Sailors from Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) visited The Fukuoka Institute of Technology, July 19, during a goodwill port call to Fukuoka.
The Sailors played basketball with the students, after which the school held a reception for the Sailors in the cafeteria featuring Japanese cuisine.
“This was more than I expected,” said Seaman Apprentice Juan Santiago, from Holyoke, Massachusetts. “They really went out of their way to welcome us.”
Fostering diplomatic relations with allies through friendly community interactions in port is part of America’s maritime strategy to build a joint coalition force of allies capable of ensuring maritime security.
Fitzgerald is forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, assigned to Destroyer Squadron 15, a key element to 7th Fleet, the largest of the forward-deployed U.S. fleets, with approximately 60 ships, 250 aircraft and 40,000 Sailors and Marines assigned at any given time.