Heather Mongilio – January 30, 2025 2:39 PM
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stockdale (DDG-106) and Egyptian Navy El Suez-class corvette ENS Abu Qir (F941) conduct a bilateral sailing exercise in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility on Oct. 19, 2024. US Navy Photo
SAN DIEGO — Sailors with USS Stockdale (DDG-106) used the destroyer’s five-inch gun to shoot down a Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicle, the deputy commander of Central Command said Thursday.
Vice Adm. Brad Cooper was aboard Stockdale in November, about nine weeks ago, he told an audience at WEST 2025, co-hosted by AFCEA and the U.S. Naval Institute, during a Houthi attack on the ship.
A low-flying Houthi drone came at the ship, he said. The watch stander clocked it, but it was a late detection. A kill order was given, and the sailors prepared to take it out with the five-inch guns. Cooper did not think they would hit, he said, but the guns fired and the drone went down.
“So it was an exciting moment,” Cooper said. “There was a lot going on. But it just gives, to me, it just gives you a sense of this crew is really dialed in and paying attention.”
The Houthis launched more than 140 attacks on merchant vessels and 170 on Navy ships over the 15 months of their campaign in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, Cooper said. The Navy downed 480 Houthi UAVs in that time.
The Houthis have ceased action in the Red Sea due to the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, although Houthi leadership said it was monitoring the deal and would resume escalatory action if Israel violated it.
But in November, when Cooper embarked on Stockdale, Houthi missiles and drones were still a regular sight in the Middle East.
Stockdale, along with USS Spruance (DDG-111) and Littoral Combat Ship USS Indianapolis (LCS-17) were transiting the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, going from the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden.
“So it’s busy, and as we’re heading south, I would say that we were in for a fight, and everybody in the crew knew it,” Cooper said.
The crew was prepared, Cooper said. Confident but not arrogant with some anxiety mixed in.
Then the missiles came. One. Then the second. The third. The fourth.
“It was a complex, sophisticated, coordinated attack by the Houthis,” Cooper said.
The first missile was heading off-course, he said, so the sailors let it go. But the remaining three were problems.
Stockdale fired an SM-6 to take out a missile.
“And when you just think about this, it’s a bullet hitting a bullet,” Cooper said. “It’s about 5000 mile-an-hour closure speed on this.”
It is a close environment, Cooper said, adding that debris from the missile collision caused a Sea Sparrow launch. More American missiles were launched to take care of further Houthi missiles.
About 11 minutes later, a Houthi anti-ship cruise missile was detected. Aircraft from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), the aircraft carrier leading the carrier strike group, shot down the missile.
An hour and a half later, F-16s under Spruance’s control, handled a land-attack missile. F-16s also shot down drones that were part of a suicide drone attack, Cooper said.
Two destroyers – USS Frank E. Petersen (DDG-121) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112) – protected Abe while its aircraft launched an attack on Houthi infrastructure.
Then came the low-flying UAV, Cooper said.
Cooper did not say exactly in November when the attacks happened. Based on USNI News’ timeline of Houthi activity in the Red Sea, it likely happened around Nov. 12 to 13.
Source: currinsnavalandmaritme
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