USS Butte (AE-27) - Final Deployment

Final Deployment

In September 1995, Butte began her last deployment as part of the USS America's Battlegroup. She spent October 1995 operating in the Adriatic Sea, supporting air strikes in Bosnia as part of Operation Deliberate Force. The ship also visited Cannes, France as the U.S. Navy's representative to the annual Admiral de Grasse birthday celebration. In mid November, Butte headed south through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea. The ship delivered turkeys and other supplies for holiday meals to United States embassies in Jordan, Eritrea, Yemen and Djibouti. Upon departure from the Persian Gulf, Butte returned to the Adriatic, supporting the NATO Peace Implementation Forces in Operation Joint Endeavor. Between operations in the Adriatic in January and February, she spent her time completing ammunition exchanges and "rollback" among the ammunition facilities in the Mediterranean. On her way home across the Atlantic in February 1996, Butte and America conducted the last underway replenishment operation for America prior to her decommission. Butte was scheduled to return to port on 24 February 1996, however, offsetting winds around Sandy Point, kept her from entering port until 3 days later.