Petty Officer 1st Class Jacob Harvey, assigned to the destroyer USS Oscar Austin, gives the first kiss during the ship’s return to Naval Station Rota, Spain, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Alyssa Sperle/U.S. Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — The destroyer USS Oscar Austin returned to its homeport in Spain this week after a six-month patrol in the eastern Mediterranean and Red seas that saw the ship’s crew decorated for skill and courage under fire.
On Tuesday at Naval Station Rota, Oscar Austin received a Unit Combat Action Ribbon after completing its maiden deployment as part of Destroyer Squadron 60, a U.S. 6th Fleet statement the same day said. The ribbon was presented by the squadron’s commodore, Capt. Alexander Mamikonian.
During the deployment, Oscar Austin sailed some 37,900 miles, including in the Middle East, where it conducted combat operations with the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, the Navy said.
After arriving in the Red Sea, Oscar Austin and the strike group came under fire from various airborne threats. The sailors aboard the destroyer acted “swiftly and professionally to defend the strike group,” the Navy said.
Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen began attacking commercial and military ships in the Red Sea following Hamas’ attack on Israel in October 2023.
In March, the U.S. launched Operation Rough Rider, an aggressive airstrike campaign aimed at degrading Houthi capabilities and stopping the group’s attacks.
The operation ended May 6 when President Donald Trump declared a ceasefire, saying the Houthis didn’t want to fight anymore and had agreed to stop attacking ships in the vital waterway.
Lt. Kevin Kyle, assigned to the destroyer USS Oscar Austin, holds his newborn Tuesday, June 10, 2025, during the ship’s return to Naval Station Rota, Spain. (Alyssa Sperle/U.S. Navy)
Petty Officer 1st Class Henry Ramos, assigned to the destroyer USS Oscar Austin, gives the first hug during the ship’s return to Naval Station Rota, Spain, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Alyssa Sperle/U.S. Navy)
Families greet and celebrate the destroyer USS Oscar Austin’s return to Naval Station Rota, Spain, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. Oscar Austin completed its first patrol in the U.S. Naval Forces Europe area of operations. (Alyssa Sperle/U.S. Navy)
The completion of missions across two theaters was a testimony to the crew’s grit and resilience, Cmdr. David Nicolas, commanding officer of Oscar Austin said in the statement.
The Navy has offered few specifics about the frequency and types of threats its ships have encountered while defending commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea against Houthi attack.
But in a June 2 thread on Reddit, posters who said they had served aboard USS Harry S. Truman while it was in the Middle East described almost daily attacks by Houthi militants.
In December, an F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet was responding to a drone and anti-ship cruise missile attack against U.S. naval forces in the Red Sea when it was mistakenly shot down by the cruiser USS Gettysburg, a defense official told Stars and Stripes at the time.
Oscar Austin switched its homeport to NS Rota in October as part of a long-anticipated expansion of NATO firepower in Europe.
The ship joined four other destroyers — USS Arleigh Burke, USS Roosevelt, USS Paul Ignatius and USS Bulkeley — already in Spain. A sixth destroyer, which hasn’t been publicly identified, is expected to join the squadron in 2026.
Oscar Austin left Rota on Dec. 11, spending time in the eastern Mediterranean, where it operated alongside the Cyprus national guard for a series of exercises, the Navy said.
In April, the ship transited the Suez Canal into the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations, providing air and missile defense alongside the the Truman carrier strike group, including the destroyers USS Jason Dunham and USS Stout and the cruiser USS Gettysburg.
Oscar Austin returned to the eastern Mediterranean in May, according to the statement.
In addition to the overall crew accomplishments, sailors aboard Oscar Austin achieved individual milestones. Those achievements include the promotion of 54 sailors, and the reenlistment of 17 others, the Navy said.
Their accomplishments exemplify sailor professionalism, proficiency and self-sufficiency, Mamikonian said in the statement.
“It was a pleasure watching them perform on patrol,” he said.
The destroyer USS Oscar Austin returns to Naval Station Rota, Spain, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, after completing its first patrol in the U.S. Naval Forces Europe area of operations. (Alyssa Sperle/U.S. Navy)
