USNI News – When sailors assigned to USS Mason (DDG-87) were in workups last year, many expected a standard Mediterranean Sea deployment…But after Hamas launched attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7 and the Yemen-based Houthis started attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea in response to Israel’s ongoing bombardment of the Gaza strip, the destroyer quickly became one of several U.S. warships to engage in sustained naval combat for the first time since World War II.