Ship Welcomed in Gala Return to ‘Birthplace’

PORT HUENEME —  Seven torpedoes, 16 missiles, 600 rounds of deck-gun ammunition, 24,000 miles and 10 1/2 months after joining the U.S. Navy fleet, the destroyer Stethem returned home Friday to a red-carpet welcome.

The gray ship pierced the early morning mist and steamed into port for the first time since Oct. 21 when it became the only ship ever commissioned at the Naval Construction Battalion Center. The Stethem (pronounced STEED-em) has come from its San Diego home port as the main attraction of the ninth annual Seabee Summerfest this weekend.

“We’re glad to have our ship back in town, skipper,” the base commander, Capt. Daniel Hambrock, said to the vessel’s captain, Cmdr. Steven C. Miller, at a brief welcoming ceremony attended by Port Hueneme Mayor Bob Turner, members of the ship’s commissioning committee and a crowd of Navy personnel.

With colorful flags flying that read “C-B-D-A-Y-S” and its 338-member crew lining the deck in sparkling whites, the gleaming Stethem looked far from the hard-working craft that had spent the past week training off the Southern California coast.

“She’s very special to us,” Hambrock added later. “She will carry the legacy of the Seabees in the surface Navy and foreign ports.”

The feeling is mutual, said Miller, whose first command is the $900-million guided-missile destroyer.

“We’re happy to be back here,” Miller said. “This is our home, our birthplace.”

The state-of-the-art vessel is named for slain Seabee diver Robert D. Stethem, who trained at the base but was never stationed there.

Stethem was 23 when he was killed during the 1985 hijacking of a New York-bound jetliner by Lebanese Shiite Muslim extremists.

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The only Navy ship still afloat to be named after a Seabee, the Stethem’s motto is a tribute to the stoic endurance of the agonies its namesake suffered at the terrorists’ hands: “Steadfast and Courageous.”

A memorial to the young steelworker second class is among the exhibits visitors will see during a 30-minute topside tour this weekend.

More than 20,000 people have toured the ship since it left Port Hueneme last fall.

Still, the 8,600-ton Stethem has not spent much time as a tourist attraction. Rigorous shakedown cruises for both crew and ship have been the order of the day. The first six months of the ship’s service were spent certifying, inspecting and assessing, Miller said.

Most have been relatively short weeklong cruises. The farthest afield the ship has sailed was Hawaii to test weapon systems.

The ship spent 10 weeks in dry dock to “check its warranty,” Miller joked, before resuming training.

“We’re doing combat training now to prepare to deploy next year to the Arabian Gulf,” he said, adding that the vessel will conduct anti-submarine and air protection duties for the Gulf forces. “This is still a preseason game. But if the season was going to start in a couple of weeks, we would be ready.”

The crew has been put through its paces as much as the ship, said Petty Officer 1st Class Vic Rivera, 30, a 1984 Channel Islands High graduate and one of three from the Oxnard school aboard the Stethem.

“We have a very tight crew and that’s forged from the trials and tribulations,” Rivera said. “It has been a difficult row to hoe, I’m not going to lie about that. . . . Doing things for the first time, you’ve got that inherent pressure to do them well.”

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The crew has looked forward to a weekend break that will include trips to the county fair before the ship weighs anchor again Monday morning, Lt. Long Kim Nguyen said.

The respite is not the only reason both crew and vessel have returned to Port Hueneme with a “smile.” The term is a reference to the arc-shaped indentation created when a 15-pound shell casing thuds to the deck from the 54-caliber gun. And the “smiles” signify an untested child is growing up.

“That’s the mark of a true warship,” Nguyen said, adding that many of the crew also perceive their county visit as almost a return to their roots. “The community feels ownership of the ship and we feel the same way.”

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FYI

Tours of the 505-foot-long Stethem will be given from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday as part of the Seabee Summerfest. The festival itself begins at 10 a.m. today and 11 a.m. Sunday. Most events conclude at 5 p.m. both days, but a carnival runs until 10 p.m. today and 9 p.m. Sunday. Events include a Seabee equipment parade at 10 a.m. today, a car show Sunday and arts and crafts, music, various sports competitions, tugboat harbor tours and 70-foot-high tethered hot air balloon rides both days. Admission, parking, tours and entertainment are free. Visitors must enter the base at the Pleasant Valley gate off Ventura Road. Call 982-2057 for more information.