NORFOLK, Va. – The destroyer Mitscher departed Monday morning on what’s slated to be an eight-month deployment to 5th Fleet. There, the crew will provide security operations and ballistic missile defense along with the Carl Vinson carrier strike group.
The destroyer, which spent more than two years in the yard, is in good working condition, according to crew members. The skipper was quick to add that his crew is operating just as strong.
"This ship has been working really hard, nonstop, since we came out of the yard period in January," said Cmdr. Frank Brandon, Mitscher's commanding officer, who said the crew developed an attitude of "one ship, one fight" through training evolutions with the Iwo Jima amphibious readiness group.
"You have your bumps and bruises," Brandon said. "Just like any other ship, you're not going to do it perfectly the first time. You want to, but you don't. You take that as a positive — this is what we have to do to get better."
The ship's steady improvements enabled it to complete its graduation exercise five days early. But that success didn't come easy. Much of the crew has pulled long days — 12 hours on, 12 hours off — in preparation for deployment, said Information Systems Technician 3rd Class Philip Taylor. While work-ups were stressful, it built a strong camaraderie and an excitement about this, his first deployment.
"I'm ready to shift colors and get underway," he said. "This is why I joined the Navy."
Mitscher is the second Norfolk-based destroyer to deploy in recent months. The destroyer James E. Williams departed May 30 on an eight-month deployment to support security and combined cooperation operations and exercises off the Horn of Africa. However, the commanding officer, command master chief and a former XO were removed from their posts mid-September as Destroyer Squadron 2 investigates the command climate aboard the ship.
