USS North Carolina, SSN 777 to be Christened

The North Carolina, the Navy's newest of the Virginia class attack submarines will be christened on April 21 in Newport News, Va. This is the next step in commissioning an new submarine into the fleet. After the christening ceremony the USS North Carolina will go under extensive testing procedures called sea trials to make sure that the sub is operationally ready to undertake the missions and patrols that it was built to do. After sea trials the North Carolina will be commissioned around early 2008 in a ceremony in Wilmington, NC. I am hoping to be invited to the commissioning ceremony, I have asked that my name be placed on the invite list, so hopefully they will come through. After the sub is commissioned it will join the fleet around June 2008 and begin keeping America safe. As of now the sub is attached to Submarine Group Two out of Groton, CT.

Catching up...

Today's post is an attempt to catch up on some of the submarine happenings while I was out of touch for a little while.

-April 11, 2007 is the US Submarine Force's 207th Birthday. The US acquired its first submarine the Holland on this day in 1900.

-April 12- The Russian sub Kursk sunk killing all 118 sailors on board. There are pictures of the recovered submarine here. Quite a bit of damage.

-April 16- Russia is to launch a new nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine, the Yuri Dolgorukiy, which took 10 years to build.

-April 17- The US released a report on the Minneapolis-St. Paul incident in which two sailors were washed overboard and were lost. It seems that the weather causing rough seas was the big culprit.

-"Russia and India are to conduct joint naval counter-terrorism exercises in the Sea of Japan on April 24-26, a Russian source said Tuesday. The press service of Russia's Pacific Fleet said the INDRA-2007 is a biennial joint exercise between the Russian and Indian navies aimed at practicing cooperative engagement in the fight against terrorism. It is the third such exercise since 2003."

Out of Touch

As you may have noticed, I have not posted anything in a while. I have been out of town for work. This week, I am playing catch-up and also trying to get ahead because I will be out of toen again next week. Hopefully I will be able to replace this post with something more interesting in the next several days or so.