The USS Ashland returned Monday from a four-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific, where the 610-foot dock landing ship participated in numerous exercises while carrying Marines from Camp Pendleton, the Navy said.
The exercises included Balikatan 2026, which was meant to strengthen long-standing ties between the U.S. and the Philippines. The drills involved live-fire events and amphibious operations and were carried out with participation from the Royal Thai Armed Forces, the Republic of Korea Marine Corps and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the team’s work over these past four months at sea,” Cmdr. Adam Peeples, commanding officer of Ashland, said in a statement.