The City of Newport News seeks to support crew members and families

Last Friday the family and friends of over 150 sailors anxiously awaited the return of the USS Newport News to Norfolk Naval Station after a six month deployment. The crew was welcomed home with open arms after travelling over 40,000 nautical miles, operating in three oceans, four seas, and moving through 12 time zones. While at sea, the submarine worked from above the Arctic Circle to below the Equator, conducting port calls and brief stops in eight different countries along the way and leading numerous missions for several operational commanders vital to national security that have had real time impact.

Throughout the deployment the City of Newport News has sought to support the crew of the submarine it shares its name with via the City-sponsored USS Newport News Liaison Committee. The Committee works with the commanding officer and crew of the submarine USS Newport News and is responsible for activities that ensure a continuous interest in and relationship with the ship, its crew, and the City of Newport News. The committee seeks to boost the morale of the crew and families with gifts while at sea and upon return, homecoming celebrations, picnics for the crew and their families, holiday parties, and more.

The committee also has a scholarship program in which they annually award scholarships to members of the USS Newport News crew, past and present, as well as their dependents. To date over $30,000 in scholarships have been awarded. The committee was originally created by Newport News City Council in 1987 as the committee for the commissioning of the submarine USS Newport News (SSN 750). Its purpose was to work with the Navy and the pre-commissioning unit of USS Newport News to plan and execute those city activities which would honor the ship and her crew at the commissioning in June 1989.