NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Hundreds of sailors are now home with their families after USS Truxtun wrapped up its roughly 6-month deployment.
The crew returned to sunshine and blue skies in Norfolk on Friday morning, while families and friends shouted at Truxton as it sailed into the piers. Like with any homecoming, many of the people there were from our region, while many others drove in from states away to welcome their loved ones.
“A lot of excitement, a lot of excitement, yeah,” said Alyssa Martin right before her father got off the ship. “He’s been gone for a minute, missed a lot of good events, but we’re just ready for him to come home.”
About 300 sailors were on board the destroyer during its time away from home.
2 Norfolk-based Navy ships collide in the Caribbean, leaving 2 sailors with minor injuries
This deployment was not without incident. As WAVY reported in February, USS Truxton collided with a Navy oil supply ship during an underway refueling. Right after this, Commander James Koffi was removed from his post and Commander Taylor Auclair took over as Commanding Officer mid-deployment. He could not tell 10 On Your Side much about what happened, but said he is impressed with how the crew bounced back…