U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Paul Hamilton will depart Hawaii April 5 after more than twenty years of being homeported at the Pearl Harbor naval base.
The U.S. Navy announced recently that USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60) will swap homeports with USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110) this summer.
William P. Lawrence departed San Diego on a regularly scheduled deployment in January and will arrive in Hawaii in mid-2016.
This move is part of the rebalance to the Indo-Asia-Pacific, under which the U.S. Navy is concentrating its ships in the region. This move will allow Paul Hamilton to proceed to San Diego for a scheduled extended dry-docking selected restricted availability.
Rear Adm. John Fuller , commander, Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific and Navy Region Hawaii, said:
“Commissioned in 1995, USS Paul Hamilton has been operating out of Pearl Harbor ever since, providing forward presence for the Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet. The men and women who served aboard this destroyer directly strengthened Pacific maritime security during dozens of deployments, training missions and exercises, including Koa Kai and RIMPAC.”
“This homeport assignment is part of the U.S. Navy’s strategic laydown and dispersal plan. The Navy is committed to basing approximately 60 percent of Navy ships and aircraft in the region by 2020. As such, our readiness and the warriors’ ethos in Hawaii will continue to be critical to maintaining security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.”