USS Hershel "Woody" Williams port visit fosters relationship with Namibian Navy

The event marked the U.S. Navy's first port call in Walvis Bay in nearly 10 years.

"We are hoping to use this current visit as an opportunity to continue to foster our relationship with the Namibian Navy." - Capt. Graham

By U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa , U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa WALVIS BAY, Namibia Sep 20, 2021

View Gallery

Gallery contains 4 images

The Expeditionary Sea Base USS Hershel "Woody" Williams (ESB 4) arrived in Walvis Bay, Namibia, for a regularly scheduled port visit Sept. 15, 2021.

"The last time the U.S. Navy visited Walvis Bay as a port-of-call was in 2012," said Capt. Chad Graham, commanding officer, USS Hershel "Woody" Williams. "We are hoping to use this current visit as an opportunity to continue to foster our relationship with the Namibian Navy."

During the visit the ship's crew hosted Namibian government and military leaders, including the country's Minister of Defense, Hon. Frans Kapofi, and U.S. Embassy Namibia staff to tour the ship and understand her capabilities.

The U.S. and Namibian Navy last worked together during exercise Obangame Express in March 2021, the largest multinational maritime exercise in Western Africa. These types of exercises strengthen partnerships and allow countries to work more closely on shared transnational maritime challenges.

USS Hershel "Woody" Williams is the first warship permanently assigned to the U.S. Africa Command area of responsibility. The U.S. shares a common interest with African partner nations in ensuring security, safety, and freedom of navigation on the waters surrounding the continent, because these waters are critical for Africa's prosperity and access to global markets.

The ESB ship class is a highly flexible platform that may be used across a broad range of military operations. Acting as a mobile sea base, they are part of the critical access infrastructure that supports the deployment of forces and supplies to support missions assigned.

U.S. Sixth Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied and interagency partners, in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.

Exercise Obangame Express 23 aids maritime security and prosecution in the Gulf of Guinea

International exercise Obangame Express 2023 set to begin

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter ports in Cabo Verde

USS Hershel “Woody” Williams crew spends Christmas in Tanzania

U.S., Moroccan divers hone skills in bilateral dive engagement

USS Hershel Woody Williams

Namibia

U.S. Naval Forces Europe & Africa

U.S. Naval Forces Africa

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

NAIROBI, Kenya – Among the flurry of tactical live fires and squad movement drills, air ground integration and even the humanitarian initiatives at exercise Justified Accord 2025 (JA25), lies the one thing those who serve in any armed force must follow: The Law. The Law of Armed Conflict, or LOAC, is a key aspect of training for any military. JA25’s academics course aimed at learning from the international legal lessons of previous wars in an effort to reduce the amount of human suffering in future conflicts. “The soldier’s rules are a broad set of rules that we have pulled from the large breadth of international law,” said U.S. Army Maj. Tim Olliges, an operational law attorney assigned to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), the lead U.S. Army command and planner of JA25. “The LOAC is extensive and can be complex, so we pull out the ten most critical concepts that every soldier, right down to the private, should know before they go into combat.”

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

NAIROBI, Kenya – Imagine two scenarios. Scenario 1: Dawn breaks over the capital of Kenya. A U.S. diplomat leaves his residence for the embassy. After a 20-minute ride, his car arrives at the gate and he enters. He sits in his office to begin the day when, all of a sudden, he hears an explosion through the open window. It seems far off; it is not a large explosion. He thinks maybe it was just a car accident, but minutes later he smells something bitter in the air. His eyes water, sirens blare and a U.S. Marine Corps security detail enters his office wearing gas masks. They put a mask on him and tell him they must evacuate immediately because a deadly chemical is blowing over the compound. Scenario 2: U.S. intelligence receives credible information that radiological material is being loaded onto a ship in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. Time is short and no one knows which ship, only that it will embark soon, possibly bound for the hands of violent extremists or other state actors looking to imperil the U.S. homeland. There is no time to send U.S. security forces to intercept the package. Instead, the Kenyan Disaster Response Battalion (DRB) mobilizes and arrives at the port. Using tactics and tools gained from years of training with the United States, they find the ship and the weapon, placed there by a violent extremist organization, and prevent its departure, defeating the threat to America and its citizens. Similar scenarios have happened before in other areas of the world.

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

The U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and Belgian Ministry of Defence, in partnership with U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and U.S. Indo Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Chaplain Directorates, hosted the world’s largest annual meeting of senior military religious leaders at the 36th Annual NATO & Partner International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference (IMCCC) in Brussels, Belgium, January 27-31, 2025.

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

United States Africa Command

USS Hershel "Woody" Williams port visit fosters relationship with Namibian Navy

The event marked the U.S. Navy's first port call in Walvis Bay in nearly 10 years.