[poooogles]

>...only a handful of cases in which ships equipped with Phalanx have been the subject of missile fire, and none that have actually seen the system tested.

Worth noting that this line is now out of date. Allegedly they've been tested in Yemen recently [1].

1. https://www.businessinsider.com/houthi-missile-close-us-wars...

[jhartwig]

I had thought it had been used during the gulf war in a friendly fire event.

[Simon_ORourke]

The Missouri got raked with it from its escort ship - not pleasant for anyone concerned I'd say.

http://billgx.com/2019/10/autonomous-friendly-fire/

[thsksbd]

And the system failed, requiring the last line of defense machine guns to engage.

[aoki]

Phalanx is the US CIWS based on the 20mm Vulcan gun. in other words, Phalanx is the “last line of defense machine guns” to which you are referring.

You may be thinking of Aegis, the integrated combat control system. We don’t yet know why the Gravely was unable to intercept the missile further out. Could have been human error, could have been a sea skimmer getting too close before being detected. To date, Aegis has been extremely effective against ballistic missiles and old cruise missiles. But given enough time an enemy can test your potential weak spots.