USS Georgia Blue back home

Approximately 125 family members and friends eagerly awaited the arrival of the Sailors at the Trident Training Facility.

The officers and crewmembers flew from Diego Garcia into Jacksonville International Airport arriving aboard 6 buses at 6:30 p.m., in the midst of trick-or-treating.

A number of the children and adults were dressed in costumes to greet their loved ones.

The arrival of the crew marks the completion of the first leg of Georgia's deployment. The Blue crew departed Kings Bay on Aug. 6, on their first operational deployment as a guided missile submarine.

The Navy converted four of its ballistic missile submarines to guided missiles. Along with the missile conversion, upgrades were made to the payload capacity and communications systems.

With these changes, the SSGN has the ability to serve in a variety of missions such as strike, special operations, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

By using Diego Garcia as a crew exchange point, the SSGN can maintain a continuous presence in the area of operation for 70 percent of the year. This makes the SSGN a highly effective weapon in the war on terror.

The newly designed submarine and a new mission developed a new type of homecoming for Submarine Sailors at Kings Bay. Now instead of waiting on the pier for the submarine to arrive, family and friends await buses carrying the Sailors home from the airport.

The Gold crew has the boat on deployment and in three months the Blue crew will be returning to Diego Garcia to swap again. The Georgia will exchange crews three times during the year-long deployment.