Free Republic

Story Number: NNS040310-05 Release Date: 3/11/2004 3:00:00 PM By Fire Controlman 2nd Class Joseph W. Lovett, USS Port Royal, and Lt. Chris Davis, ESG 1 Public Affairs PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (NNS) -- USS Port Royal (CG 73) returned home to Pearl Harbor March 11 following a six-and-a-half month deployment with Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 1. The 350 crew members assigned to Port Royal returned to “the Navy’s best homeport” following operations in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Port Royal deployed Sept. 2 with ESG 1, supporting a Chief of Naval Operations and Commandant of the Marine Corps-sanctioned...

ABOARD THE USNS SATURN (AP)--Masked U.S. Marines and their Spanish counterparts streamed out of military helicopters and stormed a naval vessel Saturday, part of a drill in halting traffic in weapons of mass destruction. In minutes, the 26 U.S. Marines and 15 Spanish commandos were in full control of the USNS Saturn, a U.S. supply ship that was outfitted to mimic a merchant ship carrying concealed chemical and biological weapons. More than a dozen Saturn crew were bound with plastic handcuffs. A search team of experts draped in yellow protective suits and armed with high-tech gadgetry screened the shipment for...