The Defense Department has identified the two Navy SEALs who died during a nighttime commando raid on a small ship carrying weapons components bound for Yemen. The circumstances of their deaths have raised questions about the planning and conduct of the raid. Special Operator First Class Christopher J. Chambers, 37, and Special Operator Second Class Nathan Gage Ingram, 27, were lost on Jan. 11 when SEALs in two stealthy combat speedboats boarded a dhow in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Somalia. The men tried to climb a rope boarding ladder in rough seas, but both were quickly lost in the waves. A joint search operation by naval forces from the United States, Spain, and Japan spent over a week searching more than 21,000 square miles of ocean for the missing SEALs. They were assigned to SEAL Team 3, based in Coronado, Calif. The boarding mission resulted in the seizure of Iranian-made ballistic-missile and cruise-missile components that were intended for Houthi militants in Yemen. It was the first time that U.S. forces had seized Iranian weapons being sent to the Houthi militants since they began launching attacks in November against commercial ships in the Red Sea. Special Operator Ingram, originally from Texas, became a SEAL in 2021 and was on his first deployment, according to Navy records. Special Operator Chambers, from Maryland, had deployed a number of times since becoming a SEAL in 2013, and had been in combat against Islamic State militants. Their families could not be reached for comment.
