Two Navy Seals Go Missing During Red Sea Operation

(NewsInsights.org) – Two Navy SEALs, part of a team assigned to visit, board, search, and seize (VBSS) suspicious or adversarial vessels in the Red Sea, suffered an accident on Thursday, January 11. Both men disappeared while performing a night boarding of a vessel off the coast of Somalia near the Gulf of Aden in rough seas, and the US Central Command (CENTCOM) immediately began a search and rescue operation.

One of the two slipped off the boarding ladder after high waves buffeted him, and the second SEAL dove in after his teammate, per standard protocol, according to a report by The Associated Press. Although search operations haven’t yet recovered the sailors, one expert cited warm waters and the extraordinary training SEALs receive in CENTCOM’s decision to extend the search into Monday, January 15.

The US Navy has regularly conducted interdiction missions, spot-searching ships for Iranian-made weapons heading to Houthi forces in Yemen. Teams employ VBSS tactics to recover any contraband weapons or munitions. CENTCOM didn’t provide information about whether the team completed its interdiction mission on Thursday or whether it seized anything.

Officials said interdiction missions bore no relation to Operation Prosperity Guardian, a multinational security initiative launched in December to ensure freedom of navigation through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden through cooperative effort. The US joined the United Kingdom, Canada, Bahrain, France, Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Seychelles to address the increased frequency of piracy and attacks by Yemen-based Houthi forces through shipping channels.

Department of Defense Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder pointed out that between 10% and 15% of all global shipping sails through the Red Sea. He said the coalition of ships and planes would act as the sea equivalent to a “highway patrol,” providing aid to commercial vessels as needed.

Another anonymous US official said the mission was also unrelated to Iran’s seizure of the St. Nikolas, a Greek-owned oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday.

On Friday, January 12, CENTCOM issued a statement saying it was withholding additional information about the two crew members out of respect for their families until it completed recovery operations.