It was a happy homecoming for hundreds of sailors as USS Higgins returned to its San Diego Port Thursday.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer departed for the Persian Gulf in November 2017 and returned to Naval Base San Diego Thursday carrying a crew of about 300 sailors, according to the U.S. Navy.
During the vessel's seven-month deployment at sea, USS Higgins conducted operations independently and with the 7th and 5th Fleet, conducting goodwill activities with partner nations, the Navy said.
USS Higgins was part of a four-ship fleet that fired dozens of cruise missiles in an attack on Syria's chemical weapons program in April, the Department of Defense (DoD) said.
The attack was ordered by President Donald Trump in response to a suspected chemical attack on Douma, Syria that killed at least 45 people and sickened hundreds of others.
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The destroyer was commissioned in 1999 and named for Marine Colonel William R. Higgins, who was declared dead in 1990 after being held captive in Iran.
