The U.S. Navy’s Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 7 flagship, USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), departed Fleet Activities Sasebo, Japan for a scheduled patrol on August 6.
Bonhomme Richard recently competed a four-month selective restricted availability (SRA) period, during which time the ship made renovations and repairs to combat systems, engineering systems and berthings.
The upgrades were made to better serve the Sailors and Marines as they support the mission of security and peace in the Indo-Asia-Pacific.
“We are very excited to get the ship back to sea after a successful maintenance period,” said Capt. Jeffrey A. Ward , commanding officer of Bonhomme Richard. “The crew has put in a lot of hard work to make sure this ship is ready to return to sea and operate with our regional partners. I am confident in our ability to carry out any mission required of us.”
The Wasp-class amphibious assault ship joined the Navy in August 1998 and is forward deployed to Sasebo as part of Amphibious Force 7th Fleet.