One the of Military Sealift Command’s fleet replenishment oilers is back in Norfolk after a nine-month deployment.

PASCAGOULA, Miss.—Steadfast and resolute, Vice Adm. Samuel L. Gravely Jr. commanded respect much like the Navy destroyer named for him. Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding christened DDG 107, an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer, in the presence of Gravely’s family members, friends and co-workers during a ceremony Saturday at the Pascagoula shipyard.

Bodies were found Wednesday of three of the five crew members who were aboard a Navy helicopter that crashed into the ocean southwest of San Diego, military officials said.

The U.S. Naval Academy men’s tennis team faced three ACC opponents—Maryland, North Carolina and Clemson—during the regular season and lost 1-6, 0-7 and 0-7, respectively. So Navy coach John Officer spoke with some authority yesterday after his team’s first-round match in the NCAA tournament. “Virginia’s the class of the ACC, there’s no question,“ Officer said.

A Virginia man wanted by the U.S. Navy on a desertion charge has waived extradition after a court appearance in North Carolina. An operations officer at the Davidson County, N.C., jail said 25-year-old Robert Lee Leassears of Chesapeake waived extradition during his first appearance this afternoon. The officer didn’t know when Leassears will be returned to Virginia.

Sailor from Bristow identified as sailor who went overboard in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday.

Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009, was one of those days I felt lucky to be alive. It certainly was a day I won’t soon forget. Clear blue skies, cold breeze coming across the waters of the Chesapeake Bay to the world’s largest naval base, in Norfolk. As we walked down the giant Pier 14—there can’t be too many docks like it that can hold 20,000 people—we gaped at the sheer size of the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush. It’s roughly equal to the Empire State Building laid on its side, with a flight deck on top that takes up four and a half acres.

Virginia political leaders are vowing to fight the Navy’s decision to homeport a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Florida. The Navy announced yesterday that Florida’s Mayport Naval Station will be the home port for the carrier, bringing 3,190 military jobs with it. The move is expected to pump about $500 million into the north Florida economy.

President George W. Bush yesterday commissioned a new aircraft carrier named for his father, former President George H.W. Bush, before a crowd of 18,000 in a ceremony that was part Navy tradition and part family reunion. The younger Bush, 10 days from the end of his presidency, joined his father at the Norfolk Naval Base to usher the $6.3 billion carrier George H.W. Bush into the Atlantic Fleet. “I ask that God protect this ship and bring her only victory and peace,“ the president said.

A recent story in The Times-Dispatch on nuclear power [“Schools Restart Nuclear Programs”] is yet another powerful indicator of the resurgence of nuclear energy in our country’s schools as well as in the civilian power industry.

VIRGINIA BEACH—Jurors will resume deliberations in the case of a Virginia sailor charged with killing his wife. Navy Lt. Michael Lee Everage and his wife, Robyn, were preparing to divorce when her body was found in the woods in Virginia Beach on Feb. 21, 2007. Prosecutors claim Everage beat his wife to death with a truck mirror because she had information of his sexual affairs with both women and men that could have ruined his military career and his chance of keeping custody of his three children.

In a departure from tradition, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush will be commissioned next month before sea trials and formal delivery to the Navy, Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding said yesterday. The $6.2 billion carrier named after the 41st president is scheduled for commissioning Jan. 10, just days before the elder Bush’s son, President George W. Bush, leaves office. Both Bushes are expected to attend the commissioning at the Norfolk Naval Station.

The Navy recently announced its proposal to upgrade Naval Station Mayport, Fla., to accommodate a nuclear aircraft carrier. Although the decision has not been formally announced, it is widely known that the Navy plans to move an aircraft carrier from Norfolk to Mayport.

On Dec. 7, 1941, after 22 years of peace, war again descended on the United States. The same day that Japanese planes wreaked their havoc on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, similar assaults devastated the small islands that served as links in the United States’ supply chain between Hawaii and the Philippines.

Recently, the Navy announced a decision to homeport a nuclear carrier at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., establishing a second nuclear port on the East Coast. The decision was based on neither economic input nor political influence. It was a decision to protect our strategic assets and sailors. A decision based on national security—pure and simple. The facts supporting the Navy’s decision are overwhelming and simply irrefutable.