U.S. Navy service members who served aboard the Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Georgia over its more than forty years in service spoke to the Navy and paid homage before its decommissioning.
Sailors bid a fond farewell to a boat that gave them lifelong memories, camaraderie and lessons about resilience and paying it forward, according to a release.
“I take pride in what we did because I could see the effect,” said Electronics Technician (Nuclear) 2nd Class Trenton Maybee, who served aboard the ship and monitored its nuclear reactor. “We answered the call.”
The Georgia arrived at its homeport of Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia, on July 27, 2026, for the final time before its inactivation process began.
The USS Georgia was commissioned on Feb. 11, 1984, as an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine with Cold War nuclear deterrence in mind, but later redesignated as a guided-missile submarine on March 1, 2004.
Nuclear missiles were swapped out for 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles and a chamber onboard to host Navy SEALS and special operations forces if needed.
The Georgia will be the first Ohio-class guided-missile submarine to leave the fleet once and for all.
As a result, those in charge of the decommissioning efforts are creating a road map for each of the boats’ inactivation processes that follow.
For the Georgia’s engineer officer, Lt. Cmdr. Dennis Mauldwin, who was in charge of helping the ship emerge one last time, the ship was more than a partial home during his time in the military.
It also forged moments with his family he’d never forget.
Before its last trip home, Mauldwin’s daughter joined crew members during a special program that allows family members to observe loved ones who serve the country.
She’d heard about his job her whole life, but never seen him in action.
“Here’s my daughter on board the submarine while I’m standing watch and giving orders,” Mauldwini said. “That’s going to be something that she and I share forever.”
Sailors championed lessons about hard work and human kindness they’d learned from their time on the Georgia.
Culinary Specialist (Submarine) 1st Class Aaron Sarver helped serve the roughly 185 sailors aboard the submarine, a number that could increase when the boat carries special operations forces.
Despite an intense workload that involved game planning for a 120-day food loadout, he learned what was most important: keeping the crew upbeat.
“The 3 H’s were honesty, human compassion, and hard work,” Sarver said.
The consistent operability of the submarine also proved how effective Navy training had been over the decades, according to sailors, especially considering the systems onboard the ship were older and very complex. It also allowed sailors to perform a job proudly, knowing their efforts had a direct effect on national and international security.
“We receive such a high level of training,” said Lt. j.g. Jordan Blechman, who served aboard the Georgia. “When things go wrong, they know how to start troubleshooting and narrowing the problems to correct them, and that keeps the boat in the fight.”
Maybee felt a sense of purpose as a result of his duties.
“I don’t know if there’s another job that I could have that could have this much effect on the world,” Maybee said.
Most importantly, sailors looked back fondly on the peers they met along the way.
Mauldwin said that the service members he served alongside helped him endure long deployments and the grueling demands those trips sometimes placed on sailors.
It made him want to stay in the Navy.
That love of his fellow sailors also instilled a belief that the service should be left in a better place than when he joined.
“So much of what you hear in the Navy is, ‘I went through this, so you should have to suffer too,’ but I think that is the totally wrong attitude to have,” Mauldwin said. “Wherever I can, I am looking for opportunities to make the Navy more enjoyable, or at least less miserable, for people while still accomplishing the mission.”
Riley Ceder is a Navy reporter at Military Times, where he covers issues directly affecting service members and their families, as well as breaking news.
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