This post has been updated with additional information on the timing of the incident. Two U.S. Navy aviators are safe after their two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet was shot down by an American ship by mistake,

US Central Command (CENTCOM) acknowledged in a 22 December statement the investigation into the shoot-down of an F/A-18 over the Red Sea by a US Navy

An F/A-18 Super Hornet – flying a few miles behind the Hornet that was shot down in a "friendly fire" incident over the Red Sea – took evasive maneuvers after a second surface-to-air missile was fired from the cruiser USS Gettysburg,

The Super Hornet was flying over the Red Sea when guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg fired upon it, according to the CENTCOM statement. The jet had just flown off the deck of the aircraft carrier when the friendly fire incident occurred.

The U.S. Navy's deployment of warships to the Middle East has been repeatedly described as the most intense naval combat the United States has seen since World War II, as the warships have come until intense missile and drone strikes launched by the Houthis.