Statehood Commission Welcomes USS Hawai'i
See more photos from the event below.
(PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII) – USS Hawaii (SSN 776), the first Virginia-class
submarine to be homeported in the Pacific, arrived in a ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, July 23, at the submarine piers at
Naval Station Pearl Harbor. The state’s namesake submarine made
Hawai‘i its home during the 50th Anniversary of Statehood Commemoration
activities.
The ceremony at
the submarine piers featured a Hawai‘i Air National Guard flyover
and participation by the U.S. Pacific Fleet Band, the Kamehameha Alumni
Glee Club, Halau Hula Olana Ai, Kahuna Pule Ganotise, and a haka by Pa
Ku‘i a Lua. The ship’s
sponsor, Hawai‘i Gov. Linda Lingle, briefly boarded the USS Hawaii
via a small boat prior to the ceremony.
Measuring
377 feet long, weighing 7,800 tons when submerged and with a complement
of more than 130 crewmembers, Hawai‘i is one of the Navy’s newest and
most technologically sophisticated submarines.
The
state-of-the-art submarine is capable of supporting a multitude of
missions, including anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface ship warfare;
strike; naval special warfare involving special operations forces; intelligence; surveillance; and reconnaissance; irregular warfare and
mine warfare.
Commissioned May 5, 2007, Hawai‘i was the third
Virginia-class attack submarine constructed and the first submarine to
be named after the 50th state. During her maiden deployment, USS
Hawaii became only the second Naval submarine in history to receive the
U.S. Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Citation for her efforts in support
of Joint Interagency Task Force South counter-drug operations. Her
crew is excited to represent its namesake state, as they continue to
build upon our already sustained relationships with our multinational
partners in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Recognizing the importance
of the Asia-Pacific region and the increased threat posed by the
proliferation of submarines in the Pacific, the 2006 Quadrennial
Defense Review mandated that 60 percent of the U.S. Navy’s submarines
be home-ported in the Pacific by the end of 2010.
USS Hawai‘i joined five Los Angeles-class submarines assigned to Pearl
Harbor-based Submarine Squadron ONE, commanded by Commodore Lee
Hankins. In addition to the USS Hawai‘i, the Virginia-class submarine
USS Texas (SSN 775) will transfer from Groton, Conn., to Submarine
Squadron ONE this fall, and Los Angeles-class USS Albuquerque (SSN 706)
will transfer from Groton, Conn., to Submarine Squadron ELEVEN in San
Diego later this summer. By the end of 2009, 31 of the U.S. Navy’s 53
fast attack submarines will be home ported in the Pacific, with 18 of
those 31 home ported in Pearl Harbor. COMSUBPAC officially announced
the impending arrival of Virginia-class submarine USS Hawai‘i (SSN 776)
to Pearl Harbor in December 2008.
