USS Gunston Hall returns to HR

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - The Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story based amphibious dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44) returned home on Saturday from a five and a half month deployment.

The Gunston Hall left Hampton Roads on Jan. 15 as the flagship for Africa Partnership Station (APS) West, 2010. Right after its departure, that mission was placed on hold and the ship was ordered to Haiti to take part in earthquake relief efforts.

While in Haiti, the crew, along with the embarked international APS West staff, worked with the U.S. and international militaries and relief organizations to stabilize conditions at Killick Coast Guard Base.

When her role in Haiti was complete, Gunston Hall began her original mission of Africa Partnership Station West, 2010. APS West is an international initiative developed by Naval Forces Europe and Naval Forces Africa that aims to improve maritime safety and security in West and Central Africa.

After completing Africa Partnership Station 2010, Gunston Hall served as the flagship for Phoenix Express. The ship hosted several medical and maritime interception operations teams from Tunisia, Senegal, Algeria, Nigeria and Turkey. Other national participants in the exercise were Spain, Greece, Italy, and Morocco. The exercise focused on building increased multi-national cooperation and training to combat illegal activity at sea.

Gunston Hall rounded out the deployment by participating in Baltic Operations 2010 (BALTOPS). BALTOPS is an exercise designed to help strengthen regional partnerships and promote maritime safety and security in the Baltic Sea. There she transported amphibious craft for an amphibious landing off the coast of Estonia, in a historic joint U.S. and Estonian Marine Corps landing in the country.

Gunston Hall is the fourth ship of the LSD 41 (Whidbey Island) class. Gunston Hall's mission is to transport U.S. Marines with their combat equipment to designated areas around the world, and then to launch and support assault landing craft and helicopters during amphibious operations against hostile shores.