PORT KLANG, Malaysia (NNS) -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) arrived in Port Klang, Malaysia for a routine port visit March 4.
While in Malaysia, Michael Murphy Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Robert A. Heely Jr., met with First Admiral Hanafiah, the director of hydrography at the National Hydrographic Center.
The ship and crew of more than 300 Sailors departed Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for a regularly scheduled deployment with the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group as part of the U.S. Fleet-led initiative to extend the command and control functions of U.S. 3rd Fleet into the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, Jan. 13.
Since departure from Pearl Harbor, Michael Murphy conducted training as part of the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group off the coast of Hawaii to improve readiness and cohesion as a strike group. Michael Murphy also conducted an 18-day joint mission with the U.S. Coast Guard in the Central and South Pacific under the Oceania Maritime Security Initiative (OMSI) to combat transnational crimes, enforce fisheries laws and enhance regional security.
U.S. Navy carrier strike groups have regularly patrolled the Indo-Asia-Pacific for more than 70 years and will continue to do so. Carl Vinson has deployed to the region several times, starting with a deployment to the Western Pacific in 1983, a year after commissioning. Most recently in 2015, Carl Vinson Conducted port visits and exercises with regional navies in the South China Sea.
Commissioned on October 6, 2012, USS Michael Murphy is named after former U.S. Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy. Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan, June 28, 2005. He was the first person to be awarded the medal for actions in Afghanistan and was the first member of the U.S. Navy to receive the award since the Vietnam War.