The guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge has returned to Virginia after a deployment that included the dramatic rescue of an American ship captain held by pirates.

With spouses, children and family members cheering their return, the 300 sailors aboard the Bainbridge arrived Monday at Pier Nine of Naval Station Norfolk. The greeting party included seven children whose fathers were deployed when they were born.

In April, the Bainbridge responded when the merchant vessel Maersk Alabama was seized by pirates off the coast of Africa. The merchant ship's captain, Richard Phillips, was held hostage for several days in a lifeboat before Navy SEAL snipers aboard the Bainbridge shot and killed three pirates and rescued Phillips.

The Bainbridge also protected another American vessel, Liberty Sun, from a pirate attack.

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