NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) — The guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) returned to Naval Station Norfolk on Sunday.
The ship completed a seven-month deployment to the 5th and 6th Fleet areas of operation.
The Navy said the ship traveled more than 40,000 nautical miles and navigated the Straits of Gibraltar four times, the Straits of Sicily four times, the Bab al-Mandeb four times, and the Danish straits twice.
“I am extremely proud of everything the crew has accomplished during our time in 5th and 6th Fleet,” USS Winston S. Churchill Cmdr. Tom Van Scoten said. “Although tasking often shifted rapidly, we remained strategically dependable as well as operationally adaptable. The strength of this ship truly is the crew.”
The ship operated separately with the USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) Amphibious Ready Group and with the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) Carrier Strike Group.
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