In the early morning hours of Feb. 1, 2024, six Ukrainian sea drones destroyed the Russian missile ship Ivanovets in the Black Sea. The day prior, 2,000 miles away in the Red Sea, the U.S. Navy destroyer Carney successfully shot down three Iranian drones and an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by Houthi forces.
Two events, disparate in geopolitical context, present evidence that land-based maritime forces play a decisive role in naval operations. Since the dawn of the gunpowder age, land-based forces along coastal areas have challenged navies in their quest to dominate coastal seas.
Using small, distributed littoral forces; civilian and military sensors; sea and airborne drones; long-range missiles; and an aircraft on one occasion, Ukraine has severely damaged or destroyed 24 Russian warships. In the Red Sea, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis are disrupting the free flow of global trade by attacking both commercial and naval vessels.
Relative strength matters. Ukraine’s forces are well equipped, supported by NATO intelligence and technology, and confront an opponent of modest naval strength. Houthi forces lack comparable support and face the world’s premiere naval force — a U.S. carrier strike group.
Fighting land forces with naval forces is costly. The U.S. Navy has conducted more than 450 strikes, intercepting more than 200 drones and missiles. One-way Houthi attack drones have been estimated to cost as little as $2,000 to produce.
These maritime conflicts demonstrate that ground forces, difficult to locate and destroy, have a stubborn way of persisting. In the Black Sea, Russia has retrenched almost entirely, choosing to relocate its fleet away from the threat. In the Red Sea, U.S. and coalition naval forces have taken the fight to the Houthis, but Houthi forces continue their disruption.
