NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Va. — The guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely returned to Naval Station Norfolk on Dec. 13 after spending about four months supporting missions for U.S. Southern Command, the Navy said.
The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer completed a deployment that included operations in the Gulf of America and the Caribbean Sea, where the ship supported maritime security and defense efforts in the Western Hemisphere.
“Team Gravely takes pride in our continued service to maritime homeland defense,” Cmdr. Greg Piorun, the ship’s commanding officer, said in a statement. “This team has worked hard in the precision execution of a wide variety of missions aimed to underpin American security and economic prosperity in the Western Hemisphere.”
Gravely deployed from March through June in support of U.S. Northern Command tasking before continuing operations from August through December under U.S. Southern Command. During that time, the destroyer operated alongside the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Readiness Group and the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, according to the Navy.
The ship is a multi-mission destroyer capable of air, surface and undersea warfare, as well as strike, electronic and information warfare missions. About 300 sailors are assigned to the Gravely.
The USS Gravely is named for Vice Adm. Samuel L. Gravely Jr., the Navy’s first Black admiral, and was commissioned in Wilmington, North Carolina, in November 2010.
U.S. Fleet Forces Command, based in Norfolk, oversees the manning, training and equipping of Navy forces and directs readiness for ships, aircraft and sailors deployed around the world.
