Over 250 family members, a hula group, and a five-piece Navy band welcomed the Port Royal and its crew of over 390 members on Friday morning after a seven-month deployment to the Middle East and the South China Sea, according to the Honolulu Star Advertiser. It was the guided-missile cruiser's first deployment in four and a half years. 

The guided missile cruiser was previously declared to be permanently damaged goods in 2009 after a grounding off Honolulu The grounding and extensive repairs led the Navy to believe that the ship had other maintenance problems that remained hidden. But rather than retire the Port Royal as the Navy wanted, Congress believed the cruiser still had some life thereby forcing the service to catch up on the deferred maintenance so cruiser could deploy.

Capt. Christopher Budde, who took command of the Port Royal on Feb. 24 said "both materially and from an operational standpoint by the crew, the ship did fantastic."

During deployment the Port Royal was reportedly "harassed" by an Iranian navy catamaran while going through the Strait of Hormuz one mid-January night. "I don't know that it was anything that's not standard these days (with) Iranian boats approaching our ships," Budde said. "'Harassing,' I think, means a different level of intent. ... The Strait of Hormuz is a very busy waterway with traffic going across each other, so a lot of small boats are crossing perpendicular to the big shipping traffic. So I don't think there was any hostile intent indicated."

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