The USS Mason, based at Naval Station Mayport, is patrolling the Strait of Hormuz with other U.S. Navy ships in Operation Freedom. | U.S. Central Command
Published on May 8, 2026 at 11:31 am
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For the second time in a week, a Mayport-based destroyer came under fire from Iranian forces during escort duties in the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. forces are supporting Project Freedom and enforcing the naval blockade on Iranian ports, according to U.S. Central Command.
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The USS Mason, along with USS Truxtun and USS Rafael Peralta, intercepted Iranian attacks on Thursday as they joined forces escorting U.S.-flagged vessels through the strait and into the Gulf of Oman, according to Central Command.
“No U.S. assets were struck,” Central Command said in a social media post on X. “U.S. Central Command eliminated inbound threats and targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking U.S. forces including missile and drone launch sites; command and control locations; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance nodes.”
On Tuesday, Central Command reported that two Navy destroyers, including the USS Mason and USS Truxtub, also repelled Iranian air and surface attacks just days before.
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Iran had claimed that its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hit a ship in the strait, shut by the country as part of the ongoing conflict with the nation over its nuclear stockpiles.
But U.S. Central Command rebutted that claim Tuesday morning on social media, saying that no U.S. Navy ships were involved in operations there. And in announcing the latest Iranian attack in its post Friday, CENTCOM said that it “does not seek escalation but remains positioned and ready to protect American forces.”
The USS Mason’s encounters
One of those ships is the USS Mason, which left Naval Station Mayport in March along with two others on then-unnamed missions. This is not the first time the ship has been involved in a military operation in the Middle East.
In November 2023, the USS Mason seized five armed rebels off the coast of Yemen after a tanker linked to Israel was attacked, according to the U.S. Navy. Targeted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Iranian missiles while on patrol with a carrier task force, two missiles fired from Yemen landed near the warship in the Gulf of Aden off the Arabian Sea in the middle of the USS Mason’s rescue mission, the Navy said.
The 9,700-ton ship also safely escorted 26 merchant ships during the 2023 mission, as well as freed 26 prisoners and destroyed 46 drones, the Navy said.
The USS Rafael Peralta is based in Yokosuka, Japan, while the USS Truxton is based in Norfolk, Virginia, the Navy said. All three Navy ships are Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers.
