NORFOLK, Va. — With the sun barely up Wednesday morning, sailors on the Norfolk-based USS Ross hauled in the lines.
“I feel a little sad, but happy," said Hannah Donson White, whose sister is on the ship.
Donson White, a sailor herself, was there to watch her sister deploy.
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“She’s pretty good. She’s feeling good about today. She’s going in with good spirits," Donson White said.
The deployment comes as the war with Iran could be nearing a new phase. In the week leading up to the deployment, according to the Associated Press, thousands of Marines had been deployed to the Middle East and members of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division were preparing to deploy.
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The Ross’s captain, Cmdr. Pia Chapman, would not say where the ship was going or how long the deployment would last.
“We won’t have a specific mission right now that I can disclose, but what I can tell you is we’re ready for whatever comes our way," Chapman explained.
The Ross was the third ship in two days from the Bush Carrier Strike Group to deploy. The USS Donald Cook left Wednesday from Florida and the USS Mason left from Florida Tuesday.
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The strike group also recently completed pre-deployment training. News 3 asked the CO when the rest of the strike group, including the carrier itself and the thousands of Hampton Roads-based sailors attached to it, could be deployed but she said she couldn’t say.
“I think my message to my crew is that we’re ready. The team, like I said, they’ve trained hard. We’ve done the hard work, we’ve gotten in the books, we know exactly what our capabilities are, and most importantly we’re here for each other," Chapman said.
The Bush Carrier Strike Group last deployed in 2022.
