Battle flag flying high as new destroyer makes Mayport Naval Station its new home
Debrianna Scott waited on the Alpha 2 pier at Naval Station Mayport Monday morning for the arrival of a husband she has not seen since February.
Joining about 40 other wives and parents, a mast they spotted just before 8:30 a.m. at the Mayport Jetties soon became the sleek gray shape of the USS Mason, many of its more than 300 sailors standing on deck as it was nudged in by an orange Navy tug.
"Holy shenanigans!," Scott yelled at the sight just before every other ship in the basin blasted their horns to welcome the newest member of the Mayport family. Then, heart pounding, she eagerly waited to see Gunners Mate Ryan Scott on deck as the Arleigh Burk-class destroyer got closer, after moving from Norfolk to Mayport with two children and three dogs.
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"I waited for my kids to finish school, then we moved down here," Debrianna Scott said, adding that the sight of the ship made her want to cry.
"It's nuts to see it," she added. "This will be my first time. He's been in [the Navy] for 11 years and been on subs, and it's a different world. This is our first surface deployment. I love this community. It's very welcome, warm and very exciting."
On board the USS Mason, moving to its new homeport as part of a scheduled shift from Norfolk, Va., Cmdr. Stephen Valerio said it was great to be greeted by the Mayport-based ships they have joined serving the U.S. Navy's Atlantic fleet, his crew "really looking forward" to moving here.
"We are super happy to be here in Mayport and call it our new home port, and I know the ship's families are excited to become part of the community," he said. "It was super welcoming, and that's something I can tell you this ship has not experienced before. It's definitely a way to say hi to us, and welcome home."
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The 508-foot-long ship's name honors Ensign Newton Henry Mason, who died following aerial combat against the Japanese forces in 1942's Battle of the Coral Sea and was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The Navy named a ship after him in 1943, the only destroyer in World War II to have a predominantly black enlisted crew.
Flying a huge blue battle flag with two lions facing crossed swords, the current USS Mason is the 37th ship of the Arleigh Burke class of AEGIS Guided Missile Destroyers. Commissioned in 2003, the ship carries two SH-60 helicopters as well as missile and torpedo launchers and a big bow-mounted gun.
On deck as the 8,200-ton warship pulled close to the dock, a junior officer wore a lion's costume, its Blue Lion mascot, waving and jumping during arrival at its new port.
"We came in playing our music (Welcome to the Jungle) and it was like a homecoming from deployment and that was the vibe," Valerio said. "Everybody on the deck plates are really happy and looking forward to being reunited with family members who moved here about a month ago, then getting back to work."
On the pier stood Nyla Hudson holding 5-month-old daughter Salem, wearing a red, white and blue dress. Living in Orange Park now, she also eagerly awaited her husband, Information Tech Seaman Alexander Hudson.
"I am really happy to be able to see him after him being away for four months," she said.
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The arrival of DDG 87 comes just as Mayport moved closer to a partial reprieve of wholesale losses as the U.S. House of Representatives voted to save five littoral combat ships from decommissioning next year.
But three or four of the Mayport-based Littoral Combat Ships could still be decommissioned next year if the version of the National Defense Authorization Act approved by the House becomes final as the Pentagon’s 2023 budget.
For the commander, joining the Mayport fleet means continuing their Atlantic Fleet duties from Jacksonville as a "multi-mission platform," doing combat and engineering systems testing as they have for the past month. The destroyer is also part of the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier strike group handling Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea deployments.
But it is also a homecoming for him after 18 months as the Mason's commander, graduating from the University of North Florida and beginning his Navy officer career out of Mayport, he said.
"I did my first two ships here, now I am bringing my ship that I command to Mayport, and it's very meaningful," Valerio said. "The last time I was in Mayport was in 2006, so it's 16 years later that I am back, the place in the U.S. I lived the longest and called home. Now I bring my ship to call it home."
The USS Mason saw serious action in 2016 in the Red Sea, when deployed off the coast of war-torn Yemen. It fired three Sea Sparrow missiles to defend itself and another ship after two were fired by Iran-backed Houthi-forces from the Yemini shore, the U.S. Naval Institute reported then. Mason was operating in international waters north of the strait of Bab el-Mandeb at the time of the attack.
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Now Valerio said he and his crew plan to be as involved in the Jacksonville community as they were in Norfolk.
"I don't expect any change," he said. "In fact, I expect an uptick of that as we try to settle into our new community and make an impact."
The USS Mason's arrival comes just over a year after the USS Philippine Sea moved from Mayport to its new home port in Norfolk as part of the Navy’s strategic realignment of ships.
dscanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: USS Mason greeted as it makes Naval Station Mayport new homeport for
