USS Bainbridge returns to home port

(NECN/WTKR: Norfolk, Va.) – The USS Bainbridge returned to its home port Monday to a joyous welcome from family and friends. When the crew members left seven months ago, little did they know they would be at the center of a counter-piracy mission. In April, when Somali pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama, the USS Bainbridge was sent into the rescue the ship’s captain, Richard Phillips, from a lifeboat manned by armed pirates. The captain returned home safely days after the successful rescue mission, and one pirate was captured alive. “You could hear a cry of celebration go throughout the ship,” Capt. Frank Castellano, Commanding Officer of the USS Bainbridge, said. “You could hear everybody, everybody cheered about it. And it was jubilant.” While the crew performed a heroic mission, loved ones at home worried about them. “I was kind of scared for them and I was happy he was protecting that water for us, but it was really hard,” Navy brother Colin Velez said. Material courtesy of WTKR.