A U.S. Navy fighter pilot arrived in Virginia with a sense of relief Friday after months of being under fire A missile launched by the Houthis and drones off the coast of Yemen, in the most intense naval battle the Navy has faced since World War II.
F/A-18 Super Hornets swooped over waiting families in low formation before landing at the base in Virginia Beach. Dressed in green flight suits, the aviators hugged women in summer dresses and children carrying American flags. Someone gave red roses to his wife and daughter.
“We’re going to sit on the couch, and we’re going to try to make up for the nine months of lost time,” said Cmdr. Jaime Moreno said as he hugged his two daughters, ages 2 and 4, and kissed his wife, Lynn.
Removing emotion from his voice, Moreno said he couldn’t be prouder of his team and “everything they’ve done in the last nine months.”
At USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike groupwhich included three other warships, protecting merchant vessels and allied warships under fire in the vital Red Sea corridor leading to the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean.
“Honestly, it’s unbelievable,” said Lt. Cmdr. Charity Somma told CBS News. “I don’t think anyone in that carrier strike group expected that to happen.”
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen had attacked the ship are linked to Israel, the United States or the United Kingdom in the campaign to support the militant group Hamas in the war against Israel, although they often target ships that have no connection to Israel or its supporters, endangering shipping on the main routes. for global trade.
The US and its allies have fought again: One round of fire in January saw an F/A-18 from Eisenhower and another ship took down 18 drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis.
US Navy sailors have seen a Houthi-launched missile seconds before it was destroyed by the ship’s defense system. Officials at the Pentagon have talked about ways to care for sailors when they return home, including counseling and treatment for possible post-traumatic stress.
Cmdr. Benjamin Orloff, a Navy pilot, told reporters in Virginia Beach that most of the sailors, including men, were not used to being fired at, given the military engagements before the nation in recent decades.
“It’s very different,” Orloff said. “And I’ll be honest, it was a little traumatic for the group. It’s something we didn’t think about until you gave it to us.”
But at the same time, Orloff said the sailors responded with grit and resilience.
“What’s amazing is how all these sailors turned around – and given the threat, because of the stress – continued to do an impeccable job,” said Orloff, adding that it was “one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.”
When asked by CBS News what he was facing could be described as the most intense naval battle since World War II, Orloff called the description “pretty accurate.”
“The close range with the enemy, the fact that we used a self-defense attack,” Orloff said. “This is not a remote projection. This is…right in our faces.”
Navy officials said the carrier’s strike group fired more than 400 air-to-surface missiles and 55 air-to-air missiles.
“We put bombs down for every air surface engagement, and then silhouetted air targets for every air-to-air engagement that we had,” said Orloff.
The carrier strike group had left Virginia in mid-October. The deployment was extended twice because of the importance of having a strong carrier strike group, capable of launching fighter jets quickly, in unstable areas.
Months of war and extension put extra stress on the roughly 7,000 sailors and their families.
Caitlyn Jeronimus, whose husband Keith is a Navy lieutenant commander and pilot, said she initially thought the deployment would be simple, including some training with other NATO countries. But then Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, and plans changed.
“It’s going to be, if you can call it, a fun deployment where they’re going to have a lot of ports to go to,” Jeronimus said.
He said that Eisenhower’s plan kept changing, which was exacerbated by the realization that there were “someone who wanted to destroy the ship.”
Jeronimus leaned on the advice provided by the Navy.
His two children, ages 5 and 8, are old enough to know “daddy’s been gone for a long time,” he said. “It’s stressful.”
