The Navy has announced the USS Thatch will be called back to its homeport of San Diego in April, cutting short its deployment due to sequestration cuts. In addition, the San Diego-based USS Rentz and USS Jefferson City have had their April deployments cancelled.
While Navy Secretary Ray Mabus made a service-wide message March 1 that warned of the probable deployment cancellations because of sequestration cuts, the final decision was made this week, according to a Navy news release:
While the final decision to cancel these deployments was deferred until the last possible moment, these commands had been previously directed to prepare for cancellation.
The USS Thatch left San Diego in January for a planned six-month deployment to participate in Operation Martillo, an effort to thwart "the activities of drug traffickers and criminal organizations" in the waters off Central America.
