On Friday, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey and the Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher returned to Naval Station Norfolk after a nine-month deployment.

Its carriers again had become Task Force 58, and were under the command of slight, puckish Vice Admiral Marc Andrew (“Pete”) Mitscher. Before dawn on Feb. 16, a date which will be ringed in ...