Shortly after sunrise Wednesday, Nolan McCoy watched from his balcony in Locust Point as the USNS Pomeroy pulled away from Baltimore’s harbor, following the USNS Charlton, which had left a couple of weeks prior.

He immediately queued up “Oh Happy Day” on Spotify. He emailed local, state and federal officials to thank them for their efforts that led to “this positive outcome.” A few doors down, Peter Emanuel was similarly overjoyed.

“If it wasn’t raining, I’d probably have the barbecue on,” Emanuel said Wednesday afternoon.

McCoy and his wife were chatting with dinner guests and enjoying the breeze from open windows when — as mysteriously as the ships left — the Charlton returned to the pier where it had been berthed for months. With it returned the constant hum and shining floodlights that have had residents pleading with authorities for quiet since early June.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” McCoy said.

Residents of Locust Point are accustomed to noise, from ship horns to the rattling of passing trains. But many say those sounds pale in comparison to the noise from the military cargo ships.

“I was very disappointed,” Emanuel said of the ship’s return. “I don’t know what else to add to that.”

The Military Sealift Command, the U.S. Navy’s agency that owns the ships, sent the military cargo vessels separately to Norfolk, Virginia. The Charlton left a few weeks ago for a scheduled inspection and returned Wednesday to be transferred to the ownership of the Maritime Administration, or MARAD, by the end of the month.

Since June, MARAD had said the noise was coming from the ship’s diesel generators, needed to power them because the vessels could not be connected to shore power. In a Friday morning statement to The Banner, MARAD said the Charlton was connected to shore power Aug. 22 — and the ongoing noise was from exhaust fans aboard the vessel.

“MARAD is working closely with our MSC and Baltimore partners to mitigate the sound from the vessel fans, which are necessary for crew safety aboard the ships,“ a MARAD spokeswoman said.

The sealift command moved the Pomeroy on Wednesday morning because a berth opened at Norfolk Naval Station in southeastern Virginia and the agency wanted to “be respectful of the Locust Point communities’ concerns,” said Jillian Morris, a spokesperson for the MSC.

She added that the sealift command will transfer the Pomeroy to MARAD on April 1, so until then, MSC officials will “keep her here with us.” MARAD will determine where the ship is berthed after that.

The Maritime Administration is the federal entity under the Department of Transportation that leases Pier 8 in Baltimore, where both ships berthed June 5, replacing two smaller, quieter ships. Morris said MARAD is responsible for connecting the ships to shore power, which residents have hoped would significantly reduce the noise.

Because no one communicated the ships’ recent movements with residents, neighborhood group chats blew up with excitement when they departed. Many assumed their months of reaching out to government officials had paid off.

“It’s very rare where you actually see the process work,” Emanuel told The Banner less than an hour before one of the ships came back Wednesday evening.

The absence of the towering ships Wednesday morning gave many residents a clear view across the harbor to Fells Point. Residents walked their dogs on a cloudy day without the thrum that has kept many up at night and from enjoying their balconies and rooftops.

“I was so excited for the surrounding community to hear that the second ship had departed — and then equally aggravated to hear the Charlton had returned,” wrote Councilman Zac Blanchard, who represents the area, in an email to The Banner.

Residents had been waiting for some peace and quiet for a long time.

In July, Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson said the military ships were supposed to have quieted down by the beginning of that month. Shortly afterward, MARAD advised instead that it might take six months to connect the ships to shore power.

“It’s extremely frustrating for either or both ships to return to Locust Point after initially leaving,” Ferguson said in an email Thursday to The Banner. “We are continuing to engage with the Baltimore City Health Department regarding all noise complaints and the Maryland Department of the Environment on emissions concerns to ensure the ships operate within legal limits.”

An MDE spokesperson said last month that an inspector who visited the property found “no loud noises” coming from the ships. He added that noise complaints are a local government’s jurisdiction.

The Baltimore City Health Department sets 70 decibels as the noise limit for property lines between residential and manufacturing zones. In July and August, the department said, it measured the ship noise to be 60–62 decibels “at or near” McCoy’s residence.

A city health department spokesperson said last month that because the ships are federally owned, efforts by the agency to “enforce local provisions will be difficult and likely unsuccessful.”

The sealift command said a noise study conducted from “three residential monitoring locations” determined the noise levels by the ships were in compliance with city health codes.

Last month, The Banner measured noise levels near the ships and at other noisy locations around the city.

Using a microphone plugged into an iPhone with a noise meter app, two reporters measured the noise level near the ships at 68 to 72 decibels. The din of the ships is like having a vacuum cleaner run continuously nearby, according to a Purdue University noise guide.

Of the locations close to residential areas that were visited, Locust Point had the loudest continuous noise. Residents have said the sound from the ships vary from one day to the next.

Michael Arida, president of the condominium association at Silo Point, said he has kept his windows closed all summer to keep the droning sound and the smell of diesel out of his apartment.

He said he has tried to give MARAD the benefit of the doubt that it will quiet the ships, even though it might mean five more months of “not being able to open your windows.”

In the meantime, the Charlton’s generators continue to run as they have for months.

“I just want quiet, that’s it,” McCoy said. “Nothing more.”