Since the outbreak of the civil war in Yemen in March 2015, at least some elements of the Navy are known to have sided with the Houthi-dominated Supreme Revolutionary Committee and the loyalists of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Because of this, the Royal Saudi Air Force attacked the naval base at Al Hudaydah and destroyed two of Yemen's three Chinese-made fast missile craft.

The Yemeni Navy, allegedly supported by Iranian advisors, repaired and smuggled Noor anti-ship cruise missiles and their launchers and coupled them with maritime radars and they were used to target coalition ships.

[2] In October 2016, with US Navy vessels patrolling the area in support to their Saudi allies, Yemeni forces fired about a dozen cruise missiles at them on three different days.

In response, USS Nitze launched five Tomahawk cruise missiles and knocked out three Yemeni maritime radar sites.

Since then, lacking shore-based battery radars, the Yemeni Navy begun deploying speedboats and the remaining fast missile craft to approximately track Saudi coalition shipping.