The destroyer USS Stout left Norfolk Monday afternoon. Its crew of more than 300 sailors is deploying independently of a carrier strike group. Though the Navy wouldn’t release their destination, Charity Kwakye says her husband CPO Mark Kwayke told her to brace for 11 months at sea. She waved goodbye along with their three children.
“I do have a full-time job. I'm a mom of three, and I know I need help. I need to know - how do I take them to all of their sporting events? How do I go to work? How do I take care of the house and all that? It's gonna be tough, but we'll get through it,” she said.
At a recent Navy virtual town hall, Chief of Naval Operations Daryl Caudle recently told sailors to expect longer deployments as the war with Iran continues. Capt. Brian Carmichael, Commander of Naval Surface Group Mid-Atlantic, said sailors on board USS Stout were given similar expectations.
“We're telling them the same thing,” Carmichael said. “Be ready to deploy as long as we need you. What we found is we open up the lines of communication, so to decrease the amount of anxiety that may be associated with it. The sailors understand that the deployments could last up to a year based on some of the recent ones, but they know it could be shorter also.”
The USS Gerald R. Ford Strike Group deployed for more than 11 months, including stints in the Caribbean and in the Middle East. It suffered a major fire before finally returning to Norfolk in May. Recently, the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln broke Navy records for time at sea for a carrier before being allowed to leave the Middle East and slowly make its way to San Diego.
Two carriers, USS Washington and the Norfolk-based USS George HW Bush remain in the waters around Iran, along with their strike groups and support ships.
“They've gotten busy, but we have a force generation model that we follow. We know kind of the global force management deployment schedules, and so we focus and prioritize our efforts on those ships to make sure we're generating forces to meet the requirement,” Carmichael said.
USS Stout returned to Norfolk in June 2025, after eight months in the Red Sea. It underwent four months of maintenance before preparing for this deployment. It could remain independent of the strike groups or replace one of the destroyers in the Middle East which are also approaching 11 months at sea as the war with Iran continues.
