Manning the rails as the USS Eisenhower pulled into Norfolk Sunday morning, Culinary Specialist Mariah Starks had few plans after nine months at sea. She was content to be coming home to her wife.
“To do absolutely nothing, to rest,” she said. “Catch up on everything. Get my time back with my family. And yeah. Nothing.”
Over nine months, the USS Eisenhower, along with more than 6,500 sailors in the strike group, countered missiles and drones fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen who were attempting to disrupt international shipping.
The Ike left Norfolk just after war broke out in Gaza in October. It was extended twice as the number of attacks rose. It was the most active deployment since World War II, said Rear Admiral Kavon Hakimzadeh, commander of the strike group.
“We were operating in a maritime area that was under the weapons range of the Iranian backed Houthi militia for seven of those months,” he said. “Along the way, we employed the combat capabilities of every ship in the strike group to their maximum extent. We’re using a lot of weapons for the first time ever.”
The ships escorted 28 vessels. In June, they rescued 25 crew members from a Greek merchant vessel which was sinking in the Red Sea. The carrier flew nearly 14,000 sorties and logged more than 31,000 flight hours, often flying seven days a week, according to the Navy.
During the deployment, they developed techniques for countering the volume of attacks, which were often relatively low-tech drones. The lessons are being incorporated into training for the ships who will replace the Ike in the Red Sea, said Vice Admiral Doug Perry, commander of 2nd Fleet.
“We learn a lot with every combat deployment, and so we're taking all those observations, those interactions, doing some analysis and then making sure that we've got the right tactics, techniques, procedures to employ the next deployment,” he said.
Along with USS Eisenhower, USS Philippine Sea and USS Gravely also returned to Norfolk. Carrier Wing 3 also returned home beginning Friday.
