USS Spruance Welcomes Brazilian Training Ship to San Diego

by USS Spruance Public Affairs

05 January 2021 SN DIEGO -- Officers and crew from USS Spruance (DDG 111) welcomed the Brazilian naval training ship Navio-Escola (NE) Brasil (U-27) to San Diego for a weeklong goodwill visit that spanned the New Year holiday. 
 
A frigate-sized ship measuring 424 feet, displacing 3,800 tons, and commissioned in 1986, Brasil was designed to embark more than 400 midshipmen and cadets (officers in training) from the Brazilian Naval and Merchant Marine Academies.  Brasil sailed from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, an 18-day voyage that took them through the Panama Canal en route to San Diego.  The ship arrived at Broadway Pier the day after Christmas.
 
“The crew’s deck seamanship was really outstanding,” said Boatswainsmate Chief Stephen O’Neal.  “My team learned a few things by watching their line-handling and brow-rigging that we’ll take back with us to the waterfront.  It’s evident they take great pride in their jobs and their ship, just as we do in ours.”
 
Health protection measures designed to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus precluded many of the exchange and host ship activities—such as tours, intramural sports competitions, and social gatherings—that typically define such visits.  Nevertheless, given their proximity to San Diego’s downtown Gaslamp District, Brasil crew members were able to enjoy many local attractions.
 
“It was a pleasure to host the Officers and crew of Brasil, and to welcome them to San Diego on behalf of Commander, Destroyer Squadron TWO ONE and all ships in the Pacific Surface Fleet,” said Cmdr. Micah T. Sybor, Spruance’s Commanding Officer.  “Exchanges like these are an important reminder of the power of naval diplomacy, and that seeds of trust can be sown when professionals from similar, yet different, backgrounds gather together.”  
 
Cmdr. Sybor and Brasil’s commanding officer, or “Oficial Comandante” in Portuguese, Capitão-de-Mar-e-Guerra (Captain of Sea and War) Carlos Marcelo Fernandes Considera, exchanged plaques before the training ship cast off for its next destination. 
 
USS Spruance (DDG 111), is homeported in San Diego and is attached to Destroyer Squadron TWO ONE and Carrier Strike Group THREE.  The 61st Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer was commissioned 24 October 2011 and is the second ship to bear the namesake of Admiral Spruance.  The ship’s motto, “Launch the Attack,” is the succinct but powerful order Spruance issued to his staff when the first of four Japanese aircraft carriers were located off the island of Midway on the morning of June 4th, 1942, thus commencing the most consequential naval battle and decisive maritime victory of the Second World War.