US Navy transport dock USS San Diego (LPD 22) pulled into Souda Bay, Greece, on October 15, for a scheduled port visit and a mid-deployment voyage repair maintenance stop.
The San Antonio-class ship USS San Diego arrived in Greece together with embarked Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) after three-and-a-half months of its deployment.
Mid-deployment voyage repairs are used to complete repairs and maintenance to ensure the ship continues to be ready for the remainder of its deployment and its mission.
“We have been underway for [a while],” said Capt. Pete Collins, commanding officer of San Diego. “Pulling in is a great way to relieve some stress and fatigue that some Sailors might be feeling at this point of our deployment.”
“It’s very necessary for us to pull in and take care of our mid-deployment voyage repair,” said Collins. “We want to make sure that we are making the most of where we are and maintaining our capabilities and operational impact.”
San Diego is deployed with the America Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 15th MEU to support maritime security and theater security cooperation in efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations.
Commissioned in 2012, San Diego is the sixth ship in the San Antonio-class of amphibious landing transport dock ships.
The America ARG, led by Commander, Amphibious Squadron 3, consists of San Diego, the America-class amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), and the Harpers Ferry-class amphibious dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52). The ships will operate with embarked forces of the 15th MEU, the “Wildcards” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23, and detachments from Assault Craft Unit 5, Naval Beach Group 1, Beachmaster Unit 1, Fleet Surgical Team 1 and Tactical Air Control Squadron 11.