Sterett set to leave on maiden deployment - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Sterett set to leave on maiden deployment

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Two years after its commissioning into the fleet, the destroyer Sterett will leave its berth in San Diego on Friday for its first operational deployment.

Cmdr. Darren McPherson commands the ship, which will join the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group for the scheduled deployment to the 5th Fleet and 7th Fleet regions, according to a statement from the San Diego-based 3rd Fleet.

Sterett, carrying a crew of 39 officers and 275 enlisted sailors, will deploy with a two-aircraft detachment of MH-60R Seahawk multi-mission helicopters from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 77.

The Arleigh Burke destroyer is the fourth ship to bear the name of Master Commandant Andrew Sterett, who led his ships’ crews in battles against pirates during the Barbary Wars in the early 1800s.