WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two U.S. guided-missile destroyers destroyed a handful of Iranian missiles using a combination of weapons, including the Standard Missile 3, a U.S. official confirmed to USNI News on Wednesday.
USS Bulkeley (DDG-84) and USS Cole (DDG-67) fired about a dozen interceptors at Iranian missiles fired at Israel, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The two destroyers are independently deployed and are in the Eastern Mediterranean as of Monday, according to USNI News’ Fleet and Marine Tracker.
Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder did not have additional details about the destroyers’ involvement in protecting Israel from the barrage of Iranian missiles. Iran fired around 200 ballistic missiles, although it’s unclear whether it also used drones or cruise missiles, Ryder said.
During a conversation with reporters on Wednesday, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said she couldn’t provide any details about the Tuesday operations, but maintained that the U.S. is committed to guaranteeing that Israel can defend itself.
“Our ships are arrayed in the manner that the [U.S. Central Command] commander wants them … to be postured to be able to respond to an attack like this,” she said during a Defense Writers Group breakfast. “And again, as you saw in the reporting yesterday, the Cole and the Bulkeley, were able to provide for that defense. So again, we are ready for any action that comes our way there in the Middle East, just like we are all over the rest of the world.”
Franchetti noted that the carrier strike group and amphibious ready group with the embarked Marine Expeditionary Unit are on planned deployments in the Middle East.
“Where they go during the deployment – from a CNO perspective – I’m agnostic about where they go because they’re operating wherever the nation needs them to operate,” she said. “My responsibility is to make sure that they’re trained, manned, certified, ready to go and that we manage their schedules so when they come back, they are able to get into their maintenance cycle and be ready to start all over again.”
As of Wednesday, USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) entered the U.S. 6th Fleet, bound for the Eastern Mediterranean, a defense official told USNI News on Wednesday. The carrier, which left on Sept. 23rd from Naval Station Norfolk, Va., is operating near the Azores and expected to arrive later this week.
Truman is the first carrier to deploy from the East Coast since USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) returned from an extended deployment in July.
On orders from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, U.S. carriers have maintained a near-constant presence in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean since the Hamas attacks on southern Israel last October.
As of Monday, West Coast-based carrier USS Abraham Lincoln CVN-72) was operating in the Gulf of Oman to support ongoing U.S. presence operations.
In addition to the carriers, the three-ship Wasp Amphibious Ready Group with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked is in the Eastern Mediterranean in the event of a non-combatant evacuation from Lebanon, defense officials have told USNI News.
