Another ship attack in Red Sea prompts US Navy to return USS Dwight D. Eisenhower

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is returning back to port in Norfolk, Virginia , following an attack on a commercial ship that was traveling through the Gulf of Aden late Friday.

The targeted ship’s captain reported seeing “explosions in the vicinity of the vessel,” according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations. It is not clear if the ship sustained any damage.

“The crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call,” the UKMTO said.

The source of this attack is most likely to be Yemen’s Houthis rebels, who just last week attacked the Tutor, a Greek-owned ship, which eventually sank. The Iranian-backed Houthis have escalated their attacks in the maritime corridor crucial for transporting shipping cargo in support of Hamas in the Israel-Hamas war.

The Houthis have yet to take credit for Friday’s attack, but in the past, it has sometimes taken them days to take responsibility for an attack.

So far, the Houthis have been behind more than 60 attacks targeting specific vessels. Their missiles and drones have been responsible for the deaths of four sailors. Since November, the rebel group, which has maintained control of Yemen’s capital Sanaa since 2014, has sunk two and seized one ship.  A rebel attack in March resulted in the Belize Rubymar carrying fertilizer to be the first to sink in the Red Sea. The group says they are only attacking ships linked to Israel, the United States , or Britain, but like the Rubymar, many of the ships damaged lack any connection to the war in Gaza.

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The Eisenhower has been deployed for eight months, with Navy officials saying it's the most intense deployment of the vessel since World War II . The ship served to lead the U.S.’s response to Houthi attacks, and will be replaced by another aircraft carrier.

“Following completion of a scheduled exercise in the Indo-Pacific, the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (TR CSG) will arrive in the U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility to continue promoting regional stability, deter aggression, and protect the free flow of commerce in the region,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement.