DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with U.S. Navy. Capt. Cynthia Thebaud, commander, Destroyer Squadron 60. Since coming on station Jan. 18, USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44), with her embarked international staff from Africa Partnership Station (APS) West, have been working to improve conditions at the Killick Haitian Coast Guard base. The ship was originally scheduled to head for Africa to work with West and Central African nations to improve their maritime security and cooperation, but this mission in support of Operation Unified Response changed that and became a lesson all its own.