Newest ship welcomed

EVERETT – The USS Momsen, a guided-missile destroyer, isn’t scheduled to arrive in Everett until Oct. 15, but local officials are already celebrating Naval Station Everett’s new ship.

Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson, Marysville Mayor Dennis Kendall, Port of Everett Commission President Don Hopkins and other local government and business leaders are in Panama City, Fla., today to attend the commissioning of the Momsen.

“It’s important for the sailors of this ship to know this community opens its arms to them,” Stephanson said.

The trip also underlines local support for the Navy base, he said.

“It’s particularly important during this round of base closures that the Navy know how important the Navy is to this city,” Stephanson said.

The Pentagon is examining every military base in the country in the next 15 months in preparation for making huge budget cuts by closing bases. A city task force is putting together information to try to convince the Navy that the base here should remain open. The more than 6,500 sailors on the base and the ships are a vital part of Everett’s economy.

Stephanson said he is buoyed that the Navy chose Everett as the home port for the Momsen.

“The fact the Navy is deciding to bring the USS Momsen to Everett is to me a sign of the strategic importance of this base to the Navy,” the mayor said.

Two of the three members of the City Council’s base-closure committee – Council President Arlan Hatloe and Councilwoman Marian Krell – are with Stephanson in Florida, as is Pat McClain, the city’s director of governmental affairs.

The Navy invited city officials to attend the commissioning, said Jeanie Kitchens, spokeswoman for Naval Station Everett.

The trip will cost the city up to $4,000, city spokeswoman Kate Reardon said.

Councilman Mark Olson, who was invited but could not go because of a family commitment, said the money will be well-spent. Other cities are also lobbying the Navy to prevent closure of their bases, he said.

“This is part of doing what we can to make the Navy understand that their presence is welcome,” he said. “The commissioning of a ship is a big thing. If we didn’t have someone there, it would be noticeable and count against us.”

When the Momsen arrives in Everett, “we’re hoping to have a big to-do pretty much like what happened when the Abraham Lincoln returned, but at a smaller scale,” Kitchens said.

When the Lincoln returned from the Iraq war, thousands of people lined the docks at Naval Station Everett. However, for security reasons the docks will not be open to the public when the Momsen arrives, she said.

The Momsen, a guided-missile destroyer built at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, will be the eighth ship to call Everett its home port. The carrier Lincoln, the guided-missile destroyer Shoup, the fast frigates Ford, Rodney M. Davis and Ingraham, and Coast Guard Cutter Henry Blake also are stationed here. The USNS Shasta’s official home port is Everett, but it is rarely here.

Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com.

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