaign reportedly challenged the world’s most powerful naval fleet with what the WSJ calls “a scrappy adversary.”
Over 30 US vessels participated in the operations, accounting for nearly 10% of the Navy’s commissioned fleet. According to US officials, “more than $1.5 billion worth of munitions” were deployed in the effort.
While, according to the report, the Navy intercepted every attack on its own ships, the campaign placed heavy strain on readiness and ship maintenance.
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“Over the past year, the Navy has operated under intense and sustained combat conditions in the Red Sea—the most active maritime conflict zone in a generation,” said Rep. Ken Calvert (R., Calif.) during a House defense hearing. “But this persistent operational tempo comes at a cost.”
Navy officials cited both strategic challenges and psychological tolls on the crews.
In one incident, the destroyer USS Stockdale had to evade four ballistic missiles, shoot down falling debris, and fire deck-mounted artillery to intercept a drone that approached at low altitude.
“When the drone dropped into the sea, the crew erupted in cheers and high-fives,” the report recounts.
The campaign intensified under President Trump, who reportedly gave Central Command (Centcom) authority to strike without waiting for White House approval.
The so-called Operation Rough Rider included two aircraft carriers, B-2 bombers, F-35 fighters, and dozens of support ships and destroyers.
However, the US failed to prevent Ansarallah attacks against Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea and the Yemeni movement also continued to fire missiles at Israel.
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Moreover, hundreds of civilian casualties in Yemen were reported by the Yemen Data Project, prompting an inquiry from Centcom.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper described the combat as “the fiercest battles since World War II,” with crews forced to make interception decisions in as little as 15 seconds. Former Navy strategist Bryan Clark warned: “You make it a sitting duck out there and within range of Houthi (Ansarallah- PC) weapons.”
Ultimately, the ceasefire was reached on what the WSJ described as “the most basic terms”: Ansarallah would stop targeting US ships, and American airstrikes would pause.
The group stated on May 7 that the ceasefire deal does not include any provisions related to Israel.
Ansarallah’s chief negotiator, Mohammed Abdulsalam, told Reuters news agency that the agreement is limited in scope and “does not include Israel in any way, shape or form.”
“As long as they announced the cessation (of US strikes) and they are actually committed to that, our position was self-defense so we will stop,” he reportedly added.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
So the UC committed 10% of their total naval forces against a minor adversary and by the end of it, were losing aircraft due to simple errors? Military analysts will be looking closely at this for quite some time.