The Navy fast attack submarine USS Annapolis has just arrived at her new home port, and it’s a long way from her namesake on the Chesapeake Bay.
Annapolis was transferred to Naval Base Point Loma, in San Diego, from an extended maintenance period at her previous home in Groton, Connecticut. It’s her first time in Pacific waters. The families of her crew, 160 sailors and officers, have been arriving in San Diego eagerly awaiting the arrival.
Annapolis is a Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered fast attack submarine. That class has 35 submarines in commisison, more than any other class in the world. She is slightly longer than a football field, at 362 feet.
Cmdr. Kurt Balagna, her commanding officer, praised his crew on their performance during the transit.
“Our number one accomplishment was safe transit over the Pacific and arriving at our new homeport,” said Balagna. “My crew has been in port for four months prior to this underway, went out to sea and was able to operate the submarine to its maximum and impressed me every single day. I could not be more proud of them.”
During the transfer, Annapolis’ crew did a wide range of exercises and test events to evaluate and certify the ship’s warfighting capabilities across a range of submarine mission areas.
In transit, the crew also conducted a time-honored Navy tradition of “crossing the line,” a unique ceremony where the submarine crossed the equator, allowing the crew to qualify as “Trusty Shellbacks.”
USS Annapolis is the fourth ship to be named for Annapolis, Maryland, site of the U. S. Naval Academy.
