During Steadfast Defender, Gunston Hall operated alongside Italian amphibious ships and a French Frigate. Gunston Hall carried out high-end amphibious operations with embarked French, Finnish and Swedish forces, all while under an Italian Amphibious Task Force, operating in Norwegian waters in the High North. The ship and crew demonstrated U.S. steadfast commitment to NATO and the U.S. Navy’s ability to integrate with Allied forces.

NATO is a Transatlantic alliance of 32 like-minded North American and European countries securing peace since 1949.

More than 4,000 Sailors and Marines assigned to the Bataan ARG supported a wide range of interoperability opportunities and exercises, increasing combat readiness and crisis response capabilities while strengthening relationships with NATO Allies and partners.

Vice Adm. Doug Perry, commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet, speaks at the Theater Undersea Warfare symposium held at the Choplinsky Auditorium at Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads, Feb. 29, 2024.

Delbert D. Black is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. Naval Forces Europe area of operations, employed by the U.S. Sixth Fleet to defend U.S., Allied, and partner interests.

Steadfast Defender 2024, NATO’s largest exercise in decades, will demonstrate NATO’s ability to deploy forces rapidly from across the Alliance to reinforce the defense of Europe.