Officials hope the namesake submarine can take part in the 50th anniversary of Statehood Day, which is celebrated on the third Friday in August. On Aug. 21, 1959, Hawai'i became the 50th state in the union.With the Navy's emphasis on the Pacific, it's not surprising to me that 3 of the first 4 Virginia-class boats will go west. I expect we'll see the numbers end up about 60% for the Pacific and 40% in LANTFLT when it's all said and done.
Pearl Harbor is expected to receive three of the first four of the latest-generation subs to be built after the lead ship in the class, the USS Virginia.
The Hawai'i, Texas and North Carolina would be based here and augment and begin to replace the 15 older Los Angeles-class attack subs that operate out of Pearl Harbor.
The Texas was projected to arrive first in 2009, but the arrival of the Hawai'i has now been moved up ahead of the Texas. Officials said the flip-flop is a result of some political clout working to bring the USS Hawai'i to Pearl Harbor as fast as possible and the need for some work on the Texas.
Update 1405 05 Dec: Here's the official Navy announcement on the homeport change.
