USS Chafee returns to Hawaii homeport as Michael Murphy sets sail
FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii — The guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee(DDG 90) is expected to return Friday to its homeport in Pearl Harbor after completing an independent deployment to the Western Pacific and waters near South America, the Navy said.
On the same day, the Hawaii-based destroyer USS Michael Murphy(DDG 112) is slated to leave Pearl Harbor to join the Carl Vinson Strike Group for deployment in the Western Pacific.
The strike group — which also includes the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson(CVN 70), guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain(CG 57) and guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer(DDG 108) — departed its homeport of San Diego last week.
During its current deployment, the USS Chafee conducted theater-security cooperation and maritime-presence operations with other Pacific nations, the Navy said.
With a crew of almost 350, the Chafee is designed to operate either independently or as part of a strike group. A maintenance crew and pilots from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 37 served as air support for the ship for the entire deployment.
Its crew recovered nearly a ton of illicit narcotics while patrolling 4th Fleet waters, the Navy said. The ship was integrated into Carrier Strike Group 5 in support of the USS Ronald Reagan’s patrol of the 7th Fleet area of responsibility.
The Chafee was ported for 10 days in December in Singapore for maintenance in an arrangement that allowed the ship to get needed fixes outside Hawaii and Japan, the Navy said.
Chafee is part of U.S. Naval Surface Forces and 3rd Fleet, which leads Pacific naval forces.
The ship was named after the late Sen. John Lester Hubbard Chafee, a Marine veteran who fought in the Battle of Guadalcanal during World War II and served as Navy secretary from 1969-72.
Its last deployment to the Western Pacific and South America was in 2015.
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This Post's News source is STARS AND STRIPES
By WYATT OLSON | STARS AND STRIPES
Published: January 11, 2018