The crowd at Naval Base San Diego cheered Friday morning as more than 300 sailors aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance returned from fighting Iran — a deployment that stretched almost a full year.
The Spruance left San Diego Nov. 21, 2025 to deploy with the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln's strike group.
But late this summer, when the Lincoln turned toward home, the Spruance remained in the Middle East.
The ship earned a Presidential Unit Citation and the Combat Action Ribbon for its actions in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
"Obviously I won't get into specifics for operational security, but but I'll say that this crew did experience some ... pretty intense combat," said CMDR Leigh Tate, the Spruance's commanding officer.
That combat included a rarity in modern naval warfare — ship-to-ship fire.
In April, an Iranian ship attempted to run the Navy's blockade of Iranian ports. The Spruance fired on the ship with its 5-inch MK 45 gun, striking and disabling its engine.
The ship also engaged Iranian drones and guided-missiles — shooting several out of the sky, Tate said.
"You know, Spruance in particular, as the ultimate air defense commander was ... instrumental in defending the carrier (and) defending the force from those inbound threats to include anti-ship cruise missiles, one way attack waves — things like that," Tate said.
While Lincoln made headlines for the length of its deployment, it came home to San Diego more than a month ago.
Tate said the Spruance’s tour is the longest a warship’s been at sea since World War II.
Hanna Weiss waited for her fiancée, Maria Melchor, to return with the ship. She said it’s been a long 12 months — especially considering the ship’s combat operations.
"A lot of advice is like, 'don't pay attention to the news,' or 'you don't want to know what's going on,'" Weiss said. "So you kind of got to figure out what works best for you. I think being informed is important but also you want to sleep at night."
Tate told KPBS the crew can expect a lot of downtime between a post-deployment stand-down and the upcoming holiday season.
