USS New Jersey Commissioning Tomorrow 14 September 2024
The thousands of guests fortunate enough to be part of history for the ceremony commissioning the USS New Jersey (SSN-796) at Naval Weapons State Earle’s Leonardo Pier are in for a thrill tomorrow morning beginning at 11 a.m.
That is when the submarine, PCU (pre-commissioning unit) New Jersey officially becomes a member of the United States Naval Fleet and will be forever known as the USS New Jersey (SSN-796).
For the Navy, it is a traditional commissioning ceremony for the Virginia class submarine bringing the boat into active service.
With thousands of visitors expected to be bussed with proper tickets and identification, from parking areas along the Bayshore, and others watching with binoculars from a secure distance in Sandy Hook Bay aboard the Navesink Queen, a paddle-wheeler out of the Atlantic Highlands Harbor, sailors will officially be called to Man the Boat after prayers, music, and speeches and will march double time from the pier to the boat, taking their positions along the deck assuring the Submarine Captain, Commander Steve Halle, the boat is ready for service.
Crew, officers, color guard, even Dr. Susan DiMarco, a retired dentist who lives in Montclair, the ship’s sponsor, were in Leonardo for a practice session Friday.
It is Dr. DiMarco, who will actually call the order to the sailors to “Man our Ship and bring her to life.” Sailors will then hoist the colors and the commission pennant and the Secretary of the Navy, Carlos Del Toro will officially welcome the boat to the Naval fleet.
Secretary Del Toro is a native of Cuba and a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and US Naval War College and is also a retired naval officer. Dr. DiMarco’s husband, Jeh Johnson, former Secretary of Homeland Security will also be at the ceremony.
Commander Halle and the crew hosted a tour of the vessel and held press conferences yesterday, all praising the people of New Jersey, Middletown and Mayor Tony Perry in particular, and thanking everyone for the reception they have had and the sites they have seen in their week long visit to Earle after being built in Virginia. Also present for the preliminary greetings and information sessions was “Bob the Builder,’ Bob Bolden, Director of Ship Operations for Newport News Shipbuilding company in Virginia.
Bolden oversaw the construction of the New Jersey and is one of only two shipyards in the country capable of building nuclear-powered ships.
The company has been building sea vessels for the Navy since 1886 and is part of Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Bolden said the company is currently building 11 vessels, and has built 23 submarines for the Navy including the New Jersey as well as the Massachusetts, Arkansas, and the Oklahoma.
With more than 550 acres of facilities for the construction business, and more than 25,000 employees, Bolden said the firm is actively searching for more employees. .”They don’t have to know how to build ships,” he said, “we can teach them that. They just have to have the highest personal quality, pride in their country, and a desire to do something for their nation.”
The media tour of the boat included all decks from the above water curved top of the boat down ladders to the lower decks and tours of the Captain’s and Executive Officer’s quarters, galley, also used for recreation and movies, laundry facilities with the single washer and dryer aboard, along with the torpedo room, watertight door separating the reactors room from the rest of the boar, berthing quarters, Auxiliary Machinery room where everything needed for the environment, including scrubbers, and oxygen production facilities, and ward room as well as the control room and fan room.
Visitors got to go in the control room and see how the vessel and men are capable of always have vision whether day or night, whether through the boat’s periscope or sonar. Tour Guide Christopher Baldwin , one of the crew members who has been active all week teaching the general public all the language, duties, and history of the submarine service, explained the importance of the plethora of fire hoses throughout the boat, noting it takes 12 seconds to fill an area with smoke. He noted that fire and flood are constant dangers to submariners, compared to the Navy not losing a submarine to foreign forces in more than 60 years.
Commander Halle throughout his stay in Monmouth County, has consistently shown why he is respected yet loved by his crew and why submariners relate as a family, working together and helping each other whenever called on.
In a press conference on the pier before the vessel tour, Commander Halle said he answers to anything that’s respectful from the officers and men serving under him, whether it is Captain, Skipper, Old Man, anything that’s polite.
He courteously told reporters he declined to talk any politics, declining to answer the New Jersey question…..is it Pork Roll or Taylor’s ham? He did say he also visited northern New Jersey, specifically Elizabeth, known as the birthplace of the Submarine.
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