About Us

The USS Newport News Liaison Committee works with the commanding officer and crew of the submarine USS Newport News (SSN 750), and is responsible for activities which will ensure a continuous interest in and relationship with the ship, its crew, and the City of Newport News. The committee was originally created by Newport News City Council in the spring of 1987 as the committee for the commissioning of the submarine USS Newport News (SSN 750). Its purpose was to work with the Navy and the pre-commissioning unit of USS Newport News to plan and execute those city activities which would honor the ship and her crew at the commissioning in June 1989. 

Preliminary plans were made and carried out, including a picnic for crew members and their families in July 1988. In August of 1988 the original committee members joined prominent civic leaders to form the Newport News Celebration Committee. Together, the committees planned several commissioning activities, including the following:

• Prayer breakfast

• Black tie pre-commissioning dinner

• Post-ceremony reception at Christopher Newport College

• Dinner party for the crew

• Gifts to the ship from the city

• Homecoming on July 4, 1989, attended by the Vice President of the United States

In 1991 the committee was chartered by City Council as the USS Newport News Liaison Committee. Its on-going purpose is to serve as a link between the USS Newport News and the City of Newport News. The Liaison Committee’s recent activities include sponsoring the following:

• Homecomings

• Picnics for the crew and their families

• Scholarship program, which annually awards scholarships to members of the USS Newport News crew, past and present, as well as their dependents. To date the committee has awarded over $13,000 in scholarships. 

• The ship’s annual holiday dinner-dance

• A holiday party for the children of crew members

• Jerseys and hats for the ship’s softball team, blankets and pillow cases for sailors, welcome banners for homecomings

• A USS Newport News display case at the Newport News-Williamsburg airport

The committee’s success is due to the work of its members and the support it receives from the City of Newport News and the crew and families of the submarine Newport News.