Fort McHenry Arrives at NAB Little Creek
Story Number: NNS060707-17
Release Date: 7/7/2006 12:43:00 PM
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) Stefanie Holzeisen-mullen and Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Brian Seymour, Fleet Public Affairs Center Atlantic
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (NNS) -- Family and friends gathered at Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) Little Creek July 6, to greet the arrival of the dock landing ship USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43).
Originally homeported at Fleet Activities Sasebo, Japan, Fort McHenry was part of a “hull swap” in April with the dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD 46). The vessels “swapped” homeports while the crews remained assigned to their original locations.
The hull swap was part of the Navy's long-range plan to routinely replace older ships assigned to the Navy's Forward Deployed Naval Force with newer or more capable ships. Hull swaps are conducted to maintain ship’s manning at current levels and work to minimize adverse impact on readiness and morale, and prevent the loss or turnover of qualified watch standers associated with a "traditional" homeport change.
“On board Tortuga, we wanted to be sure we turned over the best ship in the fleet to the other crew,” said Cmdr. Mark Scovill, now commanding officer of Fort McHenry. “This crew worked very hard to get the Tortuga through some final certifications before pulling into Sasebo, and they did it while performing ship preservation and regular maintenance work.”
The crew of the Tortuga departed Little Creek in early February, and arrived in Sasebo March 31, after completing an 11,000-mile voyage across two oceans and transiting the Panama Canal before joining Commander, Task Force (CTF) 76 in Japan.
While deployed, Fort McHenry participated in Joint Caribbean Lion 2006, a Dutch-led exercise off the coast of Aruba and The Netherlands Antilles island of Curacao before transiting to Baltimore, and then heading to her new home of Little Creek.
“Joint Caribbean Lion was the first scheduled operation that this ship has taken part in as a member of the Navy’s 2nd Fleet,” said Scovill. “So it was important for all the major players in each department to showcase how adept they are at running their systems.”
Fort McHenry joins the other 23 ships that comprise Commander, Amphibious Group (COMPHIBGRU) 2 based at NAB Little Creek with its 16,000 Sailors and Marines provides war fighting naval amphibious forces to operate with joint and combined forces for combatant commanders.
For more news from around the fleet, visit www.navy.mil.
