{"id":140036,"date":"2024-03-27T13:29:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T14:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=140036"},"modified":"2024-03-27T15:09:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T15:09:43","slug":"uss-hershel-woody-williams-esb-4-joins-forces-with-ghana-navy-in-the-gulf-of-guinea-for-exercise-sea-lion-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=140036","title":{"rendered":"USS Hershel \u201cWoody\u201d Williams (ESB 4) Joins Forces with Ghana Navy in the Gulf of Guinea for Exercise Sea Lion 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Sea Lion 24 brought together Hershel \u201cWoody\u201d Williams, the U.S. Navy\u2019s only ship assigned to U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), and Ghana Navy ships GNS Volta (P.40) and GNS Ankobra (P.43). The exercise began with a flagging-off ceremony hosted by the Ghana military, with Ghana Chief of Defence Staff Lt. Gen. Thomas Oppong-Peprah leading the ceremony.<\/p>\n

In support of the exercise, Hershel \u201cWoody\u201d Williams hosted five Sailors from the Ghana Navy, while two U.S. Sailors embarked on the Ghana Navy vessels. During the personnel exchange, Sailors made their way to longitude and latitude 0\u00b0 at the center of the Earth. The Sailors then swapped back to their own ship via two separate personnel transfers from Hershel \u201cWoody\u201d Williams\u2019 rigid-hull inflatable boat crew.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a pleasure hosting the Ghana Sailors aboard the \u201cWoody\u201d Williams and being able to learn more about their Navy and culture,\u201d said Capt. Amy Lindahl, commanding officer of Hershel \u201cWoody\u201d Williams. \u201cIt was also amazing to see our two Sailors come back with big smiles and great stories to tell about their time on their respective ships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the ships reached longitude and latitude 0\u00b0 the Sailors aboard the Ghana ships held a crossing the line ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an awesome experience to go out there and really learn their culture and crossing the line ceremony,\u201d said Chief Aviation Boatswain\u2019s Mate (Handling) Andrew Hill, one of the Sailors that embarked aboard the Ghana Navy ships. \u201cIt was really great to work together with them because they were absolutely amazing hosts to us while we were onboard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hershel \u201cWoody\u201d Williams is forward deployed to Souda Bay, Greece and serves as the first U.S. Navy ship assigned to the AFRICOM area of responsibility. The ship is capable of conducting expeditionary missions, counter piracy, maritime security, and humanitarian and disaster relief operations. Hershel “Woody” Williams\u2019 unique capabilities are part of the critical access infrastructure that supports the deployment of forces and supplies to support global missions. The ship operates with blue and gold crews, allowing it to remain continually deployed throughout AFRICOM.<\/p>\n

For over 80 years, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa (NAVEUR-NAVAF) has forged strategic relationships with allies and partners, leveraging a foundation of shared values to preserve security and stability.<\/p>\n

Headquartered in Naples, Italy, NAVEUR-NAVAF operates U.S. naval forces in the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) areas of responsibility. U.S. Sixth Fleet is permanently assigned to NAVEUR-NAVAF, and employs maritime forces through the full spectrum of joint and naval operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sea Lion 24 brought together Hershel \u201cWoody\u201d Williams, the U.S. Navy\u2019s only ship assigned to U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), and Ghana Navy ships GNS Volta (P.40) and GNS Ankobra (P.43). The exercise began with a flagging-off ceremony hosted by the Ghana military, with Ghana Chief of Defence Staff Lt. Gen. Thomas Oppong-Peprah leading the ceremony. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":140038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140036"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140039,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140036\/revisions\/140039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/140038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}