NORFOLK, Va. — Saturday afternoon, the crew of the Norfolk-based USNS Supply got the moment they had been waiting for for eight months.
“I’m very excited to be home," said USNS Supply Medical services Officer Craig McLain.
“I don’t even have the words. Just having him back with me again to go to the ballgames and do Christmas," Craig's wife, Brenda, said as they stood together on the ship.
“I’m looking forward to going out in Norfolk, having some fun with my friends, and eventually getting home to California," said USNS crew member JSO Eric Garrard.
During deployment the Supply, as the name suggests, supplied navy ships from multiple countries responding to the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
It delivered more than 87 million gallons of fuel and nearly 15,000 pallets of cargo and supplies.
Watch: Israel seeks governing alternative to Hamas
“On this ship, we’re used to working long deployments. It was especially challenging this time in a hostile world because we weren’t able to setoff the ship for long periods of time. But we all worked together as a team and handled it very easily," USNS crew member 2nd Officer Zack Ferguson.
The ship was the last part of the Norfolk-based USS Dwight D. EWisenhower Carrier Strike Group to return from deployment.
The rest of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group returned two weeks earlier. The strike group was deployed in 2023 as part of the U.S. response to the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Watch: USS Dwight D. Eisenhower returns from deployment
But just because the Supply was last to return home doesn’t mean it’s not important.
“It’s vital. The Navy doesn’t operate without the MSC ships," MSC-Atlantic Commodore Capt. Jamie Murdock.
The ship was only supposed to be deployed for six weeks.
The Ike Carrier Strike Group's return follows the return of the Norfolk-based USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group in January, which was also part of the U.S.’s response to the ongoing fighting in the Middle East.
Watch: USS Gerald R. Ford returns from deployment
"World events changed in October, attacks in the Red Sea started to happen, so they pushed the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group into the Red Sea where the Supply continued her operations and kept the Carrier Strike Group going and in the fight," Murdock explained.
Along with supply work, the Supply also participated in what the navy refers to as friendship building visits in multiple countries during the deployment.
