The guided-missile destroyer Carney completed a four-month patrol by returning to Spain’s Naval Station Rota on Monday, 6th Fleet announced.
The warship traveled roughly 20,000 miles after leaving Rota on March 23 on its sixth forward deployed patrol since joining the 6th Fleet in 2015.
“The men and women of the Carney crew performed admirably,” said the destroyer’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Tyson Young, in a prepared statement released by 6th Fleet.
“We are all very excited to get back home and enjoy some well-deserved leave time.”
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Carney’s most recent patrol took the warship to three major exercises in the region, spanning nearly the entire width of 6th Fleet’s operational area, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea.
In late March and early April, Carney joined 34 other surface ships, five submarines and 59 aircraft from 13 nations in the Joint Warrior exercise, which focuses on anti-piracy and counter-terrorism training, plus crisis simulations.
During May’s exercise Formidable Shield, held on the United Kingdom’s Hebrides Range off the Western Scottish Isles, Carney conducted missile defense training alongside warships from eight other NATO members.
In late June Carney participated in the 12-day Sea Breeze exercise in the northwestern part of Black Sea. The surface warfare and anti-submarine training involved 30 ships and 30 aircraft from 19 countries, often monitored by Russian forces.
Carney is slated to be replaced in Rota by the Naval Station Mayport-based guided-missile destroyer Roosevelt in mid-2020. Carney is expected to return to the Florida homeport before undergoing a long overhaul and modernization session in a shipyard.
Mark D. Faram is a former reporter for Navy Times. He was a senior writer covering personnel, cultural and historical issues. A nine-year active duty Navy veteran, Faram served from 1978 to 1987 as a Navy Diver and photographer.
