USS Robert G. Bradley (FFG 49) departed from Lome, Togo, after completing its first Africa Partnership Station (APS) West 2011 training hub mission, February 18, 2011.



Lome was the first hub for APS West 2011, and focused on training with the navies of partner countries to improve maritime safety and security.



While in port, Robert G. Bradley's sailors taught a visit, board, search and seizure class on boarding operations to 19 students from Benin, Ghana and Togo and conducted two joint community relations projects with the Togolese navy at local a hospital and orphanage.



"Working with our African partners from Benin, Ghana and Togo was just as educational for us as it was for them," said Ensign Zachary Lukens, one of the boarding operations class instructors. "I feel that they have expanded their maritime operations capability, and will be able to conduct operations in a safer and more efficient manner."



Robert G. Bradley's sailors also volunteered their time to work with Togolese sailors to improve high frequency communications by 50 percent, restoring the operations centers automatic identification system, which improves maritime surveillance and the overall capability of the Togolese naval base in Lome.