USS Virginia Returns

USS Virginia (SSN 774) returned home to Groton last week following her arduous "deployment in support of the Global War On Terrorism".


She started her "deployment" back on Sep. 12, and got back home on Nov. 23, making it an 11 week deployment in all. Based on reports I kept getting, it seems she was pretty much operating out of P-Can and Kings Bay quite a bit of the time. Don't get me wrong -- I'm sure this deployment was way cooler than what my old boat, USS Connecticut (SSN 22), did during her first long underway from Groton. (By cooler, I don't mean temperature-wise, since Connecticut went up to the Arctic. I mean in a "we got a lot of publicity for cruising around the Caribbean for 2 months" kind of way.) It probably just took longer for Virginia to get back because she's reportedly not quite as fast as a Seawolf.

Anyway, I'm sure she and her crew did a great job, but I will offer them one piece of advice: next time, don't bother with those things that appear to be some sort of two-sided-stickie-tape-held-up numbers on the sail -- they look kinda tacky.

Going deep...