Hall Departs For 7-Month Deployment

John L. Hall has several port visits scheduled, to include the island of Crete, Greece and Constanta, Romania. The ship expects to be involved in many Theater Security Cooperation (TSC) engagements, which include port visits, community relations projects, and military to military training with host nations both in port and at sea.

John L. Hall's crew has recent experience with TSC visits, having completed a very successful stay in Klaipeda, Lithuania in October 2009.

"It's great to finally head out on deployment after all of the hard work the crew has done to prepare for today," said Cmdr. Derek Lavan, John L. Hall's commanding officer. "They have spent months training to head overseas again. We have a lot of exciting port visits scheduled where we will be able to work with NATO and other allies, conduct training with dozens of foreign navies, and meet Sailors just like us in other countries. All of that contributes to our shared Maritime Domain Awareness in the European and African Command areas of responsibility, which improves maritime security for all of us."

John L. Hall's last deployment in 2008 was to the same areas. However, the crew also has many Sailors who have not completed a deployment before.

"It's somewhat exciting. We're going to new places and get to have new experiences," said Information Systems Technician Seaman Apprentice David Samuels.

John L. Hall's 160 Sailors and 25 officers, as well as HSL-48 Detachment Nine's 25 Sailors and six officers are homeported at Naval Station Mayport, Fla.