USS Carney's Crew Receives Medals for Shooting Down Houthi Drones

The crew of the destroyer USS Carney might have more real-world air defense experience than any other command in the U.S. Navy today, thanks to the intensity of the Houthi drone and missile campaign in the Red Sea - and the Navy has rewarded Carney's hard work.

Carney and other U.S. warships have destroyed dozens of Houthi airborne munitions since November, when the Yemeni militant group began attacking merchant shipping in protest of the Israeli operation in Gaza. On December 16 alone, the crew of USS Carney shot down 14 Houthi drones using the ship's Aegis combat system. 

This week, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. 5th Fleet, visited USS Carney in Bahrain to present combat medals to members of the crew. Cooper also recognized the whole Carney crew with the Combat Action Ribbon, the sea services' award for enlisteds and officers "who have actively participated in ground or surface combat." Carney CO Cmdr. Jeremy Robertson received the Navy Commendation medal, along with one other crewmember.

The last Navy vessels to receive the Combat Action Medal were involved in the same conflict. In 2017, the crews of USS Nitze, Mason, Ponce and San Antonio all received the award after Houthi fighters launched (unsuccessful) anti-ship missile attacks at them. After that series of engagements, USS Nitze destroyed the Houthis' missile targeting radars on shore, temporarily ending the threat.   

USS Carney is now done with her current deployment and is headed home for the United States, according to the Navy. An abundance of other surface warfare assets are on scene to take up the air-defense mission, and that task continues unabated: on Tuesday, three explosions from possible ballistic-missile launches were reported near a merchant ship in the Red Sea.