By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ronald Gutridge, Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs
PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- The Virginia-class submarine USS Texas (SSN 775) departed Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for a scheduled deployment to U.S. 4th Fleet Area of Responsibility May 19.
"USS Texas is flexible and ready to rapidly respond to a wide range of situations on short notice in support of national security," said Cmdr. Bob Roncska, USS Texas commanding officer. "I am extremely proud of my Texas crew. No doubt, the best crew I have had the opportunity to serve with in all my 20 years of naval service"
This is Texas' first deployment since changing homeports to Pearl Harbor in November 2009.
Commissioned Sept. 9, 2006, Texas was the second Virginia-class attack submarine constructed and the first submarine to be named after the Lone Star State. The state-of-the-art submarine is capable of supporting a multitude of missions, including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, strike, naval special warfare involving special operations forces, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, irregular warfare, and mine warfare.
