THE crew members of the US Pacific Fleet’s flag ship were told to behave during their four-day furlough in Manila.
“They should behave accordingly and watch each other,” said the USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) commander, Capt. Will Pennington.
Pennington spoke to reporters shortly after the arrival of the warship at the Manila South Harbor for a routine port call midmorning on Thursday.
Pennington said there were 90 sailors of Filipino ancestry among USS Blue Ridge’s 700-strong crew.
“They are doing a good job,” he said.
One of them is Chief Petty Officer Archie Amante, 34, a native of Gagalangin, Tondo, Manila, and a 15-year veteran of the US Navy.
Amante asked journalists about the traffic in Manila.
“Is it still the same way to go to Tondo?” he asked in Tagalog. Amante said this is his third visit to the Philippines. His first ship was the USS Juneau (LPD-10). He has been aboard USS Blue Ridge for two years.
Amante said he plans to visit Boracay and Misibis, Albay, on his next visit to the Philippines as the USS Blue Ridge’s port visit is too short.
Pennington said the crew would engage in community relations, as well as sports activities with the Philippine Navy during the USS Blue Ridge’s stay.
Pennington said his ship’s visit to the Philippines has nothing to do with the country’s ongoing tiff with China and the grounding of the USS Guardian (MCM-5) on January 17.
“The visit was long planned well before those incidents happened and nobody should be afraid of our visit,” he added.
Pennington talked to reporters who he allowed to tour the ship’s forecastle, flight deck, pilot house and the wardroom.
At the flight deck, journalists also saw two Sikorsky H-60 helicopters, which are used for transport by the ship’s ranking officers.
The USS Blue Ridge arrived after a two-day trip from Hong Kong. Pennington said it is not the policy of the US to reveal the future ports of call of its assets.
The USS is currently forward-deployed to US Navy Fleet Activities, Yokosuka, Japan, and is the third Navy ship named after the Blue Ridge Mountains, a range of mountains in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern US.
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