The dock landing ship USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) arrived at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Sept. 23, 2019, after participating in UNITAS LX (60) in the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and operating in the U.S. 4th Fleet (C4F) area of operations.

The ship departed Virginia Beach Aug. 4, 2019 and began its transit to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to support UNITAS LX. Carter Hall participated in the planning and execution of the exercise as well as other activities including a community relations event, an international sports day, and crew liberty.

UNITAS is designed to train each navy and Marine Corps to conduct joint naval operations through the execution of littoral warfare, maritime interdiction operations, electronic warfare, communications exercises, and air and amphibious operations, in order to increase interoperability and capability between participating naval and marine forces. This year’s exercise focused on demonstrating regional maritime cooperation in a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) response scenario, as a means to develop a multinational maritime task force.

“I am proud of the hard work of the Sailors and Marines attached to the Carter Hall as they represent the best the United States and our Navy has to offer,” said Cmdr. Bruce W. Golden, Carter Hall’s commanding officer. “’UNITAS’ means unity and Carter Hall was able to strengthen this unity with our partner nations through the group sail, conducting flight operations with a Brazilian helicopter, and landing a multi-national force to practice humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) operations.” 

Carter Hall also stopped in Bridgetown, Barbados for a liberty port call for the crew to experience the Barbadian culture, history, and hospitality.

Following Carter Hall’s return to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, the ship will continue to train and maintain her readiness to support other assigned missions. 

Carter Hall is the second amphibious ship to bear the name.  Carter Hall was launched October 2, 1993, and commissioned September 30, 1995.  It made its maiden deployment to the Mediterranean on April 29, 1997. 

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