USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. comes home after 10 months at sea

The USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. returned home this week after a 10-month deployment that included defending Navy assets against ballistic missiles as part of Iran war operations.

The USS Petersen left Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, on Dec. 1, 2025, and arrived back at its home port on Monday after 300 days at sea, officials announced in a release. The ship originally set sail in the South China Sea as part of ongoing “presence operations” to deter Chinese military actions in the region. 

By January, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer arrived in the Middle East and joined the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, which included the USS Abraham Lincoln, a destroyer squadron, a carrier air wing, and over 70 fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. As part of operations against Iran, the USS Petersen provided air and missile defense for U.S. assets in the region and supported naval blockade operations and mine detection efforts throughout the Strait of Hormuz, officials said.

Over the course of its deployment, the crew of the Petersen sailed more than 85,000 nautical miles, transferred more than 7.5 million gallons of fuel for jets, warships and other Navy vessels, and had 45 replenishments-at-sea, officials said. 

The Petersen’s 10-month deployment comes as Navy officials say that families should prepare for sailors to be away from home for longer stretches of time. The lengthy deployments became a data point as media reports and congressional inquiries scrutinized compounding quality-of-life issues and mental health concerns among USS Abraham Lincoln sailors supporting the Iran war.

Navy officials originally pushed back on the mental health concerns. Then, Acting Secretary Hung Cao said last week that eight sailors attempted suicide during the deployment. The attempts included sailors from the USS Lincoln crew, carrier air wing, strike group and destroyer squadron staff, escorting destroyers, and all embarked aviation squadrons, Cao wrote in a letter to members of Congress. Officials also acknowledged that the lack of port calls for the Lincoln contributed to quality-of-life issues among deployed sailors who had operated uninterrupted for more than 250 days at sea. 

Separately, during the USS Petersen’s 10 months at sea, the crew had port calls in Guam; Duqm, Oman; Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory; and Sriracha, Thailand. 

“This deployment challenged us in many ways and required every sailor to perform at their very best,” Capt. Casey Mahon, commanding officer of the USS Frank E. Petersen Jr., said in the release. “Despite the pressures and complexities of our missions, the crew rose to the occasion every time, ensuring the safety, security, and strategic interests of our nation. Most importantly, the crew never gave up on the ship and never gave up on their shipmates.”