USS Hopper makes first visit to Saipan

The USS Hopper (DDG 70) made its first visit to the CNMI yesterday and is expected to stay on Saipan until Friday for some needed rest and recuperation for her crew before embarking on the next leg of deployment.

The USS Hopper, under the leadership of commanding officer Corey Millis, made its inaugural port call on Saipan yesterday morning.

The vessel is an Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer that is multi-mission capable, one of which is ballistic mission defense. The over 550-foot vessel carries about 325 sailors who will be on Saipan for the rest of the week.

There to welcome the USS Hopper and its crew were Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Lt. Gov. David Apatang.

Palacios, in a statement to the media, said he is grateful to the USS Hopper for pulling through with its plans to visit Saipan.

The governor shared that the USS Hopper was initially set to visit the CNMI back in November 2023 but due to some issues, the port call was cancelled.

“We welcome Commander Millis and his crew of sailors, and the USS Hopper to Saipan. The vessel and the crew were scheduled to come last November, but due to operational issues, they had to cancel. But they’re here and we’re happy that they are here. They will be here for about four days. So the community will be seeing our Department of Defense folks,” he said.

Palacios said this is only the first of many more visiting DOD ships this year as this has been in the works as part of the administration’s plans to explore military tourism. “

“This is what we’re talking about in terms of military tourism. We’ve been having conversations with our DOD partners, trying to get fleets to Saipan for R&Rs and we’re thankful for the USS Hopper making its way to Saipan. We look forward to more future visits by the USS Hopper and hopefully other ships,” he said.

Apatang also encouraged the fleet and its leaders to visit Rota and Tinian while on Saipan.

“We encourage you to visit the islands of Rota and Tinian. We hope you enjoy your stay and the CNMI’s hospitality,” he said.

In a brief statement from Millis, he said he and the rest of the USS Hopper crew have been looking forward to this visit. He, like the rest of his crew, had never visited the CNMI before.

“Most of the crew made reservations weeks, even months ago. We’ve been looking forward to this trip for months. A lot of them will be off the ship and exploring the island,” he said.

The USS Hopper’s homeport for the last 25 years has been Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

The vessel left Pearl Harbor to begin its six-month deployment in the Indo-Pacific last October 2023.

“For this deployment, we’ve spent a lot of time in the Philippine Sea patrolling and just ensuring a safe Indo-Pacific. We’ve got many more hours at sea during this deployment,” said Millis.