Seapower - May 2008

Georgia Councils Help Welcome
Namesake Submarine Back to State

By AMY L. WITTMAN, Editor in Chief

On a sunny, breezy Georgia day — what some described as “Chamber of Commerce weather” — more than 2,500 guests gathered pier-side to welcome USS Georgia home to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay.

The ceremony also celebrated the boat’s successful conversion from a ballistic-missile submarine, or SSBN, to a guided-missile submarine, or SSGN. It is the fourth Ohio-class nuclear-powered SSBN to be reconfigured to perform, among other things, clandestine strike and special forces missions, and battlespace preparation and information operations.

In welcoming the crowd, U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., recalled taking advantage of an opportunity in January 2001 to discuss with President George W. Bush the possibility of converting SSBNs from carrying nuclear-armed missiles to conventional missiles, in keeping with the 1993 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty II.

“The president had only recently taken office, and said he was not familiar with the conversion, but turned to [then-Defense] Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and said, ‘Let’s look into this.’

“Sheila McNeill, Navy League activist and Kings Bay advocate, whom many of you know, said to me, ‘I can’t believe you said that at the first meeting with the president of the United States.’ And I said, ‘Sheila, it was a lot easier to irritate him than to irritate you.’”

The March 28 event was the result of nine months of work by the USS Georgia Return to Service Committee, chaired by McNeill,

past Navy League national president and a member of the Camden-Kings Bay Council.

Working with her on the committee were Keith F. Post, committee co-chair for logistics and president of the Camden-Kings Bay Council; Marty Klumpp, co-chair for development, Certified Fund Raising Executive and executive director of The Camden Partnership Inc.; Dave Reilly, coordinator for Georgia Navy League councils; Christine M. Daniel, president and CEO of the Camden County Chamber of Commerce; Walt Natzic of the Camden-Kings Bay Council; Harley Jones and Don Giles of the Atlanta Metropolitan Council; Gary Johnson and Jim Keller of the Savannah Council; and Bob Morrison and Bob Carlisle of the Golden Isles Council.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue served as honorary chairman. Joining him on the Honorary Committee were fellow Georgia lawmakers U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson and Kingston; former governors Roy Barnes, Joe Frank Harris, Zell Miller, Carl Sanders and former President Jimmy Carter; and former senators Sam Nunn, Max Cleland, Wyche Fowler and Mack Mattingly. Representing her late husband, Sen. Paul Coverdell, on the Honorary Committee was Nancy Coverdell.

Retired Rear Adm. John B. Padgett III, vice president of business development and strategic planning for General Dynamics Electric Boat, told the audience that the men and women of Electric Boat — from the contract in fall 2002 to the initial operational capability in fall 2007 — created a platform “that could be configured to respond to

the myriad challenges of the warfare that we’ll find in the 21st century.”

He said, “USS Ohio, USS Florida, USS Michigan and USS Georgia were returned to the Navy on or ahead of schedule and the conversion work was completed about $120 million below the targeted cost. This money was returned to the Navy to improve

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, left, and Capt. Brian McIlvaine, commander of the guided-missile submarine USS Georgia, salute the flag as they board the sub for its Return to Service Ceremony March 28 at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, Ga.