US guided missile destroyer to visit Philippines Tuesday

US guided missile destroyer to visit Philippines. Photo: Wikipedia

A US Navy guided missile destroyer will arrive in Subic Bay in northern Philippines on Tuesday for a routine port visit.

In a statement issued Monday, the American embassy in Manila said the USStockdale (DDG-106), the third US vessel to visit the Philippines since January, will replenish supplies as well as offer its crew an opportunity for rest and relaxation.

This will be the Stockdale's first visit to the Philippines and part of the ship's nine month deployment to the Western Pacific that began in January 2013.

During the visit, Stockdale sailors will also engage in a number of community relations projects including visits to local orphanages, the embassy said.

The USStockdale was commissioned on April 18, 2009, and is homeported in San Diego, California.

The ship is named for Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale, who was the highest ranking US naval officer to be held as a Prisoner of War in Vietnam