ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609160104
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORFOLK NAVAL BASE
SOURCE: Newport News Daily Press
THE USS CHEYENNE'S commissioning Friday was attended by Virginia Sen. John Warner.
In a colorful dockside ceremony at Norfolk Naval Base on Friday morning, the ambitious Los Angeles-class submarine construction program, a key element of the massive Cold War-era military buildup, was put to rest with the commissioning of the USS Cheyenne.
For the Navy and Newport News Shipbuilding, it was a day to reflect back on a string of successes 29 submarines long.
``It's a great day for Newport News,'' shipyard president William Fricks told a large crowd that included 40 Cheyenne, Wyo., residents. ``While every ship that we build is special to Newport News, Cheyenne holds a rather unique place of honor. She is the last Los Angeles-class submarine we will build.'' Although the last, Fricks said that the sub ``will also be the finest. The Cheyenne embodies nearly 40 years of perfecting the fine art of building a nuclear submarine.''
Fricks, who made it a point to note that the sub was completed a month ahead of schedule, also made it a day to thank Virginia Sen. John Warner, second-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, for past and present funding efforts. ``We at Newport News are experiencing sort of a `empty-nest syndrome,''' Fricks said. ``There are no new submarines under construction in our yard for the first time in 38 years. But thanks to Senator Warner and the Virginia delegation, the story doesn't end there. We are starting the groundwork for a new attack submarine, which we are starting in two years.''
Warner turned to future expenditures during his remarks, expressing a distrust of the apparently friendlier Russia that has emerged from the Soviet Union's ashes. ``As this ship goes to sea, the Russian navy has, in the seven seas of the world, classes of submarines that are on the very cutting edge of technology,'' Warner said. ``We have seen the repeated failures of the Russian military ground forces, and we have heard the stories about their surface fleet tied at the docks and rusting.
``But I tell America today that Russia has plowed tremendous amounts of its military budget into maintaining a submarine fleet, and other strategic forces for operations beneath the seas.''
The specter of a rising Russian sub fleet was played during last year's battles over submarine funding. But the specter is grounded in fact, according to an August report by Congressional Research Service naval analyst Ronald O'Rourke that finds Russia spending substantial sums for submarines, improving their capability, and returning to Cold War-length sub patrols.
Asked afterward whether he harbored reservations about future relations with Russia, Warner, a former Navy secretary, replied with a chuckle, ``Let me tell you something: Always sleep with one eye open as it relates to Russia.''
Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., spent most of his time on the podium cracking one-liners but concluded on a somber note:
``May these officers and men, and this crew, never serve in a war. Because the tragedy of war is that we send our very best to do the very worst. And that is to destroy and kill. And your presence under the seven seas can deter warfare, and not bring it on.''
For the Cheyenne's crew, it was a day to revel in the knowledge that two years of work had come to closure.
``I asked to come to this boat,'' said Petty Officer 1st Class Eric Cadwell, 23, of Casper, Wyo., ``because of the name, and because it was a new construction.'' That, he said, allowed him to remain in port.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Leland Bland, 24, is a native of Cheyenne, Wyo. But his assignment, he said, ``was all luck. I asked for a boat that was going to the West Coast.'' Cheyenne will eventually be homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, he said.
Crew members admitted that the unusual dates of Cheyenne's christening and commissioning - April Fool's Day and Friday the 13th - had been a popular topic among crew members.
``There's been a lot of talk about that,'' Cadwell said. ``Nobody's really worried about it. It is kind of odd. We kind of make jokes about it. We aren't really superstitious.
``It's just kind of a weird coincidence.''
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. A crew member salutes the flag from atop the USSby CNBCheyenne at the commissioning ceremony at the Norfolk Naval Base
Friday. color.