Special To The Eagle Times
Williston, Vt. — The USS Vermont SSN-792 departed the Naval Submarine Base New London in mid-June shortly after the completion of Vermonter’s Weekend.
After exercises in the Atlantic, she transited the Panama Canal and arrived at her new home port in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on July 27.
She was greeted in the harbor by a tug delivering the harbor pilot and a 30-plus-foot green and white lei created by the Vermont Family Readiness Group to hang on the sail as part of the traditional Arrival ceremony for a new submarine joining Squadron 1 of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Families of the USS Vermont sailors were invited to ride along beside the Vermont as she transited the Harbor in a White Boat provided by Squadron 1.
The state’s namesake sailors were greeted on the pier by traditional Hawaiian dancers who presented each sailor with a lei provided by the USS Vermont Support Group. The group was represented by Gary Frymire and Wayne Pickett, who joined the crew on board the USS Vermont along with the harbor pilot and cruised into the pier.
“We are excited to add a seventh Virginia-class submarine to our ‘Squadron Wolfpack,’ and for Vermont’s crew and families to join the Pearl Harbor Ohana,” said Capt. Aaron Peterson, commodore of CSS-1. “Vermont will be the newest submarine in the Pacific and certainly enhances our warfighting posture and ability to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”
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