Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, commander, Naval Floor Forces served because the ceremony’s visitor speaker and wished the present crew honest winds and following seas as they bid farewell to their ship.
“The Sailors of USS Cellular Bay demonstrated time and time once more the resolve and readiness the Floor Pressure gives across the clock in help of our nation’s pursuits,” stated Kitchener. “All over the place this ship and crew deployed, Cellular Bay Sailors served their nation nicely, and lived as much as the valor enshrined within the Battle of Cellular Bay.”
Commanded by Capt. Brandon J. Burkett, Cellular Bay maintained a crew of 30 officers and 300 enlisted members.
“It’s been an honor to be Cellular Bay’s final commanding officer,” stated Burkett. “It has been a definite privilege to work alongside among the most interesting Sailors our Navy and our nation have to supply. Their persistence by means of adversity is commendable and really represents the spirit of Cellular Bay’s motto, ‘Full velocity forward.’ They honestly embody what it means to be a ‘MOBster.’ It’s now my solemn accountability because the ships last captain to order hauling down the colours and disembarking the crew. Although to many people ‘MOBsters’ previous and current, the sensation is deeper than that. Those that’ve gone to sea know {that a} ship is greater than a machine that floats. If you end up away from dwelling for months on finish your ship turns into your private home and your safety. We care for her and she or he takes care of us. Merely put, she turns into household. It has been an honor to serve with my crew on this exemplary warship.”
Cellular Bay was constructed by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi and commissioned Feb. 21, 1987, Alabama State Docks in Cellular, Alabama.
The ship’s operational historical past contains the 1989 evacuation of U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon; launching 22 Tomahawk Land Assault Missiles (TLAMs) in help of Operation Desert Storm and evacuation of 1000’s of individuals displaced by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Pinatubo within the neighborhood of Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines throughout Operation Fiery Vigil in 1991; U.S. Coast Guard Legislation Enforcement Detachment (CGLED) seizure of 10.5 metric tons of cocaine roughly 800 miles southwest of Acapulco, Mexico, and launching Tomahawk Land Assault Missiles (TLAMs) in help of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
The ship’s sponsor, Kathryn Jane Maury helped set up the Nationwide League of Households of American Prisoners and Lacking in Southeast Asia within the Sixties after her Navy pilot husband was shot down and captured in 1965. She was married to U.S. Sen. Jeremiah Denton, a Vietnam Battle veteran who was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism whereas a prisoner of conflict. USS Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129), a Flight III Arleigh-Burke class destroyer is known as for him. Mrs. Denton handed away on Nov. 22, 2007, on the age of 81.
The ship was the primary named after and in honor of the Battle of Cellular Bay in August 1864. In the course of the well-known American Civil Battle naval battle between Union forces beneath the command of Adm. David Farragut and Accomplice forces beneath Adm. Franklin Buchanan.
The ship’s motto, “Full velocity forward,” is predicated on Adm. Farragut’s well-known command issued through the battle and typifies the Admiral’s key to success in conflict, straight considering and decided motion. Cellular Bay proudly carried on the custom of patriotism and braveness displayed by the ships and Sailors within the historic battle which concluded when Farragut’s Union ships converged upon the Accomplice ironclad CSS Tennessee firing broadsides and ramming it at full velocity with their prows. After two hours, Tennessee was lifeless within the water, it’s steering gone and stack shot away, filling the gun deck with suffocating warmth and flames. Solely then did the wounded Buchanan give the order to give up. Tennessee’s colours got here down, concluding some of the necessary battles within the Civil Battle.
Cellular Bay shall be inactivated and towed to the Navy’s Inactive Ship’s facility in Bremerton, Washington the place they are going to be in a Logistic Assist Asset (LSA) standing.
For extra information from Naval Floor Forces, go to www.navy.mil/native/cnsp/, www.dvidshub.internet/unit/COMNAVSURFPAC, and www.public.navy.mil/surfor/.
