USS Stockdale used its five-inch gun against a Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicle during the Red Sea crisis, adding a gun engagement to the destroyer's missile-defense role in the theater.
| Claim | Sources |
|---|---|
| USS Stockdale used its five-inch gun to shoot down a Houthi UAV during the Red Sea crisis. | |
| Stockdale and Spruance were attacked in the Bab el-Mandeb on November 11, 2024, by Houthi-launched UAVs and missiles. | Sources: Pentagon Stockdale and Spruance Bab el-Mandeb attack transcript |
| The Mk 45 5-inch gun is a U.S. Navy shipboard mount with an air-target role and DDG 51-class fit context. | Sources: MK 45 - 5-inch 54/62 Caliber Guns, Mk 45 Mod 4 Naval Gun System |
Timeline
A Defense Department transcript said USS Stockdale and USS Spruance defeated Houthi-launched one-way attack UAVs, anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile while transiting the Bab el-Mandeb.
Sources: Pentagon Stockdale and Spruance Bab el-Mandeb attack transcript
USNI News reported Vice Adm. Brad Cooper's account that Stockdale sailors used the destroyer's five-inch gun to shoot down a Houthi UAV during a November 2024 attack.
USNI News reported Vice Adm. Brad Cooper's account that sailors aboard USS Stockdale shot down a Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicle with the destroyer's five-inch gun during a November 2024 attack. The report identifies Stockdale as DDG-106, and U.S. Navy material describes the Mk 45 5-inch gun as a shipboard mount used against air, surface, and naval surface-fire-support targets.
The same November 2024 operational context is documented by a Defense Department transcript stating that USS Stockdale and USS Spruance defeated Houthi-launched one-way attack UAVs, anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile while transiting the Bab el-Mandeb on November 11. That transcript does not identify the gun as the interceptor for each threat, so the sourced Mk 45 claim is limited to the Stockdale five-inch-gun UAV shootdown described by USNI News.
Sources: USNI Stockdale five-inch gun drone engagement, Pentagon Stockdale and Spruance Bab el-Mandeb attack transcript, MK 45 - 5-inch 54/62 Caliber Guns
On November 11, 2024, U.S. defense officials said USS Stockdale and USS Spruance were attacked while transiting the Bab el-Mandeb and successfully defeated the launched weapons. USNI News later connected one Stockdale engagement in the same November attack period to the destroyer's five-inch gun, reporting that the crew used it to destroy a Houthi UAV.
On January 30, 2025, USNI News published Cooper's description of the five-inch-gun engagement, making the Mk 45's Red Sea crisis use public in named-ship form.
Sources: Pentagon Stockdale and Spruance Bab el-Mandeb attack transcript, USNI Stockdale five-inch gun drone engagement
The documented Red Sea crisis use was defensive shipboard gunfire by the United States-led coalition side. Stockdale was operating in a maritime-defense environment shaped by Houthi UAV, missile, and anti-ship attacks on naval and commercial traffic; the cited November 11 transcript places Stockdale and Spruance in a Bab el-Mandeb transit under attack.
The evidence supports a narrow counter-UAV role rather than a broad claim that the Mk 45 was the main interceptor in the engagement. The Navy fact file describes the Mk 45 as a fully automatic 5-inch mount with an air-target role, while BAE Systems identifies Mk 45 Mod 4 as the gun system fitted to later DDG 51-class destroyers, including the DDG 81-and-later group that includes USS Stockdale.
Sources: Pentagon Stockdale and Spruance Bab el-Mandeb attack transcript, USNI Stockdale five-inch gun drone engagement, MK 45 - 5-inch 54/62 Caliber Guns, Mk 45 Mod 4 Naval Gun System
