{"id":205932,"date":"2026-03-25T20:23:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T20:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/205932\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T20:23:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T20:23:06","slug":"jacksonville-families-say-goodbye-as-navy-destroyer-heads-out-for-overseas-deployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/205932\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville families say goodbye as Navy destroyer heads out for overseas deployment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A U.S. Navy destroyer left its homeport in Jacksonville Tuesday, sending families to the waterfront for tearful goodbyes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The USS Donald Cook set sail from Naval Station Mayport on an overseas deployment, the latest reminder of the role Jacksonville-based forces play in global military operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">For the parents of Lt. j.g. Madison Mooers, the send-off meant a cross-country trip. Frances and Joe Mooers traveled from California to Jacksonville to say farewell to their daughter before she deployed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe know we\u2019re the best military force in the world, so we\u2019re hoping that stands behind her and pray they bring everybody home safely,\u201d Frances and Joe Mooers said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The timing of this comes as the US is actively involved in the War in Iran<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Navy officials said they could not confirm the USS Donald Cook\u2019s specific role due to operational security reasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Donald Cook\u2019s departure comes just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2026\/03\/24\/families-bid-farewell-as-uss-mason-heads-out-for-deployment-from-naval-station-mayport\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2026\/03\/24\/families-bid-farewell-as-uss-mason-heads-out-for-deployment-from-naval-station-mayport\/\">one day after the USS Mason also left Naval Station Mayport<\/a>. Similar to the USS Mason, the ship\u2019s main capabilities include ballistic missile defense and surface warfare.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A U.S. Navy destroyer left its homeport in Jacksonville Tuesday, sending families to the waterfront&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,94536],"class_list":["post-205932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-uss-donald-cook"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}