Posted 12/6/2011
ATLANTIC OCEAN (Dec. 1, 2011) A UH-1Y Venom helicopter assigned to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron (HMLA) 167 waits to take off as an AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter from HMLA-269 lifts off from the flight deck of the amphibious transport dock ship USS Ponce (LPD 15) during late evening flight operations. The night's flight operations are the final flight operations Ponce will conduct. After 40 years of service and more than 39,000 safe landings and launches, Ponce is returning to Naval Station Norfolk to begin the ship's decommissioning process. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Nathanael Miller)