US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Roosevelt (DDG 80) has entered the US 6th Fleet area of operations where it will now carry out a regional patrol, before completing its homeport shift to Rota, Spain
Roosevelt, named after the 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor, is the first Flight IIA Forward Deployed Naval Forces-Europe (FDNF-E) destroyer.
“Roosevelt is trained and ready to execute the FDNF-E mission set and shift homeports to Rota,” said Cmdr. Matthew Molmer, Roosevelt’s commanding officer. “Our professional crew will continue the legacy of ships assigned to 6th Fleet.”
Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM 48) Det 7 ‘Mayport Mules’ embarked on Roosevelt, which is also the first FDNF-E destroyer capable of deploying with organic Lamps MK III MH-60 helicopters.
Roosevelt will replace USS Carney (DDG 64) in the first of several scheduled homeport shifts to occur in support of the US Navy’s long-range plan to gradually rotate the four Rota-based destroyers.
“The arrival of Roosevelt is a tangible demonstration of our continued commitment to operate forward in support of our national security interests,” said Vice Adm. Lisa Franchetti, commander, US 6th Fleet.
Prior to transiting the Atlantic, Roosevelt took a variety of coronavirus-related precautions to ensure the crew arrived in the European theater safe and healthy.
With a newly configured baseline 9 Aegis weapon system, Roosevelt brings the US Navy’s top-of-the-line capabilities to the US European Phased Adaptive Approach and NATO’s robust integrated air missile defense (IAMD) architecture.
Roosevelt is integrating into the US 6th Fleet mission after participating in exercise Formidable Shield in 2019. USS Roosevelt conducted an SM-3 engagement with a simulated ballistic missile target, while concurrently engaging ‘Firejet’ test targets with SM-2 missiles.
Last June, the ship also visited Chebourg, France to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.
