Yesterday, the guided missile destroyer USS Carney shot down 14 drones in a “drone wave from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” U.S. Central Command reported in a tweet on X. The drones, it said, “were assessed to be one-way attack drones and were shot down with no damage to ships in the area or reported injuries.” According to news reports, the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Diamond, also shot down a drone.
Three more U.S. Navy ships have arrived in the region, joining 19 U.S. ships already there, including two aircraft carrier strike groups. Seven of those ships are in the Eastern Mediterranean, with the remainder scattered from the Red Sea, to around the Arabian Peninsula to the Persian Gulf. Over the past week, missile-defense destroyers Laboon, Delbert D. Black and The Sullivans have arrived in the Mediterranean to boost the U.S. presence there, reported Politico yesterday. Defense officials would not comment on whether the ships are heading to the Red Sea.
This came after the Washington Times, citing anonymous Pentagon officials, reported on Dec. 15 that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had ordered the extension of the deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and one other vessel, the cruiser USS Normandy, which have already been on deployment for nine months. Officials said the plan is to keep the Ford there for several more weeks. The other ships making up the Ford group include the destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney, and USS Roosevelt. It’s not clear whether they’ll be going home or not.
