Destroyer That Has Been Deployed Longer Than Any Since WWII Returns Home

Two guided-missile destroyers assigned to the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (CSG), USS Spruance and USS Michael Murphy, have returned home after 357- and 346-day deployments, respectively, more than a month after the carrier they escorted returned to San Diego. Both are reportedly longer than any previous destroyer cruise since World War II. However, the record may not hold for long, as USS John Finn is on pace to surpass both.

Spruance pulled out of Naval Base San Diego on November 21, 2025, alongside Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, on what the crews expected would be a routine deployment to the Western Pacific. Murphy linked up with the strike group 10 days later as it sailed past her homeport at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.

Both ships, which endured conditions just as grueling as Lincoln, if not more so, returned to their homeports over the past 24 hours. Spruance departed Pearl Harbor on November 6, according to MarineTraffic, and arrived in San Diego today. Planet Labs satellite imagery reviewed by TWZ showed Murphy in Guam on November 3, her last stop before transiting northeast back to Pearl Harbor and pulling into port yesterday.

USS Michael Murphy returns home to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on November 12. U.S. Navy photo

The extended deployments are a reminder of how the war with Iran and the blockade that followed have pushed the Navy’s surface fleet past the seven-month cruises it long treated as standard. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle told Sailors recently to expect the new normal for deployments to last 10 months, at a minimum, going forward.

Spruance’s deployment is the longest since World War II by a destroyer, based on a report by the San Diego Union-Tribune that cited the Navy, and broke the record previously held by USS McFaul, which returned to Norfolk on October 23 after 332 days. TWZ has not been able to independently verify the paper’s sourcing on the WWII comparison. When asked about the record, Naval History and Heritage Command told Stars and Stripes that it “does not officially track or verify superlative claims such as ‘the longest deployment’ for a destroyer.”

USS Spruance patrols the Arabian Sea during the maritime blockade against Iran. U.S. Navy photo

Before 2020, destroyer deployments rarely exceeded nine months. USS Stout’s pandemic cruise included a record-setting 215 consecutive days at sea and was among the longest in the modern era at 269 days. Since then, USS Gravely and USS Mason, while escorting carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in 2023 and 2024 during combat operations against the Houthi, were out for 275 and 263 days, respectively.

Notably, Spruance and Murphy have been deployed even longer than any aircraft carrier since the Vietnam War, surpassing the 326-day record set by USS Gerald R. Ford in May. Ford’s high mark could fall again, though, as Navy leaders recently told families of USS George H.W. Bush at a town hall to plan for a yearlong deployment if the blockade continues or war with Iran restarts.

What Part Did USS Spruance And USS Michael Murphy Play In The Iran War?

As part of the Abraham Lincoln CSG, which also included USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. serving as the Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Commander, Spruance and Murphy were instrumental in the opening act of Operation Epic Fury, the nearly 40 days of combat operations that followed, and both rounds of the blockade.

Spruance was spotted firing a never-before-seen black Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) on February 28, the first night of the war, and later fired rounds from her Mk 45 5-inch gun into the engine room of an Iranian-flagged container ship to prevent it from running the blockade – a first in nearly four decades. Murphy was the last U.S. warship out of the Persian Gulf before hostilities kicked off, docking in Dubai from February 25 to 27, and also launched salvos of TLAMs at land targets on Iran’s southern flank.

USS Spruance fires a black Tomahawk Land Attack Missile in support of Operation Epic Fury. U.S. Navy photo

While Spruance’s cruise has drawn media attention, Murphy’s accomplishments have received little to no recognition.

Murphy and Petersen Jr. were the first warships to transit back through the Strait of Hormuz after major combat operations ended in April. Open-source intelligence indicated the two destroyers came under heavy enemy fire during the maneuver. Capt. Casey Mahon, the commanding officer of Petersen Jr., told reporters at the ship’s homecoming that the strait transit was “Quite a voyage… obviously there was stress we had to face when we did that… on the sea, under the sea, and in the air.”

“In recognition of extraordinary heroism and combat achievement while executing dozens of Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile strikes and defending against hostile drone and missile attacks, USS Michael Murphy and its crew were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and the Combat Action Ribbon,” a press release from U.S. 3rd Fleet announced.

When Lincoln began the long trip home and stopped in Thailand after setting a record for the most consecutive days at sea without a liberty port call, Spruance and Murphy were left behi

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