Sailors of Royal Navy destroyer HMS Diamond have been recongised by US Navy leaders for their bravery and dedication while repeatedly in the line of fire.
The Portsmouth-based warship came under sustained missile and drone attacks in the Red Sea over a six-month period from December 2023 until June last year as she strove to protect merchant shipping and allied warships targeted at random by Houthi rebels in Yemen.
In response, her Sea Viper missile system and 30mm gun destroyed a string of drones, even one ballistic missile.
For their actions, HMS Diamond has been awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation by the US Navy.
Her Commanding Officer during Operation Prosperity Guardian, Commander Peter Evans, was invited to Washington DC to formally receive the commendation in person on behalf of the 200 men and women he led.
Awarding Diamond a Meritorious Unit Commendation, US Secretary of the Navy John C Phelan said: “By their truly distinctive accomplishments, unrelenting perseverance, and unfailing devotion to duty, the officers and enlisted personnel of HMS Diamond reflected credit upon themselves and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”
Each action lasted a matter of seconds – following many tense hours on watch monitoring the skies of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden – spread over several engagements and several months.
Throughout the Type 45 destroyer was operating with the US Fifth Fleet which directed the overarching security mission, Operation Prosperity Guardian, and whose vessels – such as the USS Gravely – worked side-by-side with Diamond to engage the incoming swarms of robot aircraft.
The mission was established when Houthi forces indiscriminately threatened ships sailing through the Bab-al-Mandeb Strait at the foot of the Red Sea – through which 11 per cent of global trade passes – from their strongholds in Yemen.
In the most dramatic action on January 9 2024, Diamond downed seven drones aimed at merchant shipping – the highest number of aerial threats neutralised by a Royal Navy warship in modern times in one day.
Diamond conducted 12 ‘opposed transits’ of the narrows – escorting seven high-value merchant ships in the process. Just for good measure, she joined the international fight against the illegal narcotics trade, seizing (and destroying) 2.4 tonnes of drugs.
The ship is currently undergoing a major refit in her home base of Portsmouth, with her crew from the Red Sea mission long dispersed throughout the Fleet.