They will be on island for six days of rest and recreation.
CNMI Military and Veterans Affairs Executive Director Ruth Coleman said this is the second time for USS Tucson to call on Saipan, but the first time for most of its crewmembers.
USS Tucson visited Saipan in 2006.
Coleman said the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, the Saipan port and the Veterans of Foreign Wars will hold a no-host reception for the officers and crewmembers of the USS Tucson at the 360 Revolving Restaurant on Monday evening.
“The crewmembers will be going on sightseeing tours around the island, go golfing and enjoy what the life here has to offer until their departure next week,” Coleman said.
Lt. Jeff Rosser, the ship’s officer on duty, told the Variety yesterday that they had a two-hour stopover on Guam before proceeding to Saipan.
“This is a part of a five-month Western Pacific deployment and we will be heading back to Hawaii next week,” Rosser said.
It is his first time to visit Saipan, but he said about 10 of the ship’s crewmembers have been here before.
USS Tucson left Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam under commanding officer Gary Pinkerton for its Western Pacific region deployment on April 8 after a 23-month depot modernization period at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va.
Named after the city of Tucson in Arizona, USS Tucson (SSN-770) was commissioned in 1995.
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