Another day and more attacks on international shipping and a specific American warship once again in the crosshairs.

NR’s Brittany Bernstein reported this morning:

An American warship and several commercial ships faced attacks in the Red Sea on Sunday, the Pentagon said.

“We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available,” the Pentagon said.

A U.S. official told the Associated Press the attack began around 10 a.m. in Sanaa, Yemen, and lasted five hours.

Officials did not say where the attacks may have come from.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched several attacks in the Red Sea in recent weeks and has launched drones and missiles toward Israel since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.

Last month, Houthis seized an Israel-linked vehicle transport ship in the Red Sea.

The USS Carney (DDG-64) again answered the distress calls from endangered shipping vessels. In fact, it was this time last week that I was writing about the Carney swatting missiles and drones pouring forth from Houthi-occupied Yemen, an Iran-backed movement and territory. Why is it that only the Carney is doing the work? I couldn’t say. The venerable destroyer is part of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, so presumably, other hulls are nearby. However, after a quick search, most of the strike group is visiting Souda Bay, Greece, catching some rays and chilling on the beach, while the Carney sweats it out dodging missiles in the waters between Yemen and Somalia. The short end of the stick doesn’t even come close to describing that arrangement. The Biden administration should probably work on explaining why these launch sites aren’t seeing explosive visitation because, leaving aside a U.S. warship needing to defend itself, the civilian vessels have no connection whatsoever to the Israel–Hamas conflict.

A reader who knows a thing or two about ballistic missiles had the following to offer after reading my latest:

If these really were ballistic missiles, there was no realistic chance they were going to hit a point target [the Carney]. Since the danger to the target was minimal, the danger to the shooters was also minimal. We weren’t going to retaliate when there was no real threat. At the risk of going into the obvious, a ballistic missile is like any ballistic projectile. It’s a free moving body that goes where Isaac Newton says it’s going to go, according to gravity and drag. There’s a reason why we put seekers and guidance packages in projectiles that we expect to hit point targets. Now, if they were guided anti-ship missiles and we did nothing, that’s a different story.

The reassurance is welcome, though one would really prefer no missiles at all.

Here’s a visual explainer of an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer’s missile defenses:

The Carney‘s captain, Jeremy Robertson, is a Keokuk, Iowa product who started as an enlisted Army combat engineer, transferred to the blue as an enlisted Navy AEGIS fire controlman, and then earned his commission in 2001. So maybe there’s our answer: the Navy saw a Midwestern former FC and set him and his crew to act as a one-ship bulwark against all airborne threats emanating from hostile territories in the Middle East.

“We don’t have an Iron Dome, but we do have a Hawkeye . . . that’ll do,” said the Joint Chiefs, allegedly.

Stay safe out there, USS Carney. You’re doing us proud.