SECRETARY OF THE NAVY SETS NEW MEXICO COMMISSIONING DATE
Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, has set the date for the commissioning of USS NEW MEXICO (SSN 779). The submarine will be commissioned at 10:00 am on Saturday, March 27, 2010, at Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, VA.
The commissioning ceremony is a time-honored Navy tradition and marks the point when a ship or submarine officially joins the fleet. It is at this ceremony when the Ship’s Sponsor, Mrs. Cindy Giambastiani, will issue the order to the crew: “Man our ship and bring her to life.” Mrs. Giambastiani is the wife of retired Admiral Ed Giambastiani, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Dick Brown, Chairman of the Navy League’s USS New Mexico Commissioning Committee, says “This is great news. I had just been discussing the need to finalize the commissioning date with Vice Admiral Jay Donnelly, Commander of the US Naval Submarine Force.”
NEW MEXICO is the Navy’s newest Virginia-class nuclear submarine. She just completed back-to-back Alpha and Bravo sea trials last week. By all reports, she excelled during sea trials and returned to the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard last Saturday, two days early. The shipyard hopes to deliver the submarine to the Navy before the end of the year.