Virginia-Class Boats Come Home

Yesterday, USS New Hampshire (SSN 778) arrived home to Groton from her maiden deployment, a three-month cruise to Europe. Hopefully they at least got a Sea Service Ribbon out of the deployment. The CO estimated that it was the first deployment for 80% of the crew; I'm guessing that this is fairly common for all the NewCon boats.

Later today, USS Hawaii (SSN 776) arrives in her new homeport of Pearl Harbor, just in time for the state's 50th anniversary of statehood. Here's an analysis of what this means for the area. You can read about the boat's transit on their blog. Expect media availabilities galore for years to come.

Update 1631 24 July: Here's an update on the actual arrival of the Hawaii by William Cole reporter; here's a link to the Governor's proclamation; here are a bunch of pictures. (I put in the bad grammar as a way of abusing reporters who say "USS Whatever submarine" instead of the proper "the submarine USS Whatever". Pet peeve of mine.)