In 1994,
Patriot was called to serve in the Pacific, and since then has served as one of four forward-deployed MCMs in
7th Fleet's Amphibious Ready Group.
Patriot is operationally assigned to MCMDiv 11, CTF 76, ComSeventhFlt, CinCPacFlt, and USCinCPac. Her administrative chain of command is CoMCMDiv 11,
CoMCMRon 1, CoMineWarCom (
NAS Corpus Christi, TX) recently merged with Naval Anti-Submarine Warfare Command into NMAWC (Naval Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command), and ComNavSurfLant. Although
Patriot was permanently assigned to
Sasebo, Japan, her crew served on a rotational basis from Ingleside, Texas. Each rotation lasted approximately 6 months. In 1996, the crew assignments were changed to permanent overseas assignments.
Patriot and her sister ship
Guardian were scheduled for a port visit to
Hong Kong in the first week of August 1997. As preparations were completed, the
Navy hierarchy realized that it would be the first US Navy port visit to the island after the
handover to Chinese control on 1 July 1997. Plans were quickly completed for
USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) to lead the port visit, and hold receptions for military and diplomatic dignitaries.
Patriot and
Guardian accompanied the flagship pierside. In March 2003, the major event was TSTA3/FEP. This Tailored Ship's Training Availability (TSTA3)/ Final Exercise Problem (FEP) initially designed to be a training assist visit to assess readiness, was turned into a graded scenario to prove her battle readiness. This advanced stage of training is designed to improve ships operations and give
Patriot an opportunity to prove she is ready to perform her primary and secondary missions with utmost efficiency and skill.
Patriot executed her deployment phase during the 2003 calendar year. Along with conducting MINEX, she participated in
Exercise Foal Eagle 2003, a combined naval exercise with South Korea.
Patriot successfully accomplished 100 percent mine-warfare tasking during the integrated exercise.
Patriot conducted a WESTPAC Deployment during the months of May and June conducting port visits in
Okinawa,
Fukuoka, Japan,
Busan, South Korea,
Incheon, South Korea, and
Kagoshima, Japan.
Patriot also took part in the 50th Anniversary of the
Korean War with a port visit to Busan, South Korea.
Patriot routinely participates in a combined Mine Warfare training exercises with the
Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force as part of an annual MINEX and EODEX. MINEX/EODEX is a joint mine countermeasures (MCM) exercise designed to foster US Navy and Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) interoperability through the use of the MCM Triad, surface MCM (SMCM) air MCM (AMCM) and Explosive Ordnance disposal (EOD) teams. In 2005,
Patriot conducted a Selected Maintenance Availability during which the ship was refitted with the most recent equipment upgrades and shipboard alterations. The maintenance period allowed the ship to re-train personnel and in preparations for the ship's Basic Training Phase and Interdeployment Training Cycle. On 16 February 2007,
Patriot was awarded the 2006
Battle "E" award. In late November 2007,
Patriot and sister minesweeper sought refueling and refuge from an approaching storm in
Hong Kong's
Victoria Harbour, but were denied entry without explanation by the
People's Republic of China. Both ships were eventually
refueled at sea and returned safely to their home ports in Japan. ==Awards==