Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander, U.S. Central Command, visited amphibious transport dock USS New Orleans (LPD 18) to observe a Strait of Hormuz transit and visit with the crew, July 11.

Votel held an all-hands call to talk to the crew about the importance of their mission, toured the ship, and met with Sailors and Marines from various departments.

"It's great to be out here visiting the New Orleans," said Votel. "It's important for me to see this because as I talk to the secretary of defense and the president about everything that's going on in this region. It's extraordinarily important for me to see this all first hand."

Votel also addressed the crew regarding the important mission New Orleans has been carrying out during its deployment.

"What you do out here is to ensure a stable environment, ensure more security, and send a very strong sign to our allies and partners that we are here and we are going to be here," said Votel.

Capt. Glenn Jamison, commanding officer of New Orleans, commented on the importance of Votel hand-picking New Orleans for his visit.

"It is a rare opportunity to host a combatant commander and to demonstrate firsthand to him the tremendous capability New Orleans brings to the fight," said Jamison. "Gen. Votel was highly impressed with the professionalism of our blue/green team."

New Orleans is part of the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group and, with the embarked 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), is deployed in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.

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For more information on the New Orleans, visit www.facebook.com/BigEasy18.

For more news from Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/5th Fleet, visit www.cusnc.navy.mil/.