Does a video show an American destroyer that was damaged by Iranian missiles in Cypriot territory in the Mediterranean? No, that's not true: This footage is from 2017 and the damage pictured is not from a missile attack. The video clip shows the USS Fitzgerald, which was damaged when it collided with a container ship off the coast of Japan.
The mislabeled video appeared in a post (archived here) published on X by @rkmtimes on March 4, 2026. The post was captioned:
JUST IN🇮🇷❌🇨🇾🇺🇸🔥 An American Destroyer attacked by 4 Iranian missiles in Cyprus territories and Mediterranean Sea.
This is a screenshot from the 23-second video in the post:
(Image source: post by rkmtimes on x.com.)
Using Google Lens reverse image search and the "visual matches" feature (archived here), Lead Stories confirmed this video shows damage to the USS Fitzgerald. A CBS Philadelphia News video (archived here) posted on YouTube on June 17, 2017, shows the same damaged portion of the ship (pictured below) with easily identifiable features matching the video posted on X.
(Image source: post by CBS Philadelphia from youtube.com.)
A report (archived here) from the National Transportation Safety Board describes the 2017 collision between the USS Fitzgerald and Philippine-flag container ship ACX Crystal off Japan's Honshu Island:
As the distance between the two ships continuously decreased, neither vessel radioed the other. Seconds before the collision, the watch officers attempted to maneuver the vessels to avoid impact, but the actions were too late, and the ships collided. Seven Fitzgerald crewmembers died in the accident, and three crewmembers suffered serious injuries. The destroyer sustained extensive damage to its forward starboard side. The ACX Crystal sustained damage to its bow; no injuries were reported.
A Google News search (archived here) for "U.S. Navy Destroyer hit by missiles Cyprus" returned no relevant results.
