NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) \u2014 The USS Fort Lauderdale returned to Naval Station Norfolk Thursday after an 11-month deployment to the U.S. Fourth Fleet area of operations.<\/p>\n
\t The San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship\u2019s return comes after it left the base with USS Iwo Jima and USS San Antonio on Aug. 14, 2025. <\/p>\n A lot can happen in 11 months. Seasons change, holidays come and go and children grow \u2014 many of those sailors missing those moments.<\/p>\n \u201cFor him to bond with them again and bond with his oldest son again, it\u2019ll be really exciting just to watch that,\u201d said Valerie Hepburn, a mother of one of the sailors returning home.<\/p>\n \u201cMy boy, he\u2019s home,\u201d Hepburn said. <\/p>\n During the ship\u2019s deployment, it supported U.S. Southern Command missions, Department of Defense-related operations and disrupting drug trafficking.<\/p>\n Sailors and Marines aboard the USS Fort Lauderdale operated with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and Littoral Combat Force-24. The ship conducted 3,194 sorties, logged 792 flight hours and traveled more than 51,093 nautical miles.<\/p>\n \u201cThe crew dug in deep, got every ounce of training opportunity they could, and they were ready to go. And I couldn\u2019t be more impressed or inspired,\u201d said Capt. Jiwan Mack, commanding officer of the USS Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n The ship also delivered relief supplies after Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica and served as a primary coordination hub for U.S. government relief efforts after the 7.5-magnitude earthquake in Venezuela.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be in a position where we could set sail, pull in and provide assistance, that meant everything to the crew,\u201d Mack said. <\/p>\n The experiences out at sea have made an everlasting impact on its crew. <\/p>\n \u201cThe difference in them today as opposed to 11 months ago, that\u2019s something very tangible that I think everybody in the crew will take with them for a lifetime.\u201d Mack said.<\/p>\n Sailors certainly felt that difference as they stepped off board. <\/p>\n \u201cI really think I\u2019ve learned how to overcome,\u201d said Lauren Potesta, a navigator on the USS Fort Lauderdale. \u201cI really saw people band together, be there for each other, push through every evolution, every new foreign port.\u201d<\/p>\n But this stop at Naval Station Norfolk is its last, giving families like the Potesta\u2019s a taste of home.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst thing we\u2019re about to do is go to Chick-Fil-A, because every time I come home from a deployment, Chick-Fil-A is what we do,\u201d said Potesta with a large grin.<\/p>\n As for what\u2019s next for the USS Fort Lauderdale, it will have a maintenance period in order to prepare for its next tasking.<\/p>\n For more information, you can visit Commander Carrier Strike Group 12\u2019s website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Download the WAVY News App<\/a> to keep up with the latest news, weather and sports from WAVY-TV 10. Available in both the Apple<\/a> and Google Play<\/a> stores.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tSuggest a Correction<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tClose Modal<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tSuggest a Correction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) \u2014 The USS Fort Lauderdale returned to Naval Station Norfolk Thursday after an 11-month deployment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-348500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348500","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=348500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\t\tWAVY\u2019s Navy Ship Salute: USS Fort Lauderdale\t<\/a><\/p>\n