USS Bulkely (DDG-84) and USS Cole (DDG-67) fired a dozen interceptors as part of the U.S. response to Iranian missiles launched at Israel, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.
Iran launched approximately 200 ballistic missiles at targets in Israel, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters on Tuesday. He did not elaborate on what type of interceptors the two destroyers used. No ground-based interceptors were used.
More information will come later once analysis of the attack is completed, Ryder said.
“We condemn these reckless attacks by Iran, and we call on Iran to halt any further attacks, including from its proxy forces,” Ryder said.
Initial analysis suggests all rockets were fired from Iran. The Houthis, an Iranian proxy group, was not involved in the attack, Ryder said.
Minimal damage was reported in Israel, although Ryder referred reporters to Israel for more information. This is the second offensive attack from Iran on Israel in nearly a year.
U.S. warships have been stationed in the Eastern Mediterranean, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Southern Israel.
“Iran has conducted multiple missile attacks on Israel today. And it is our fleet, in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, that will once again come to the defense of Israel,” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said during a recruiter all-hands call Tuesday.
Amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD-1) is the Eastern Mediterranean with componed of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked. Wasp is capable of noncombatant emergency operations if needed.
Also in the Eastern Mediterranean are three independently deployed guided-missile destroyers — USS Bulkeley (DDG-84), USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) and USS Cole (DDG-67).
The Navy also has four independently-deployed destroyers in the Red Sea, which are part of the Operation Prosperity Guardian, the multi-national response to the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping. USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112) and USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG-121) are both in the Red Sea, as of Monday, according to the Fleet Tracker. They are joined by USS Spruance (DDG-111) and USS Stockdale (DDG-106), two destroyers that came under Houthi fire, along with USS Indianapolis (LCS-17) in the Bab el Mandeb Strait on Friday.
No service members were injured in the attack on Friday. Ryder told reporters that the U.S. continues to have the ability to respond when appropriate to attacks on service members, but he did not have anything to “telegraph.”
The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is currently in the Gulf of Oman, per the Fleet Tracker. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the carrier to remain in the Middle East over the weekend. The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group is on its way to U.S. 6th Fleet area of response, as part of its scheduled deployment. It is unclear if it will then sail to Central Command or remain in 6th Fleet.
