Quote:
Originally Posted by Onkel Neal
It's about time you showed your face again! Can we have a summary of your deployments?  |
Aye, I could do that.
2020 was a very interesting one...we left prior to COVID being a thing, and at some point were detached from our strike group to follow an adversary task force that was going way further than that nation's navy had ever done so before. So we went one way. Then back the other.
And back the other.
And back the other way. Stopped in Guam for 3 days liberty, which ended up being one and a half, since our target decided to turn back again and we had to be underway first thing to meet them. Followed them to a turnover point at the IDL, where we swapped off with a DDG out of Pearl Harbor, to which we then pulled into for a week. Around that time, COVID was started to get noticed, but still not big yet.
We left Hawaii with big plans; we were being sent to do counter-narcotics in the South Pacific, and we had been told that ports such as Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Columbia, Chile, and more were on the plate, with the possibility of going around to Brazil and even a chance to swing around Cape Horn. Right around then, the world went into lockdown though, and all of those visits were cancelled, with only one-day fuel stops here and there when the tanker had to return to the US. Weren't allowed off the ship in most ports.
Most of that 9-month deployment was spent literally sitting and spinning, waiting for drug boats that never came. We were the flank guard for USS
Pinckney, who really did most of the work (29 busts compared to our 3). That was also the deployment where the ship caught COVID, and we had to race back to a US port to quarantine and clean the ship. A lot of that deployment became a political statement to the world, sort of 'Hey look, this ship got crippled by COVID but they're already back out there!' sort of thing.
Our 2021 deployment, though, was much more fun, if much shorter. We did single ship ops in-around Southeast Asian hotspots, got very close to China and their newest (at the time) carrier, things like that. I actually got to do my job, which was amazing, and even got to go to Japan for a week, which is an experience I won't forget! Went all around where I could, toured battleship Mikasa, and almost got to climb Mt. Fuji, though a typhoon canceled the trip the day prior. All in all, I absolutely loved the second deployment.
Just recently came out of the yards and we're getting the ship spun up and the new crew trained. I'll be going to shore here soon, so I've been busy getting the new folk ready to replace me.