Eight days after almost sinking a former U.S. Navy warship, Yemeni Houthi rebels allied with Iran fired two Iranian supplied but Chinese-made anti-ship missiles at a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer but missed.

The USS Mason (DDG-87), an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, was traversing the Bab-el-Mandeb strait off the coast of war-torn Yemen when it detected two missiles fired at different times hurtling towards it. The Navy said the Mason took countermeasures to defeat both missiles that crashed into the sea a long distance from the destroyer.

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The Navy said no American sailors were injured and no damage was done to the Mason. Lt. Ian McConnaughey, a spokesman for the United States Naval Forces Central Command, said the missiles were fired in the direction of the Mason. The first missile was launched at around 7:00 p.m. with the second missile launched within an hour after the first.

American defense sources said the Mason used onboard defensive measures after the first missile was fired. The destroyer was north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, roughly in the same area where the attack on the HSV-2 Swift took place. Like the Mason, the Swift was attacked at night.

The Mason was sent to patrol the area after the Houthis last Oct. 1 nearly sank the HSV-2 Swift, a high-speed catamaran that used to belong to the U.S. Navy, with a Chinese-designed C-802 anti-ship missile (ASM).

This was likely the same missile fired at the Mason, which was deployed with two other Navy warships in response to an earlier Houthi attack on the Swift. The Swift was serving the United Arab Emirates Navy when it was hit.

Iran has supplied C-802 to its Houthi allies fighting to overthrow the Yemini government backed by Saudi Arabia. The C-802 is the export version of China's YJ-8 ASM that carries a 190 kg warhead to a distance of 120 km. The YJ-8 arms China's Xian H-6 strategic heavy bombers.

Swift was the forerunner of the Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) ships, which are high-speed, shallow draft vessels that today transport U.S. Marines to trouble spots around the world.

She was privately owned and operated by Sealift Inc., but was originally built under the "Joint High Speed Vessel" program of the Navy as a proof of concept. She was directly leased to the United States Navy Military Sealift Command from 2003 to 2013 as a mine countermeasures and sea basing test platform but was later used mostly for fleet support and humanitarian missions.

TagsU.S. Navy, USS Mason, Houthis, Bab el-Mandeb Strait, HSV-2 Swift, C-802 anti-ship missile