Ecstatic crowd welcomes attack sub home

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

PEARL HARBOR — The attack submarine USS Cheyenne, the first Navy ship to fire a Tomahawk cruise missile in Operation Iraqi Freedom, yesterday became the first Pacific Fleet vessel to return home from war.

Ben Greve, a fire control technician aboard the USS Cheyenne, received a warm welcome home from his mother, Kathy Ax, and his father, David. The Cheyenne led a flotilla of Navy ships heading home after the war in Iraq. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

With a giant lei draped over its conning tower, Cheyenne and its crew were greeted at pier Sierra One Bravo by hundreds of family and friends ecstatic at the return of of the sub that, like the Lincoln and Pearl Harbor-based destroyer Paul Hamilton and frigate Reu-ben James, had its regular six-month deployment extended by almost three months because of the war.

The Paul Hamilton also arrives home tomorrow morning, while the Reuben James will pull into port Sunday.

As a band played, and Navy brass including Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Walter Doran looked on, the Cheyenne crew disembarked into a sea of well-wishers, hugs, lei and American flags.

"How are you!" screamed Kathy Ax of Virginia, as she jumped up and down and hugged her son, 22-year-old Ben Greve, a fire control technician.

His father, David Greve, was also there. "I left here 30 years ago from Kane'ohe — for Vietnam from Kane'ohe," David Greve said. "(My son) went to Iraq from here. It's been interesting."

Although all ship returns are emotional, the Cheyenne's arrival had special significance. Sailors on other docked subs took extra notice, something they don't always do.

"It's pretty surprising," said Lt. Henry Roenke, the Cheyenne's assistant engineer, of the big crowd on the pier. "I knew there would be a lot of people — I didn't know there would be this many."

Sailors of the USS Cheyenne drape a lei on its conning tower as it returns to its mooring in Pearl Harbor. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

Cheyenne was the first among four U.S. ships and two submarines to fire Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles on March 19 in the "decapitation" strike aimed at taking out Saddam Hussein in a bunker in Baghdad.

Three other Hawai'i submarines: Columbia, Key West and Louisville, also would fire the low-flying missiles in succeeding days.

Cheyenne skipper Cmdr. Charles Doty said he wasn't aware at the time that Cheyenne fired one of the opening shots of the more than 800 Tomahawks from sea and air.

"I never even recognized that we had launched the first missile till about four days later," Doty said. "At the time, I was just more concerned with, wow, we're being tasked, and the time to shoot is now. ... There is no more second chance, it better work — and everything worked just like it was built to, and all the crew responded like they were trained to respond."

The Cheyenne, which supported the Lincoln battle group, spent nearly nine months on deployment after leaving Pearl Harbor on July 31.

Lt. j.g. Jim Farrow, first off the USS Cheyenne when the sub arrived in Hawai‘i yesterday, gets a welcome-home kiss from fiancée Andi Brabec. They are both from Oklahoma City. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

The feelings were mutual for family back home.

Christina Humphrey, who along with about 75 other family and friends got to take a launch out to catch the first glimpse of the submarine as it entered the harbor, said as she waited for her husband's return, her stomach was "in knots — it's been a long time since I've seen him."

Machinist Mate 2 Jeff Humphrey, 27, is a nuclear trained machinist, or "nuke," aboard the Cheyenne. Christina Humphrey said she has pride in the crew's accomplishments.

"Every time anyone asks if we're in a military family, that's the first thing I say — 'My husband's on the Cheyenne' — and I always stress they were the first ones to attack," she said. "We're very, very proud."