USS Curts Returns to San Diego

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- The guided-missile frigate USS Curts (FFG 38) will return to San Diego July 16 completing an independent, six-month deployment to the 5th and 7th Fleet areas of responsibility (AOR).

The deployment was defined by extensive participation with coalition forces across the entire spectrum of maritime operations.

Curts' efforts fostered strong diplomatic and military relations with regional partners in support of mutual interests on the high seas.

"We are immensely proud to have been afforded the opportunity to serve our Navy and our nation abroad," said Cmdr. H. Thomas Workman, Curts' commanding officer. "This crew trained with passion, intensity and success to ensure preparedness for all operational challenges that we encountered. Those preparations coupled with selfless dedication allowed Curts to succeed in every assigned mission."

While conducting 5th Fleet missions, Curts operated as part of multiple coalition task forces, ensuring the safety of merchant shipping traffic within the internationally recognized trade corridor across the Gulf of Aden, Bab el-Mandeb Straits and Red Sea.

Along with coalition partners, Curts provided force protection and emergency medical support to distressed merchant vessels. These efforts are designed to improve maritime stability within the region and protect free use of the sea lanes by thwarting the activities of violent extremists and criminal organizations.

Additionally, Curts conducted four Suez Canal transits, two exercises with the Egyptian Navy and participated in Exercise Malabar 2010, a week-long bilateral military exercise which aims to promote the interoperability of the U.S. Navy and Indian Navy.

In support of 7th Fleet, Curts conducted various freedom of navigation exercises; economic exclusion zone patrols and port visits to Guam; Sepangar, Malaysia; Phuket, Thailand; and Male, Maldives.

In Malaysia, the crew joined the Rotary Club in extensive maintenance and repair of the Kota Kinabalu Orphanage. In Thailand, 35 Curts Sailors joined the Navy League and local Rotary Club in extensive landscaping refurbishment at a local school and orphanage which were devastated during the 2004 tsunami.

Curts helps provide deterrence, promote peace and security, preserve freedom of the sea and humanitarian/disaster response within 3rd Fleet's 50-million square mile AOR in the Eastern Pacific, as well as supporting the Navy's Maritime Strategy when forward deployed.