DVIDS Hub works best with JavaScript enabled

USS Montpelier holds change of command

Photo By Chief Petty Officer Joshua Karsten | 210923-N-GR655-029 GROTON, Conn. (September 23, 2021) – The official party of the...... read more read more

GROTON, CONNECTICUT, UNITED STATES

09.23.2021

Courtesy Story

Submarine Readiness Squadron (SRS) 32

GROTON, Connecticut – Cmdr. Roderick Hodges turned command of the Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered fast attack submarine USS Montpelier (SSN 765) over to Cmdr. Drew Pittman in a traditional change of command ceremony held Thursday, Sept. 23, at Naval Submarine Base New London.

Montpelier returned home from deployment less than a week earlier, arriving in Groton Sunday, Sept. 19.

During his remarks at the ceremony, Hodges reminded those in attendance that out of his approximately 140 crew members, more than 120 had never been on a deployment before the nearly five-month tour that recently concluded.

“They’re the ones who made the magic happen and they’re the ones who accomplished the extraordinary,” he said, saying they captured the upstart spirit of Vermont’s Revolutionary War Green Mountain Boys from whom the crew took its nickname.

“Green Mountain Boys, you were relentless, and you accomplished everything I asked of you,” Hodges said. “If it came to it, there’s no one else with whom I’d rather go to war.”

Capt. John Stafford, commanding officer of Submarine Squadron 4 and the event’s keynote speaker, recalled the game-changing leadership of past Navy heroes like World War II USS Wahoo (SS 238) commanding officer Cmdr. Dudley Morton and nuclear propulsion pioneer Adm. Hyman G. Rickover, as well as championship-winning football quarterback Tom Brady.

Stafford said that a strong ship commander like Hodges will work on behalf of his crew until the moment he’s relieved of command and will scrutinize all of his command decisions in hindsight forever after.

“I know you feel the full weight and measure of the position,” he said. “I’m happy to see such an example from you as you prepared to turn over command. … You will not be reveling in the success of your accomplishments.”

USS Montpelier was commissioned in 1993, the third U.S. Navy ship to bear the name of Vermont’s capital city. SSN 765 is more than 360 feet long and can displace nearly 7,000 tons. Montpelier is currently moored at a pier alongside USS Vermont (SSN 792), a Virginia-class fast attack submarine commissioned in 2020.

Like Hodges and Stafford before him, when Pittman spoke, he thanked his family, Navy mentors and crews who helped him throughout his career. And he acknowledged the “professionalism and enthusiasm” of the assembled crew of Montpelier, calling back to the ship’s motto to guide the team ahead.

“‘Fortune favors the bold,’ so we will be bold and seek fortune as such,” Pittman said.

Fast-attack submarines are multi-mission platforms enabling five of the six Navy maritime strategy core capabilities – sea control, power projection, forward presence, maritime security and deterrence. They are designed to excel in anti-submarine warfare, anti-ship warfare, strike warfare, special operations, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, irregular warfare and mine warfare. Fast-attack submarines project power ashore with special operations forces and Tomahawk cruise missiles in the prevention or preparation of regional crises.