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HSC-25 detachment 1 returns from deployment
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Posted on May 08 2005
The Navy’s Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 (HSC-25) Detachment 1 returned to Guam on May 7 after successfully completing a 10-month deployment.
The detachment left Guam July 12, 2004, embarked on USNS Concord, providing logistics support to Seventh Fleet. From July to October, personnel moved more than 1,300 tons of cargo, serviced 15 ships from two carrier-strike groups, and participated in exercises CARAT Thailand and Summer Pulse 2004 with U.S. allies.
In addition, service members supported Operation Unified Assistance in Sumatra immediately following the tsunami disaster. Detachment 1 transported food, water, building materials and other supplies to remote villages and refugee camps under the tactical command of USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and Combined Support Force—Indonesia. The detachment, which assisted tsunami victims in Indonesia the longest of all U.S. Navy assets, completed 101 Operation Unified Assistance missions.
While en route for home on Guam, Detachment 1 was ordered to return to Indonesia following an 8.7-magnitude earthquake, which killed more than 1,300 people in March. The crew, in partnership with USNS Mercy, a Navy hospital ship, and HSC-25 Detachment 4, supported 19,414 medical procedures.
The crew flew almost 1,000 flight hours and performed more than 270 medical evacuations. A total of 45 personnel were part of the detachment through the duration of the deployment.
HSC-25, the only forward-deployed vertical replenishment squadron in the U.S. Navy, provides logistic capability and Naval special warfare support for U.S. Pacific Fleet as well as 24-hour, search-and-rescue assistance for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
HSC-25 will support combat search-and-rescue missions and mine countermeasures. The squadron was recently redesignated from Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 5. It is home to more than 500 active-duty personnel and 14 MH-60S Knighthawks, the Navy’s newest helicopter.
A homecoming ceremony is scheduled for May 13. For more information, call the U.S. Naval Forces Marianas Public Affairs Office at (671) 339-3209. (PR)
