NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain –
Commander, Task Force 65 (CTF 65) and Destroyer Squadron 60 (DESRON 60) welcomed the first family from the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Roosevelt (DDG 80) to Rota, Spain, Nov. 20, 2019.
Dr. Meghann Lurtz and her daughter were welcomed by Capt. Kyle Gantt, deputy commodore of CTF 65, in addition to other personnel from CTF 65 and DESRON 60, as they arrived on a rotator flight from Florida. The husband and father of the family, Roosevelt’s prospective Supply Officer, Lt. Justin Burdett, has not yet reported to Rota but will meet his family there in the upcoming months.
Roosevelt is scheduled to shift homeports from Mayport, Florida, to Rota and is expected to arrive in April 2020. CTF 65 and DESRON 60 are making preparations to receive the new Forward Deployed Naval Forces Europe (FDNF-E) destroyer next spring. Roosevelt is scheduled to replace USS Carney (DDG 64), an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer currently stationed at Naval Station Rota as one of the four FDNF-E destroyers in the U.S. 6th Fleet. The homeport shift between the two units is the first scheduled to occur in support of the U.S. Navy’s long range plan to gradually rotate the four Rota-based destroyers.
CTF 65 and DESRON 60, headquartered in Rota, Spain, oversee the forward-deployed forces of U.S. 6th Fleet’s area of operation in support of regional allies and partners as well as U.S. national security interests in Europe and Africa.