The USS San Antonio arrived at Naval Station Norfolk Tuesday afternoon. It spent more than eight months in the Caribbean, part of Operation Southern Spear.
Fully loaded, the ship carries 1,000 sailors and Marines.
“I've been blown away every single day with how resilient our sailors are, sales and Marines, how much grit they've got, how professional they are,” said Capt. Thomas J. Uhl.
The operation includes targeting small boats that the Pentagon said were carrying drugs. U.S. forces have killed 185 people, according to the New York Times.
In January, the operation captured Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro. He was brought to the USS Iwo Jima before being transported to the United States to stand trial.
Operation Southern Spear continues even after the raid. The most recent strike on a drug boat happened over the weekend in the Eastern Pacific.
Capt. Uhl would not go into detail about the USS San Antonio’s role in the operation. The ship and its Marines delivered supplies and fuel in response to Hurricane Maria in September.
“Hurricane Melissa came and impacted Jamaica. And so on very, very short notice, we shifted gears. We left port in less than 24 hours, and made best speed over to Jamaica,” he said.
USS San Antonio came back to Norfolk in time to make a scheduled maintenance availability.
USS Iwo Jima and USS Fort Lauderdale, and the rest of the 4,500 sailors and Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Lejeune remain deployed to the Caribbean.
The head of Fleet Forces, Adm. Karl Thomas acknowledged that between the Caribbean and the war with Iran, that Norfolk and the Navy has an unusually high number of ships deployed into conflicts that began under the Trump administration.
“The good thing about the Navy is we're pretty resilient when it comes to preparing our ships. They are doing longer deployments than we have typically done in the past, but I wouldn't call what's going on in the world right now typical either,” Thomas said.
The family of OS2 Marisol Davila traveled 40 hours from California for the arrival of the USS San Antonio.
“We were so surprised when she joined the Navy,” said her sister Cynthia Davila as she held two flags and a poster waiting on the pier. “I'm so proud of her. I was scared, but I'm proud of her. I'm glad she's home.”
They plan to drive her back to California for a family party before she is scheduled to return to the ship.
