The US-led campaign against the Houthi rebels, overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, has become the most intense naval battle the navy has faced since World War II, its leaders and experts told The Associated Press.
The battle pits the US Navy's mission to keep international waterways open against a group whose former arsenal of assault rifles and pickup trucks has turned into a seemingly inexhaustible supply of drones, missiles and other weapons.
The Houthis say the attacks are aimed at stopping the war in Gaza and supporting the Palestinians, even as they try to strengthen their position in Yemen.
All indications are that the war will intensify, putting American sailors, their allies and merchant ships at greater risk.
"I don't think people really understand how serious what we're doing and how much of a threat ships continue to be in,'' Commander Eric Blomberg of the USS Laboon told the AP during a visit to his warship in the Red Sea.
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"We are only allowed one mistake," he said, while "The Houthis need only one hit."
The rate of fire can be seen on the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, where the paint around the hatches of its missile pods has been burned away by repeated firings. Its sailors sometimes have seconds to confirm a Houthi launch, coordinate with other ships and open fire on an approaching missile salvo that can travel near or above the speed of sound.
"It's every day, every hour, and some of our ships have been here for over seven months doing this,'' said Capt. David Wrough, the commodore who oversees the guided-missile destroyers.
In one strike on January 9, Laboon, other ships and F/A-18s from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower shot down 18 drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis.
Almost every day - except for a delay during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan - the Houthis launch missiles, drones or launch some other kind of attack into the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the narrow Bab el Mandeb strait, which connects the waterways and separates Africa from the Arabian Peninsula.
The US Navy has seen similar periods of combat during the "tanker wars" in the 1980s in the Persian Gulf, but this largely involved ships hitting anti-ship mines Houthi attacks included direct attacks on merchant and military ships.
"This is the longest battle the US Navy has seen since World War II - easily, no question," said Brian Clark, a former Navy submariner and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.
"We're kind of on the verge of the Houthis being able to mount attacks that the US can't stop every time, and then we're going to start seeing significant damage. ... If you let it simmer, the Houthis will become a much more capable, competent and experienced force."