The American navy, with all it's high-buck hardware, hasn't been able to shut the Houthis down either. Bringing to mind the philosopher's query:
"When was the last time you bitches won a war?"
From The Economist, July 20:
Recent attacks in the Red Sea show how feeble Europe is
Following America’s ceasefire in May with the Houthis, an Iran-backed militia based in Yemen, the European Union had a chance to step out of America’s military shadow in the Red Sea. The bloc’s naval authority was running Operation Aspides, a “purely defensive” mission in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and the Gulf, to restore maritime shipping through the region. The number of transits had plummeted since attacks by the Houthis started in October 2023, with the total volume falling by 60% (see chart).
Yet Aspides provided little protection when Magic Seas and Eternity C, two merchant ships, were attacked by the Houthis in early July. Both were encircled, fired at, and sunk. Their rescues had to be co-ordinated by private vessels or security firms. An officer at Eternity C’s operator, Cosmoship Management, told the Wall Street Journal that he had requested assistance from Aspides; the operation simply had no ships in the area.
A lack of resources is part of the problem. When Aspides was launched in February 2024, Rear-Admiral Vasileios Gryparis, its Greek commander, estimated that at least ten ships were needed, along with air support. During the recent Houthi attacks, Aspides had only two frigates and one helicopter.
The operation is also short of cash, with the European Council laying out only €17m ($19.8m) for a year’s expenses. Compare this to America, which spent ten times that amount just to restock one type of missile during Operation Prosperity Guardian, which it led in December 2023 to fight Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
Frugal spending on Operation Aspides is part of a much bigger problem of insufficient resources. eu member states’ decades-long distaste for defence spending has left them without the vessels to deal with maritime threats. Take aircraft-carriers, whose squadrons of aircraft allow them to rapidly carry out strike and air-defence missions with far greater flexibility than frigates armed with guns and missiles. The eu’s nato members have three aircraft-carriers between them. America has 11.
With limited assets, European navies are floundering while maritime threats multiply. In the past year, France and Italy have sent their flagship aircraft-carriers to the Indian and Pacific Oceans to demonstrate resolve in the face of China’s growing naval power. Their attention can also be diverted to other regions. In May the eu announced an early-warning maritime-security hub in the Black Sea, where Russia has been targeting Ukrainian shipping lanes and illicitly transporting oil....
....MUCH MORE
