Former first lady Laura Bush, the "sponsor" of the submarine USS Texas, was at Pearl Harbor Wednesday to congratulate the sub’s captain, Cmdr. Robert Roncska — better known to President George W. Bush as "Navy Bob" — for a job well done as Roncska moves on to a new position.
"I see what the crew of the USS Texas knows well — that Commander Bob is a great officer and a natural leader," Laura Bush said.
Bush said Roncska is well known to her and the former president — who gave Roncska his nickname. Roncska served as naval aide to the president from 2006 to 2008 and carried the case known as the "nuclear football" with launch codes for atomic weapons.
Laura Bush, as the Virginia-class submarine’s sponsor, welded her initials into the hull when the keel was laid and broke a bottle of champagne to christen the vessel on the East Coast.
Bush was asked to be the sub’s sponsor when her husband was governor of Texas, "and since then, I’ve enjoyed visiting the submarine and getting to know her crew," she said.
In 2009, she visited the Texas to mark another event — the change of command at which Roncska took over as captain of the sub, she said. Cmdr. Andy Hertel replaced Roncska Wednesday.
As Roncska’s success was celebrated, another milestone will be marked less enthusiastically today by the Pacific Fleet Submarine Force as part of the Pentagon’s budget cuts.
Submarine Squadron 3 at Pearl Harbor, originally created on Nov. 25, 1930, in the Panama Canal Zone, will be deactivated and all but one of its six submarines will be reassigned to the two other sub squadrons at Pearl.
The Jacksonville, Key West and North Carolina are being reassigned to Squadron 1, while the Louisville and Olympia are being assigned to Squadron 7.
The USS Houston came to Pearl Harbor Jan. 17 from Guam and will head into the shipyard for maintenance, and Chicago, the sixth sub in Squadron 3, will be sent to replace the Houston in Guam, the Navy said.
The consolidation, which eliminates a staff of about 20 from Squadron 3, means that Squadron 1 will grow to nine subs while Squadron 7 will have 10 submarines.
"So the operating tempo of the squadrons themselves will increase in terms of providing support to those submarines," said Cmdr. Christy Hagen, a Pacific Fleet Sub Force spokesperson.
Roncska, the former Texas captain, will remain at Pearl Harbor as submarine commanding officer instructor.
The native New Yorker was awarded the Legion of Merit for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service" as commanding officer of the Texas.
With Roncska at the helm in 2009, the 7,800-ton attack submarine, with a crew of about 134, completed a historic exercise in the Arctic when it became the first Virginia-class submarine to operate in the region.
Because of the thickness of the ice, the 377-foot Texas did not traverse the North Pole region to the Pacific, and instead sailed back along the East Coast and through the Panama Canal.
Roncska also was singled out for a "highly successful" U.S. Southern Command mission with more than 60 mission days devoted to the war on drugs, and a recent "brilliantly executed" Western Pacific deployment.
Roncska, addressing the audience of more than 200 people, including the Texas crew, was quick to give credit to his wife, Stephanie, and children, Sophia and Zachary. "With over 65 percent of my time away from them during this command tour, I could not have asked God for a better family."
Hertel, the Texas’ new commander, recognized the ship’s success — and that of past Pearl subs.
"We must always remember the bold and daring warriors who went forth from these very waters and brought the fight to the enemy," he said.
Hertel said the submarine force must maintain itself on the "razor’s edge" to answer the nation’s call.
When the call comes, "we will be there, and we will be ready," Hertel said.
