Sailors aboard Forrest Sherman — now back in Norfolk — spent their free time in Poland port helping Ukraine refugees

USS Forrest Sherman’s fast-track deployment in the North Sea and Baltic Sea was all about the Navy’s ready-set-go stance when orders come in — but it was also about volunteering.

Take, for instance, the case of Petty Officer 3rd Class William Floyd, who’s not actually a member of the crew but stepped up when a call went out for a cryptologic technician to fill an empty billet.

He’s a sailor with the Norfolk-based destroyer’s sister ship, USS Stout, and had no second thoughts about volunteering for his first deployment.

“I was really excited about it,” he said.

“Of course I’m proud,” said his mom, Clarice, who drove up from South Carolina to welcome him back. Deploying is what Navy service is all about, after all.

But, she added, “All I want to do is put my arms around him and give him a great big hug.”

Forrest Sherman scrambled to head out to Europe on a surge deployment — that is, ahead of the usual timing under the Navy’s standard schedule — as part of a widespread Department of Defense effort to support NATO allies, departing Norfolk in January as war clouds gathered over Ukraine.

Two other ships from Destroyer Squadron 22 also headed east, USS Mitscher and USS The Sullivans, and both are now on their way back. The Norfolk-based USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group is operating in the Mediterranean, with its air wing running policing missions over NATO allies’ airspace.

Forrest Sherman operated with ships from NATO allies Poland, Denmark, Great Britain, France and Italy, as well as with Swedish naval vessels.

“A highlight was the Italian carrier Garibaldi asking for a U.S. Navy escort on her way to the North Sea,” said Capt. Milciades “Tony” Then, Destroyer Squadron 22′s commodore, who coordinated the squadron’s operations in European waters.

Forrest Sherman drilled on flight operations with helicopters attached to the French frigate Latouche-Treville and practiced close quarter maneuvering with Swedish minesweeper Vinga.

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It made four separate transits of the challenging Danish straits Kattegat and Skagerrak linking the North and Baltic seas — “the Danish straits are always a lot of fun,” drily commented Cmdr. Greg Page, Forrest Sherman’s commanding officer.

Lt. Jamin Bailey, Chaplain aboard the Forrest Sherman, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, hugs his family on the pier at Norfolk Naval Station Wednesday morning, April 13, 2022 after the Forrest Sherman returned to Norfolk after a three-month deployment. (Bill Tiernan/The Virginian-Pilot)

At a port call in Gdansk, Lt. Jamin Bailey, a chaplain from the cruiser USS Gettysburg detached to sail with Forrest Sherman on this deployment, arranged a chance for his new temporary shipmates to help refugees from Ukraine who had made their way to the Polish city.

“Port calls are usually a chance to go downtown, to take a break,” Bailey said. “But they took their limited time in port to do this.”

Some 100 sailors volunteered to pack and load clothing and care packages for refugees — 16 container-loads in the end.

Their commander, Page, who joined them, said it showed their commitment to the mission.

“It’s good to see their engagement,” he said. “They get it.”

Dave Ress, 757-247-4535, dress@dailypress.com