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USS Georgia headed for Georgia
The flag, along with a log book signed by the commissioners, will be presented to the commanding officer of the USS Georgia by Gov. Sonny Perdue in a Return to Service ceremony March 28 at Kings Bay. More than a decade ago, the ship's fate was in jeopardy. The Nuclear Posture Review Committee said there were too many submarines out there and the initial four including the USS Georgia would be destroyed. After a two-year, $1 billion overhaul, the USS Georgia, the state's namesake submarine, will return to service at the Naval Submarine Base at Kings Bay. The USS Georgia is the last of four Ohio-class submarines to have been converted from a ballistic missile submarine to a guided missile submarine designation to provide a new conventional weapons platform. The other three are the USS Ohio, USS Michigan and USS Florida. The Georgia is a premier weapon in the global war on terrorism with primary missions of land attack and Special Operations Forces insertion and support. They have the capability to launch unmanned underwater vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles and Special Forces equipment. They can carry and support more than 66 Navy Seals and insert them, under clandestine conditions, into target areas. "The governor wanted to be able to say this flag had been in every county in the state," said Dan Bollinger Sr., executive director of the Southwest Georgia Regional Development Center which is assisting in coordinating area flag ceremonies. "It started up in North Georgia. It's criss-crossed the state," Bollinger said. The name Georgia first sailed onboard the Confederate ironclad CSS Georgia to protect Savannah. A shell from CSS Georgia sails onboard USS Georgia today. The first USS Georgia was a 441-foot, 15,000-ton battleship that served from 1906 to 1920, and cruised around the world as part of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet" from 1907 to 1909. Capt. Brian McIlvaine, a 1984 U.S. Naval Academy graduate, is the sub's commanding officer. He leads a crew of about 164 officers and enlisted personnel.
To learn more, visit the Web site at www.USSGEORGIA. org.
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