USS Gunston Hall returns home

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - The amphibious dock-landing ship USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44) returned to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story on Thursday following a three-month deployment.

The ship departed Hampton Roads on Jan. 12 to participate in Amphibious Southern Partnership Station 2011 (A-SPS 11).

For the exercise, the Gunston Hall deployed to the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility including Belize, Colombia and Guatemala.

According to the Navy, A-SPS 11 is an ongoing naval mission to the Caribbean Basin and Latin America that focuses on sharing professional expertise with partner nation military, civil and maritime services.

Gunston Hall, commanded by Capt. John F. Meier, is named after the home of George Mason, author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was the inspiration for the Federal Bill of Rights. A multi-mission amphibious ship, the ship is designed to conduct amphibious landing operations, but is also capable of providing first responder humanitarian assistance/foreign disaster relief in the event of a man-made or natural disaster in the region.

The ship has more than 300 sailors and carries more than 300 Marines.