US aircraft carrier expands deployment against false Houthi claims with 'Taco Tuesday'

USS Dwight D. in the Red Sea. Above Eisenhower – USS Dwight D. The Eisenhower may be one of the US Navy's oldest aircraft carriers, but it's still fighting—despite repeated false claims. Yemen's Houthi rebels.

The Houthis and online accounts supporting them have repeatedly claimed they hit or even sank the carrier in the Red Sea, prompting a US response. Insurgents' ongoing attacks target both commercial ships and warships on important waterways.

It's leader, Captain Christopher “Chaudah” Hill, and his social media profiles have become an increasingly eccentric internet front line as the campaign goes live. And when he closed his posts, they represented a new level of information warfare that the Navy had to fight It is facing the most intense war since World War II And the roughly 5,000 personnel aboard Eisenhower try to keep morale up and munitions ready as their deployments expand.

“I think it's been about two or three times in the last six months that we've been accused of sinking, which we haven't,” Hill told The Associated Press during a recent visit to the carrier. “It's almost comical at this point. They may be trying to motivate themselves with misinformation, but it doesn't work for us.”

Eisenhower's visit to the two AP reporters and others represents part of the Navy's efforts to counter the Houthi demands. While on board for about a day and a half, journalists were traversed the 1,092-foot (332-meter) length of the nuclear-powered vessel by sailors. AP reporters also repeatedly circled Eisenhower from the air in Seahawk helicopters.

Apart from rust from the hot, humid Red Sea air and water apparently leaking from a pipe in the dining room, the ship was no worse for wear. There was no blast damage or gaping holes in its flight deck, just the stench of jet fuel, pools of oily water and screeching engines before its F/A-18 fighter jet took off.

The other half of the information warfare effort is Hill himself, a native of Quincy, Massachusetts, something immediately noticeable in his South Boston accent. Even as the Houthis' secret leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, name-dropped the carrier in speeches while making false claims about the ship, Hill has provided endless positive messages online about its sailors.

Videos of flight operations from the bridge and images of sailors eating cookies in the captain's chair are constant staples. After a false Houthi claim, Hill responded by posting pictures of cinnamon rolls and muffins at the bakery on Eisenhower's board—a subtle shake-up of the claims.

“The whole purpose of the social media outreach was to connect with the family, to bring them closer to the ship,” Hill said. “So if I can post pictures here of sons and daughters, husbands and wives, even fathers and mothers, it brings that kind of family closer to us. And again, it's our support network. But that's another one. Roles also took over because everyone was watching to see what we were doing.”

Then there are the “Star Wars” memes and pictures Captain Demo, a Labrador-golden retriever mix that roams ships as a support animal for sailors. And as far as Houthi forces view his postings, Hill takes particular pleasure in writing about “Taco Tuesdays” aboard the ship.

“We're going to celebrate 'Taco Tuesday' because it's my absolute favorite day of the week. It will never end,” said the captain. “If you call it an information warfare operation, you can. At the end of the day, you know who I am.”

But morale is a deep concern for Hill and other leaders aboard. Eisenhower and his fellow ships received only one short port call during their eight-month rotation in Greece. The carrier has also been the most deployed carrier in the entire US fleet over the past five years, according to an analysis News Service of the US Naval Institute.

Lt. Joseph Hirl, a sailor from Raleigh, North Carolina, read a patch: “Go to the Navy, defeat the Houthis.” Although it was a play on the classic call in the annual Army-Navy football game, the naval flight officer insisted he knew the battle was deadly serious.

“We're being shot at, the day-to-day stress of knowing, gives the whole experience the reality that this is not a normal deployment,” Harl said.

Meanwhile, weaponry is also a concern. Navy Secretary Carlos del Toro told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee in May that the Navy spent at least $1 billion on weapons to fight in the Red Sea. Every leader on board the Eisenhower who spoke to the AP acknowledged that the Navy is trying to use the right weapons against the Houthis, whose asymmetric warfare sees them using much cheaper munitions.

“My sailors, my ships are priceless — that's not a calculus I want in a captain,” said Capt. David Roe, the commodore in charge of the guided missile destroyers that escorted Eisenhower. “Now, the threat of preserving magazine depth by using weapon systems of appropriate effect, having more missiles, is definitely a German strategic question.”

For the time being, Eisenhower continued her patrols of the Philippine Sea, with one cruiser and two destroyers, USS Gravely and USS Mason. It has already been extended twice And there's always the chance it could happen again. But Hill said his sailors were ready for battle and he was ready to continue captaining in style.

“I came to a revelation at one point in my career that one of the things that all human beings need is to be loved and valued,” Hill said. “So as a leader I must not be afraid, to try to love and value everyone, and expect other leaders to do the same as I am responsible for loving and valuing their sailors.”