THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 11, 1996 TAG: 9606110321
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 27 lines
The amphibious transport dock ship Ponce left Norfolk Monday with more than 1,100 sailors and Marines aboard, bound for the coast of Liberia.
The 570-foot ship, normally deployed as part of a group of warships, headed east alone to relieve the amphibious assault ship Guam and the dock landing ship Portland, which have been off the African coast since April.
Once relieved, the Guam and Portland will return to the Mediterranean Seato rejoin a Navy group off the coast of Bosnia.
Navy officials expect the Ponce to be relieved later this summer.
It carries 700 Marines in addition to its ship's complement, and will maintain an American presence off the shore of civil war-ravaged Liberia. ILLUSTRATION: VICKI CRONIS
The Virginian-Pilot
Above, Petty Officer 3rd Class Milton Mosley gets a goodbye hug from
his wife, Lashane, before he boards the landing platform dock Ponce,
bound for Liberia. Mosley is a radioman. At right, 8-year-old Julia
Ramos, standing between her mother, Rosemary, and her grandfather,
Samuel, signs ``I love you'' to her father. Senior Chief Petty
Officer Ariel Ramos was already aboard ship. by CNB