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NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- The guided-missile destroyer USS Gonzalez (DDG 66) returned to Naval Station Norfolk, Aug. 17, after an 18-month deployment under the Atlantic Fleet’s Sea Swap initiative. The crew that returned to Norfolk assumed command of the ship Feb. 22, and successfully completed a deployment to the Persian Gulf, Horn of Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. While deployed, Gonzalez was tasked with assisting non-combatant evacuation efforts in Lebanon. The ship was the first U.S. Navy vessel to arrive in support of the evacuation efforts. “We’re an air defense platform and that is our job; we provided air defense...

WASHINGTON, July 25, 2006 – The Defense Department evacuated 957 U.S. citizens from Lebanon to Cyprus yesterday aboard the contracted cruise ship Orient Queen, bringing the total to 12,870 since the crisis in Lebanon began July 16, DoD officials said today. Also, DoD airlifted the first humanitarian supplies promised to those in the war-torn country, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. Three helicopters delivered three kits of medical supplies to Red Cross personnel. Each of the three medical kits has enough medicine and supplies to meet the needs of 10,000 people for three months. Seven other kits have arrived in Cyprus...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 3/25/06 - Samarra, Op. Swarmer , Kerbala, Abu Ghraib, al-Dor, Baquba, USS Gonzalez, USS Cape St. George, Taji, Nowruz, Istanbul, Tashkent, Tehran BREAKING: Samarra, Op. Swarmer - 11 caches and 104 terrorists taken BREAKING: Kerbala - terrorist attack Abu Ghraib - Real story: cache taken al-Dor - US-Iraqi patrols root out terrorists Baquba - Cache taken USS Gonzalez, USS Cape St. George - Weapons confiscated from terrorist pirates Taji - Nowruz celebrations Istanbul, Turkey - Nowruz celebrations Uzbek capital Tashkent - Nowruz celebrations Tehran - Nowruz celebrations QFN ==== YE OLDE QUAGMIRE-FREE...

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Somali militiamen who skirmished with U.S. Navy vessels claimed Sunday they did not fire the first shot and that they had been patrolling Somali waters to stop illegal fishing vessels. On Saturday, two U.S. Navy ships exchanged gunfire with suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia, killing one suspect and wounding five others. (Full story) It said that the incident took place on international waters and the Navy had taken 12 suspects, including the wounded, into custody after the gunbattle. Saleban Aadan Barqad, a spokesman for the militias, confirmed the casualties Sunday to The Associated Press....

Two U.S. navy warships attacked and captured a group of Somali pirates Saturday, leaving one suspect dead and five wounded. Twelve suspects were taken into custody after the early-morning shootout, said U.S. navy spokesman Lt.-Cmdr. Charlie Brown. No U.S. sailors were wounded in the battle, which occurred early in the morning off the Somali coast in international waters. Brown said the battle started when two U.S. guided-missile ships spotted a nine-metre fishing boat towing smaller skiffs. Sailors from the USS Cape St. George and USS Gonzalez were preparing to board the fishing boat when they saw the suspected pirates holding...

ABOARD USS CAPE ST. GEORGE, At sea (NNS) -- USS Cape St. George (CG 71) and USS Gonzalez (DDG 66) returned fire on a group of suspected pirates in the Indian Ocean, killing one and wounding five, approximately 25 nautical miles off the central eastern coast of Somalia in international waters at 5:40 a.m. local time, March 18. Cape St. George, a guided-missile cruiser, and Gonzalez, a guided-missile destroyer, were conducting maritime security operations in the area as part of Combined Task Force 150, a maritime coalition task force currently led by Royal Netherlands Navy Commodore Hank Ort, when they...

Navy Exchanges Fire With Suspected Pirates 8 minutes ago Two U.S. Navy ships exchanged gunfire with suspected pirates Saturday off the coast of Somalia, and one suspect was killed and five others were wounded, the navy said. The early morning gunbattle ensued after sailors spotted 30-foot fishing boat towing smaller skiffs and prepared for a routine boarding, said Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. Passengers on the fishing boat then began shooting, and U.S. naval gunners returned fire with mounted machine guns.

MOMBASA, Kenya, July 7, 2005 — USS Gonzalez moored at the Port of Mombasa, Kenya July 6 for an overnight port call, marking the first time a U.S. ship has visited Mombasa since 1999. “We really appreciate this visit,” said His Worship the Mayor Taib Ali Taib, mayor of Mombasa. “I don’t think it matters how short the visit. “What matters is that you are here. We appreciate the signal [the Gonzalez visit] sends to us as a country.” "Essentially, we're patrolling the waters of the Indian Ocean in order to preserve its use by legitimate mariners, and also to...

INDIAN OCEAN (NNS) -- U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Gonzalez (DDG 66), currently operating as part of Task Force 51 in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility, helped ward off an attack on motor vessel Tigris June 6 in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia. The guided-missile destroyer received word of the attack via a bridge-to-bridge radio report from Tigris. The crew of the motor vessel, who escaped uninjured, reported they were under attack and being fired upon. “The master [of Tigris] sounded extremely scared and provided Gonzalez his position and requested immediate assistance,” said Cmdr. Jeffrey...