The USS Carney shot down two Houthi drones headed in the ship’s direction in the southern Red Sea on Sunday and responded to a distress call from a civilian commercial vessel that was fired upon by a ballistic missile, a US defense official said.
The Carney — an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer deployed as part of the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group — “destroyed” one Houthi drone while in the southern Red Sea. At the same time, the official said, the Carney observed “at least one ballistic missile fired at a civilian commercial vessel, the M/V Unity Explorer, which landed in that vessel’s vicinity.”
The Carney responded to the Unity Explorer’s distress call and, while assisting, shot down another Houthi drone that was heading in the direction of both ships.
A US official said other commercial vessels were also “attacked by Houthi missiles today,” though it’s unclear how many or which vessels specifically. The US official added that in “at least two circumstances, the Carney successfully shot down UAVs headed in its direction” while lending support.
The Houthi-run Yemeni Armed Forces