After an historic deployment, the USS Carney is home

After more than seven months deployed, most of it spent fighting off sustained missile and drone barrages fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the men and women of the Navy destroyer Carney returned home Sunday to Naval Station Mayport, Florida.

All told, Carney was deployed for 235 days, a record-setting cruise that began in the Mediterranean Sea but saw the warship shift south to the Red Sea following the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Twelve days after Hamas’ attack, on Oct. 19, Carney got its first chance to take it to the Houthis, when the destroyer intercepted a salvo of missiles and drones fired from Houthi territory in Yemen.

Since then, the Houthis have at times fired at military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea at a near-daily clip earlier this year, and Carney was often at the forefront of the fight.

The ship also helped take down missiles fired by Iran at Israel last month.

Carney’s crew conducted 51 engagements against the Houthis over six months, the first time the Navy has directly engaged an enemy to such a degree since World War II, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said in a statement.

Franchetti greeted the crew last week when they made a pit stop in Norfolk.

“I am incredibly proud of my team for their performance throughout this deployment,” Cmdr. Jeremy Robertson, Carney’s commanding officer, said in a statement. “No matter the challenge, our crew was ready and demonstrated incredible professionalism, proficiency, and flexibility. Our missions required focus and grit, and the crew leaned on each other and took care of each other, as we will continue to do.”

The entire Carney crew received the Combat Action Ribbon for their actions, and individual sailors have been awarded other decorations as well.

In a press release announcing Carney’s homecoming, crew members were quoted saying that the deployment tested the crew’s mettle, but that they were able to fall back on their training, and how their warship’s feats will be studied by future generations of sailors.

While knocking out Houthi salvos, the Carney also rescued the oil tanker M/V Marlin Luanda after it was struck by an anti-ship ballistic missile on Jan. 26.

Carney arrived on scene and dumped 600 gallons of fire-killing foam on the ship, extinguishing the blaze, according to the Navy.