Picture shows aftermath of US carrier fire in 1969, not Huthis attack

Published on April 3, 2025 at 04:52
2 min read
By Tommy WANG, AFP Hong Kong

After Yemen's Huthi rebel group claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on the USS Harry S. Truman carrier group in the Red Sea, social media posts shared a decades-old image falsely claiming it shows the damage from the strikes. A US Navy report indicates the picture depicts the now-decommissioned USS Enterprise following a deadly fire in January 1969.

"Latest image of the USS Truman carrier after several strikes by the Huthis," reads the overlaid text on a TikTok video published on March 21, 2025.

Screenshot of the false TikTok post, captured on March 31, 2025

Clips showing the same picture were shared hundreds of times on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

Screenshot of the false posts on Douyin, captured on March 28, 2025

The false claim surfaced after the Huthis claimed it had targeted the USS Harry S. Truman carrier group off Yemen's coast with drones and missiles several times in March.

The United States launched heavy strikes against the Iran-sponsored group beginning on March 15, prompting mass protests in the war-torn country and retaliatory efforts that a US general said were widely missing their mark (archived link).

Washington has vowed to hit Yemen with lethal and overwhelming force until the Huthis stop firing on the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Part of Iran's "axis of resistance" against the United States and Israel, the Huthis have been hampering the trade lane since the start of the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with Palestinians.

But the image is unrelated to the ongoing conflict.

Keyword search led to a similar photo shown in a video published on the official YouTube channel of the US Navy on March 7, 2014 (archived link). The video talked about the fire that engulfed the USS Enterprise on January 14, 1969 (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of false post and photo published by the US Navy

Subsequent reverse image search found the picture also published on the X account of the US Naval Institute on January 14, 2024 (archived link).

Its description reads, "#OTD (on this day) in 1969, an overheated Zuni rocket exploded on the deck of USS Enterprise, causing a major fire that killed 28 sailors and injured another 314. The cost to repair the damage and replace 15 destroyed aircraft was over $126 million (equivalent to over $1 billion in 2024)."

As of April 3, there are no official reports that the Huthis' attacks had caused serious damage to US warships.

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