In the early hours of a seemingly routine day in the Southern Persian Gulf, a dramatic and dangerous confrontation unfolded that would test the mettle of the USS Nitsa, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

At 2:51 a.m., an Iranian anti-ship missile was launched from a civilian cargo vessel, disguised as a routine fishing boat, positioned 22 nautical miles south of the Iranian island of Abu Musa.

This unexpected attack marked a significant escalation in tactics employed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who had cleverly concealed their missile launch capability within the commercial shipping traffic of the Gulf.

The missile, identified as a C802, was airborne before American intelligence could classify the source as a threat, leaving the USS Nitsa with a narrow window of just 3 minutes and 40 seconds to respond.