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| - Fact Check: This video does not show US attacking Houthi boats! It's from 2017
India Today found that the video in question dates back to 2017 and shows a trial being conducted by the US Navy.
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India Today Fact Check
This video is from 2017 and shows trials being conducted by the US Navy in the Pacific Ocean.
On December 31, 2023, the US claimed to have sunk three Houthi boats and killed 10 crew members after a clash in the Red Sea. Houthi gunmen on said boats were allegedly trying to attack a container ship. Now, a video allegedly showing this has gone viral on social media. The video seems to show some shots being fired at a distant boat.
An X user shared the video and wrote, “The US Navy has destroyed Houthi boats whose crew attempted to board a container ship in the Red Sea." Its archive can be seen here. Times Now also used this clip in a report about the US sinking three Houthi boats.
India Today found that the video in question is around seven years old and shows a trial conducted by the US Navy.
Our Probe
Many people reacting to the viral video claimed that it dates back to 2017. Using this information, we ran a keyword search and found its longer version on the YouTube channel “Gung Ho Vids” which claims to post videos produced by the US armed forces. The viral clip can be seen here at around the 40-second mark in this video.
As per the video’s description, the US Navy staff was conducting a test called the Combat Systems Ship Qualifications Trials, during which, a Mark 38 machine gun was used to hit small boat targets on February 2, 2017.
The channel attributed the video to “Joshua Samoluk”. Based on this information, we looked further, which led us to the website of the Defence Visual Information Distribution Service. This is a platform, the US Department of Defence’s “direct line of communication for news and information to US forces deployed worldwide, on land, sea and air”. Here, the video was credited to Petty Officer 3rd Class Joshua Samoluk.
As per the website, the video was recorded on February 2, 2017, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. It showed sailors aboard the USS America (LHA 6) loading ammunition into a close-in weapons system, for operational testing. As per a press release by the US Navy, the final phase of the Combat Systems Ship Qualifications Trials and follow-on operation testing of the ship's weapons systems was completed on February 2, 2017.
Thus, it is clear that this video has nothing to do with the US combatting Houthi militants in the Red Sea.
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