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Norfolk, June 13, 2003 (AP) - The amphibious command ship USS Mount Whitney returned to Norfolk today after serving as the floating headquarters for a U.S.-led task force searching for terrorists in the Horn of Africa.
Several hundred family members and friends cheered as the ship pulled into Norfolk Naval Station about 10 a.m.
"My mom is really excited," said 15 year-old Bonnie Schanck, who was waiting for her stepfather, Petty Officer 1st Class David Robins. "It's been quiet around the house. He's always loud and funny at home. It just hasn't been upbeat around the house."
Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa had used the USS Mount Whitney - which Navy officials say is the world's most sophisticated command and control ship - as its headquarters since the ship arrived in the Gulf of Aden last December.
"They've established a presence off Djibouti," said Vice Adm. Cutler Dawson, commander of the U.S. 2nd Fleet. "Now that presence is in Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, as we work to stabilize it so we can prevent terrorists from using it as a platform to attack us."
The Mount Whitney deployed on Nov. 12, picking up Marines from Camp Lejeune. Its Navy crew of 560 officers and enlisted personnel had about three weeks' notice to get ready to leave.
The 636-foot ship rarely makes trans-Atlantic trips. It has served as the floating home of the U.S. 2nd Fleet since 1981. It trains and prepares aircraft carrier battle groups to deploy.
The task force is charged with eradicating terrorist activity in Kenya, Yemen, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia. The region - particularly Somalia, Yemen and Sudan - has been cited as a possible haven for terrorists since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Sudan was home to Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, while Yemen is his ancestral home. Somalia, which has been torn by clan-based violence for the past decade, has not had an effective government since 1991.
The task force's headquarters has moved ashore to a military camp in the town of Djibouti, capital of the tiny African country of the same name.
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