The crew have just sent seven straight months in the Middle East, so they will be looking to do some serious partying.
Despite the huge scandal over senior US Navy officers being bribed with women, fancy holidays and cash to steer ships into the dubious embrace of “husbanding” company Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), it seems that the Navy holds no grudges against Phuket.
The husbanding contract has been picked up by GDMA’s arch-rival Multinational Logistic Services (MLS) of Singapore, working through a local agent, Wallop.
The Hopper is one of just two ships in the US Navy named after a woman, in this case Rear Admiral “Amazing” Grace Hopper, a top computer scientist.
Launched in 1996, the ship, in addition to being able to carry as many as 90 missiles of various types, has two arrays of torpedo tubes, a five-inch gun on the foredeck and a Phalanx anti-missile Gatling gun.
It is powered by four gas turbines that give it a top speed of 30 knots, or 56 kmh.
Although most of the crew will be heading for the party, some – as usual – will be spending some time doing “COMSERV” – community service.
Some 15 to 30 crew members will head for the Home & Life Foundation in Phang Nga. There, they will shovel dirt to fill in behind a wall built along the nearby klong by previous visiting US Navy crews, to replace land lost to flooding.