Fleet swap brings destroyers to Pearl Harbor

The Navy is adding to its surface-ship firepower at Pearl Harbor with some home-port switches this week.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Preble and its crew of about 290 arrived Thursday afternoon in Hawaii from San Diego as a replacement for the frigate USS Reuben James, which was decommissioned in July 2013, the Navy said.

Friday will see the appearance at Pearl Harbor of another destroyer from San Diego, the USS John Paul Jones, which has ballistic missile shoot-down capability and is slated to replace the Pearl Harbor cruiser USS Lake Erie.

The John Paul Jones is taking on the Lake Erie’s role as the primary test-bed ship for missile defense at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, the Navy said.

Among its accomplishments, the Lake Erie fired a missile and obliterated a crippled U.S. spy satellite in 2008 that was orbiting 130 miles over the Pacific with 1,000 pounds of toxic hydrazine fuel that otherwise would have crashed to Earth.

In coming years the John Paul Jones is expected to test newer and more advanced missile defense systems intended to protect the United States and its allies.

The Lake Erie, meanwhile, will head to San Diego in the fall for an extended docking ship repair, and remain there once the work is complete, the Navy said.

"I think without question the Navy is very committed to Pearl Harbor," Capt. Chris Bushnell, commodore of Destroyer Squadron 31 at Pearl Harbor, said shortly after the Preble arrived. "I was just with a congressional delegation today talking about the continued presence of very capable ships (here). The DDGs (guided-missile destroyers) are the workhorse of the fleet."

The John Paul Jones just went through a midlife upgrade, including a combat systems improvement, Bushnell said.

The Navy said in January the John Paul Jones was "the most technologically advanced ship within the (ballistic missile defense) program."

The Preble, meanwhile, replaces a less capable frigate.

With the departure of the Lake Erie, Pearl Harbor’s surface fleet will be at 11 ships, a total that has been in place for several years.

The arrival of the Preble is a "pretty significant move," its captain, Cmdr. Robert T. Bryans Jr., said on the pier after his ship pulled up at about 3:25 p.m.

"Being in Hawaii allows us to be at least a week closer to where we would normally operate in the Pacific to demonstrate our capabilities, which are primarily anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare and air warfare," Bryans said.

The ship returned from an independent deployment in November and is getting ready to deploy again early next year, Bryans said.

"We like to talk about Yokosuka (Japan) as the tip of the spear, but to me (Hawaii) is the tip of the spear," Bryans said. "Go west from here and it matters. We’ll go out, typically join up with Destroyer Squadron 15 and the George Washington (aircraft carrier) strike group and operate with them."

Dozens of family members waited pierside Thursday for the arrival of the Preble and loved ones.

Two-year-old Avenleigh Taylor waved to her father, Chief Petty Officer Marcus Taylor, and he blew a kiss back as the ship’s crew lined the rails for the arrival.

Tiffany Taylor, the Navy chief’s wife, said she, her daughter and two older children have been in Hawaii since July 7.

Asked what it was like for her as the ship sidled up against the pier, Tiffany Taylor said, "The best."

She added, "We’re starting our whole new life here, so we’re really excited. We’ve been here without him for that period of time, so we’ve just been kind of preparing and getting to know our way around the area."

The move to Hawaii from San Diego didn’t go smoothly for Tina Kampelman, whose husband, Norman, is a sonar chief on the Preble.

"For me it was a little crazy because a lot of our stuff had gotten stolen (in the move)," she said.

That included TVs, computers, a safe, pictures and china, she said.

But she said it was "exciting for me to be able to come (to Hawaii). Such a beautiful place."

A decommissioning ceremony also was held Thursday at Pearl Harbor for the amphibious ship USS Denver, the oldest deployable ship in the Navy.

Commissioned in 1968, the Denver participated in the evacuation of Saigon, Vietnam, in 1975. The ship was moved to Hawaii from its home port in Japan and is expected to be stored in the inactive fleet shipyard in Middle Loch.