USS Porter Arrives in Plymouth, England

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) arrived in Plymouth, England, March 9, 2019 for a scheduled port visit marking the beginning of Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) certification.

FOST is a three-week advanced warfare certification training event conducted with the Royal Navy designed to certify NATO ships in advanced warfare areas.

"We are happy to be back in Plymouth,” said Cmdr. Craig Trent, commanding officer of Porter. "The next few weeks are going to be challenging, but I believe in this crew and I know that this training will build relationships with our allies and forge Porter into a more professional and effective fighting unit."

FOST's training prepares all types of surface warships, submarines and auxiliaries for peacetime, peace-support, and war-fighting operations. Starting with basic alongside preparatory safety and readiness training, units progress through single threat and multi-threat scenarios.

During the certification, Porter will be assessed by FOST inspectors as well as the U.S. Navy's Afloat Training Group, Norfolk.

Porter, forward-deployed to Rota, Spain, is on its sixth patrol in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S national security interests in Europe and Africa.

U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied and interagency partners in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.