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| - Posts claiming to show footage of the aftermath of a recent attack on an American aircraft carrier “stationed in the Arabian Sea” are circulating on social media.
One post on X, formerly Twitter, has been reshared more than 1,000 times, and is captioned: “Footage of the targeting of the American aircraft carrier (Abraham) stationed in the Arabian Sea by multiple cruise missiles and drones!”
But the footage actually shows a fire on the USS Bonhomme Richard in San Diego in 2020 and is unrelated to current events in the Middle East.
It has also spread to Facebook and YouTube with similar captions, with some of the posts specifying the supposed “attack” was carried out by Houthis in Yemen.
But using Google Lens, Full Fact found the ship in the video is actually the USS Bonhomme Richard which caught fire while docked in San Diego in 2020. Full Fact traced the first two clips of the compilation back to videos published by the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) at the time of the incident. The prominent ‘6’ on the vessel’s superstructure identifies it as USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) not USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) which is emblazoned with the number 72. The third clip comes from a news report on the fire.
Videos of the fire on the USS Bonhomme Richard have been shared with claims they show Houthi attacks on the US naval forces before and have been debunked by other fact checkers.
While it is true that the Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen, targeted two US warships earlier this month, these attacks were aimed at the USS Stockdale and the USS Spruance. Pentagon press secretary Air Force Major Gen Pat Ryder told reporters the vessels shot down the projectiles and were “not damaged and no personnel were hurt”.
The Houthi military spokesman, Yahya al-Sarea, said in a statement on X that the group had “successfully achieved its objectives” and claimed it targeted the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier with a number of cruise missiles and drones. But Major Gen Ryder said he was “not aware of any attacks” on the Abraham Lincoln vessel.
Misinformation spreads quickly during significant global events and can be difficult to contain. It’s important to make sure you check something is genuine before you share it on social media. To find out more, read our guide on how to fact check misleading videos related to the conflict in the Middle East.
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