Commander describes the moment a US Navy destroyer blasted an enemy drone out of the sky with a 5-inch deck gun

• A US Navy destroyer used its deck gun to shoot down a Houthi drone in the Red Sea last year.

• A top commander revealed details of the battle for the first time this week.

• USS Stockdale and other American forces thwarted the massive Houthi missile and drone attack.

A US Navy destroyer operating in the Red Sea last year used its five-inch deck gun to shoot a Houthi drone out of the sky, a top commander revealed this week.

The American destroyer, USS Stockdale, was sailing from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden in November when the attack unfolded, said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East.

“As we were heading south, I would say that we were in for a fight, and everybody in the crew knew it,” Cooper, who was aboard the Stockdale at the time, told the WEST 2025 conference on Thursday.

After a few quiet hours, the Houthis suddenly launched a ballistic missile from Yemen in the direction of the Stockdale. They launched a second, and a third, and then a fourth missile.

“It was a complex, sophisticated, coordinated attack,” Cooper recalled.

The sailors aboard the ship thwarted the initial attack around midnight, but it wasn’t over. A few minutes later, the Houthis fired an anti-ship cruise missile, but it was shot down by fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

The battle continued into the night. The rebels fired more missiles and drones, which were destroyed by US fighter jets and warships. The Navy responded by launching strikes into Yemen.

At nearly 2 a.m. local time, a low-flying Houthi drone crossed in front of the Stockdale, but it was detected late. A kill order was given.

“To be frank, I thought there was no way they were going to hit it. A couple of seconds later, the five-inch gun is blasting away, and sure enough, they downed that thing,” Cooper said. “It just doesn’t happen.” He said that people erupted in cheers for a solid 15 seconds after the intercept.

“It’s a big high-five when you shoot something down with a missile,” he said. “But there’s a lot of high-fives when you shoot something down with a gun, kind of World War II-style.”

The MK-45 is a five-inch artillery gun mounted to the deck of a warship. It is one of many ways a vessel can protect itself, along with surface-to-air missiles, which have been the tool of choice for the US during the Houthi conflict. The Stockdale fended off multiple attacks in the fall while it was deployed to the Middle East.

Over the past 15 months, the rebels have launched over 140 attacks on commercial vessels and targeted US Navy warships more than 170 times with anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles and drones, Cooper said. US forces have shot down around 480 Houthi drones.

The Houthis have claimed that their attacks on civilian and merchant ships are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. After Israel and Hamas signed cease-fire deal earlier this month, the rebels said they would limit their Red Sea operations.

Beyond their attacks on shipping lanes, the Houthis have also fired 40 medium-range ballistic missiles and around 300 long-range drones at Israel, Cooper said. Most of the projectiles have been shot down by American and Israeli forces.

The new Trump administration could dramatically affect the US military’s approach to the Houthis. Shortly after the inauguration, the White House announced that it was re-designating the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization, reversing a decision by former President Joe Biden to remove the rebels from that list.

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