Cmdr. Justin Crabb, executive officer aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Delbert D. Black, observes as the ship leaves Las Palmas, Spain, on Jan. 19, 2026. U.S. 6th Fleet announced the arrival of the destroyer in its area of responsibility on Jan. 22, 2026. (Wendy Arauz/U.S. Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — The destroyer USS Delbert D. Black began patrolling European waters this week, an addition to the Navy’s presence as the U.S. builds up forces in the Middle East amid tensions with Iran.
The ship officially arrived on station in the U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet area of command following its departure on Monday from Las Palmas, Spain, NAVEUR-AF/U.S. 6th Fleet said in a Facebook post Thursday.
The Arleigh-Burke-class destroyer recently completed a flight operations exercise with an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter that left the ship’s crew “razor-sharp and ready,” the post said.
Based at Naval Station Mayport in Florida, the vessel carries standard, Tomahawk and Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles, among other armaments. It joins five other destroyers in the region homeported at Naval Station Rota in Spain.
One, USS Roosevelt, left the Red Sea earlier this month and is in the Mediterranean Sea, USNI News reported on Tuesday.
That departure left two destroyers, USS McFaul and USS Mitscher, both homeported at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, in the Persian Gulf, according to USNI.
Meanwhile, the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, which includes three destroyers, is in the Indian Ocean and expected to arrive in the Middle East in the coming days, Reuters reported Thursday, citing unidentified U.S. officials.
That news came the same day President Donald Trump warned Tehran that the U.S. has an “armada” heading toward the country, adding that he hoped he would not have to use it, Reuters reported.
Trump has been mulling options for responding to Iran’s brutal crackdown on protests against the regime.
Navy ships and aircraft are not the only U.S. forces apparently being routed to the Middle East.
A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle assigned to the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron lands at a base in the Middle East on Jan. 18, 2026. (U.S. Central Command on X)
On Tuesday, U.S. Central Command shared a photograph on X of an Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet assigned to the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron landing at an unidentified base in the Middle East. The squadron is based at RAF Lakenheath in the U.K.
A dozen F-15s departed Lakenheath on Sunday supported by KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported on Tuesday, citing flight-tracking data.
C-17 Globemaster III cargo planes also have flown from the U.K. to the Middle East, the magazine said.
According to one analyst, the buildup of naval forces in the region bears a striking resemblance to the slow-rolling accumulation of military assets in the Caribbean Sea last year.
Navy destroyers offer protection for aircraft carriers, carry out precision strikes and provide formidable deterrence, Brandon J. Weichert, a senior national security editor at The National Interest, wrote in Wednesday article.
“When the fleet assembles piece-by-piece, when the destroyers arrive before the carriers, and when escalation is measured rather than theatrical, it means the decision has been made,” Weichert said.
