An old friend who has been my farrier for over two decades just paid a visit to trim my old gelding's hooves.
His son is an officer on the US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Truxton - DDG 103. It is apparently traveling solo to relieve one of the DDGs in the Red Sea.
I expressed my apprehensions regarding that news, but he assured me the ship could not be hurt by enemy fire, because it has some sort of super-duper defense system that "spits out a wall of steel" to stop incoming threats.
I told him it was called the "Close-In Weapon System" (CIWS).
I told him that it is a big Gatling gun that spits out 20mm cannon rounds at a high rate of speed, but that it only has ~1500 rounds in its magazine, which it will exhaust in a mere 20 seconds of firing.
I told him that, if a drone or missile gets close enough to a ship for the CIWS to be required, it's a bad sign that all the longer-range air-defense options have failed to intercept it.
In other words, the CIWS is the last line of defense.
I told him it is probably satisfactorily effective against old, slow cruise missiles and lawnmower-engine drones — or at least it would be for the first 2 or 3 of them. Then the ammo would be gone, and the 4th, 5th, and 6th, etc. would get through unopposed.
I told him the Yemeni may not be able to saturate air defenses and make the lucky shot that severely damages or sinks a ship, but that the Iranians can almost certainly strike US Navy ships if they venture too close, or if, heaven forbid, they attempt to transit the Strait of Hormuz and get bottled up in the Persian Gulf.
I don't think he believed me.
He is pretty certain US Navy ships are invulnerable to anything anyone else in the world can put up against them.
I hope he's right, but I'm pretty certain he's wrong.
And I hope we don’t find out for sure anytime soon.
FYI: Over the life of this blog, several generous people have honored me with voluntary blog subscriptions and tips. But I have never required a paid subscription to read my stuff. And I never will. Everyone will always be able to read everything I write.
That said, I earmark all donations for the Schryver Family Road Trip Fund. You have thereby helped me, a few times each year, fill up both tanks on my 1997 Ford F-350, pay for two hotel nights + a pizza for the boys, and a take out dinner for me and my wife — for which I express my genuine gratitude. I hope my writing has been informative in some small manner and aided you in your quest to understand our crazy world a little better.
— Will Schryver