Bonhomme Richard Strike Force Returns Home

The US Navy reports that the Bonhomme Richard expeditionary strike group returned to San Diego on Tuesday, after a long seven and a half month deployment to the Persian Gulf and the Pacific Ocean.

The strike group consists of the U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard, the U.S.S. Denver, and the U.S.S. Rushmore. Also included is the amphibious Squadron 7, the 13^th Marine Expeditionary, with its home base in camp Pendleton, the USS Milius, the USS Chosin and the USS Chung-Hoon.

U.S. Navy forces successfully coordinated their efforts with units from Australia, Singapore, and Kuwait.

One of the primary missions was to patrol the waters around Iraq's strategic oil platforms. These are located in the North Persian Gulf. The strike group was on patrol for about four months. The Persian Gulf has many important trade routes, and the United States Navy is dedicated to keeping international shipping flowing. The Navy maintains a presence in the Persian Gulf in the current conflict, but also during peacetime, in order to deter aggression. Historically, Iran has sometimes interfered with shipping in the area, for example, during the Iraq/Iran War. Iran attacked a number of oil tankers. Eventually, the US Navy retaliated, striking at the Iranian Navy, as well as at Iranian oil platforms that were being used as weapons platforms.

The mission was part of the global war on terrorism.

On its way home it made its way through the area controlled by the Seventh Fleet. It conducted training there as well, continually drilling and practicing to keep its skills sharp and readiness high.

The Strike Force is available for humanitarian missions, also.

But it was not all work, for members of the strike group,namely the cooks, were able to stop in Perth, Australia to learn from the chefs at the Hilton hotel. Also participating were crew members from the USS Denver and the USS Rushmore.

The Navy chefs are used to serving very large groups of people, up to 3500, three times a day. They were very interested in seeing how the Hilton chefs prepared food for much smaller groups of people. Similarly, the chefs from the Hilton were amazed to see how many people the Navy chefs had to serve every day. Both groups learned from each other. Stephen Clark, a civilian chef, was impressed by the way the Navy chefs kept the daily menu interesting.

Also impressive was the vast amount of storage space necessary to store the food and other items to feed a crew of that size.

When the strike group finally reached home in San Diego, CA, family and friends lined the dock, and warmly greeted the returning sailors.

Bonhomme Richard Strike Force, US Navy