USS O'Kane departs Pearl Harbor for Western Pacific

03 November 2017

From Naval Surface Force Pacific Fleet Public Affairs

The guided-missile destroyer departed Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Nov. 3, for a deployment to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations.

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USS O'Kane (DDG 77) departs Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Nov. 3. (U.S. Navy/MC2 Gabrielle Joyner)

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii - The guided-missile destroyer USS O'Kane (DDG 77) departed Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for an independent deployment to the Western Pacific, Nov. 3.

O'Kane has a crew of nearly 330 Sailors, officer and enlisted, and is a multi-mission ship designed to operate independently or with an associated strike group.

While deployed, the ship will conduct theater security cooperation and maritime presence operations with partner nations. Having steadily worked through a sustainment cycle, the ship's commanding officer is confident in his ship and crew's performance.

"The crew has worked hard over the past several months, participating in advanced level exercises and improving the material condition to be ready for our deployment," said Cmdr. Colby Sherwood, commanding officer of O'Kane. "I am proud of the resiliency of these Sailors and all they have accomplished to maintain O'Kane's readiness. We look forward to operating with our allies and partners from around the world again."

O'Kane is named after Adm. Richard O'Kane, a Medal of Honor recipient, as the aggressive commanding officer of USS Tang during World War II. USS O'Kane was last deployed to the Persian Gulf in 2014.

O'Kane is part of U.S. 3rd Fleet and U.S. Naval Surface Forces. U.S. 3rd Fleet leads naval forces in the Pacific and provides realistic, relevant training necessary for an effective global Navy. U.S. 3rd Fleet constantly coordinates with U.S. 7th Fleet to plan and execute missions based on their complementary strengths to promote ongoing peace, security, and stability throughout the entire Pacific theater of operations.