UK warship shoots down suspected drone targeting commercial vessel in Red Sea

By Nur Asena Erturk

ANKARA (AA) – The UK said on Saturday that the British Navy had foiled an attempt to attack a cargo ship in the Red Sea and shot down a suspected drone.

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said in a post on X that "overnight, HMS Diamond shot down a suspected attack drone which was targeting merchant shipping in the Red Sea."

The drone was successfully brought down by a single Sea Viper missile, Shapps added.

He recalled that the HMS Diamond "recently arrived in the region to bolster international efforts to maintain maritime security."

The warship joined Operation Kipion, the UK’s maritime presence in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean, in response to escalating tensions in the Middle East over Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

Though the British defense secretary made no mention of the attackers, the US said on Thursday that Yemen's Houthi forces attacked a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship in the southern Red Sea, and when the US Navy tried to help it after a Mayday call, they also fired two missiles at its warship, but both failed to hit their target.