The expeditionary fast transport ship Brunswick completed a home port shift to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia, on Saturday.
The Military Sealift Command ship had been forward-deployed to the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana islands, northeast of Guam, since 2017, and supported operations in the Navy’s 3rd, 5th and 7th fleets.
In its time overseas, the ship and its civilian crew logged more than 21,600 nautical miles supporting a variety of Navy, relief and other multinational missions, according to the command.
It also circumnavigated the globe, a first for a ship in its class.
U.S. troops regularly embark on such ships and the vessels can transport cargo, equipment and people fast, the command said.
The 338-foot-long catamaran ship class also conducts specialized missions, pre-positions combat supplies at sea and can pull into degraded or damaged ports as needed.
Last year, Brunswick played a key role in evacuating 836 people from the Port of Sudan to Saudi Arabia in support of the U.S. government’s evacuation of Sudan during the civil war there.
Geoff is the managing editor of Military Times, but he still loves writing stories. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan extensively and was a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He welcomes any and all kinds of tips at geoffz@militarytimes.com.
