USS Gunston Hall deploys to Haiti

NORFOLK, Va. - The USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44), deployed from Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek Friday as planned - but headed to Haiti instead of its original mission of supporting Africa Partnership Station (APS).

The Navy says the Whidbey Island-class amphibious dock landing ship, commanded by Cmdr. Fred Wilhelm, will support humanitarian assistance and disaster response in the aftermath of Haiti's devastating earthquake.

Because the ship was prepared to train with European and African Navies in Africa, some members of those international forces are already with the Gunston Hall. Now they'll travel with the ship to help with the tragedy in Haiti.

"The good thing is that one of the missions was to train our host nations to conduct humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, disaster recovery," said Lt. Col John Golden, Cmdr. Marine Task Force.

The Gunston Hall has medical capabilities, plus it can create and provide more than 70,000 gallons of fresh drinking water each day.

"My troops are extremely fired up, said Wilhelm.  "They joined the Navy to go help people.  We're a global force. We train humanitarian assistance. It's one of our core missions."

The Gunston Hall joins other Hampton Roads-based Naval elements responding to the crisis on the Caribbean island, including:

USS Bataan (LHD 5)
USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43)
USS Carter Hall (LSD 50)
USS Normandy (CG 60)
Personnel from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (via USNS Comfort)
Underwater Construction Team 1
Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2

Other Hampton Roads elements already in Haiti include the Portsmouth-based U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Forward and elements of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 40 (VRC-40) from Naval Air Station Norfolk.

WAVY photojournalists Art Kohn and Jeff Myers are on board the USS Bataan. Look for their reports on upcoming WAVY News 10 broadcasts, and keep checking WAVY.com for their stories, photos, blogs and video reports.