USS Carter Hall Departs Staten Island
By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kody A. Phillips.
USS Carter Hall Public Affairs
NEW YORK —USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) departed Staten Island after participating in several events to celebrate Veterans Day in and around New York City, Nov. 12.
Sailors participated in the centennial Veterans Day parade, the NBC Today Show, attended the New York Jets football game, New York Knicks basketball game and ate breakfast with the mayor of New York City and then dinner at the New York Athletic Club, among many other events.
“It was an honor and a privilege to celebrate Veterans Day and what better place than in New York City with the memorable centennial Veterans Day parade,” said Cmdr. Matthew Shellock, commanding officer of Carter Hall, native of Little Silver, New Jersey. “Thank you for the warm welcome and generosity while we were in port and for your continual support of America’s Navy.”
This year, the Veterans Day celebration commemorated the centennial of the holiday, which first began in 1919 as Armistice Day. It was officially renamed to Veterans Day in 1954.
“That was my first time being in New York and I absolutely loved it,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Latasha Carr, the ship’s secretary aboard Carter Hall. “It was an honor to be recognized for our hard work and dedication to serving our country with so many events across the city. The hospitality was phenomenal and the community was amazing.”
Carter Hall, homeported at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Virginia, recently participated in UNITAS LX (60) in Rio de Janeiro.
UNITAS is an annual exercise designed to train the Navy and Marine Corps to conduct joint naval operations by exercising a multitude of warfare areas. 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.
Carter Hall is a Harpers Ferry class amphibious dock landing ship and the second amphibious ship to bear this name. Carter Hall was launched October 2, 1993, commissioned September 30, 1995, and made its first deployment to the Mediterranean in April 1997.