Hundreds of sailors arrived home Monday when aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt docked at its new San Diego home at the Naval Air Station (NAS) North Island port.
Sailors and marines deployed eight and a half months ago from Virginia, heading to Syria and Iraq to fight ISIS. While in the Middle East, crews conducted airstrikes on ISIS, destroying enemy targets in an effort to allow natives to reclaim their territory.
Crews successfully completed 1,800 combat sorties and flew 10,600 combat flight hours over Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. Sailors focused on maritime security. The carrier was part of a trio shift involving USS Ronald Reagan and USS George Washington.
Approximately two thirds of the crew that arrive in San Diego will then fly to Virginia, to take over on USS George Washington.
Monday morning, Jolie Velasquez waited for her high school sweetheart in San Diego. She met her now-husband at Rancho Bernardo High School and they later married and moved to Virginia.
Now, they're moving back home to San Diego with the ship's change of ports.
The homecoming is part of a three-way swap of home ports: USS George Washington was moved from Japan to Virginia; USS Ronald Reagan, which was based in San Diego for 11 years, moved to Japan. USS Theodore Roosevelt's former base was in Norfolk, Virginia.
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The 29-year-old vessel, known as “Big Stick”, is three football fields long at just over 1,000 feet.
It is expected to return between 6:30 a.m. and 9 a.m.
Watch NBC 7 News at 11 a.m. for a live report of the emotional homecoming. Follow NBC 7's Liz Bryant on Twitter to see updates as the marines and sailors arrive.
