Half a year after it was in the eastern Mediterranean Sea helping to shoot down Iranian ballistic missiles, the guided-missile destroyer the USS Thomas Hudner is at sea once again, this time in the Caribbean.
The destroyer arrived in the region earlier this week, becoming the latest warship to arrive in the last four months, as the U.S. Navy continues to maintain a large armada in the sea. The arrival, first reported by USNI News, brings the number of surface warships to 12, according to that outlet’s fleet tracker.
The USS Thomas Hudner, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that specializes in ballistic missile defense, left Naval Station Mayport on Dec. 1. The destroyer has some of the most combat experience of those deployed to the armada. It deployed to the eastern Mediterranean in October 2023 as part of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, one of two carrier groups rushed to the region after the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war. A month later it was in the Red Sea, one of the first U.S. Navy ships to intercept and shoot down Houthi drones as the militant group in Yemen began attacks on commercial ships in the area. It returned to port in January 2024.
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The destroyer had previously deployed to the Caribbean earlier this year, before being sent to the Mediterranean during a build up of American forces as Iran and Israel came to blows in June. The USS Thomas Hudner arrived that month and took part in several engagements, shooting down missiles fired at Israel. In some, other destroyers in the area assisted, in one instance the Thomas Hudner was the only naval asset involved, helping ground-based air defenses such as American Patriot missile batteries take out Iranian munitions. The destroyer’s commanding officer, Cmdr. David A. Cook, alluded to that as the ship set sail on Dec. 1.
“Thomas Hudner is combat-ready, and our crew is poised to execute the nation’s tasking,” Cook said in the release on the departure.
The U.S. military currently has several ships in the area, including the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier.. Along with the Navy’s surface vessels, a special operations mothership, the MV Ocean Trader, is in the region. An attack submarine was also previously reported to be in the Caribbean. Additionally, the U.S. has moved several fighter jets and bombers to the Caribbean and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit is onboard the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group which is currently deployed there.
The USS Thomas Hudner’s arrival comes the same week that the U.S. military carried out its first strike on a suspected drug boat in more than two weeks. The Dec. 4 strike in the eastern Pacific killed four people according to U.S. defense officials. Since Sept. 2, the United States has carried out 22 airstrikes on ships in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea it accuses of transporting drugs, although little to no evidence has been presented. The strikes have killed at least 87 people according to the Pentagon.
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Nicholas Slayton is a Contributing Editor for Task & Purpose. In addition to covering breaking news, he writes about history, shipwrecks, and the military’s hunt for unidentified anomalous phenomenon (formerly known as UFOs).