The Last to Stand the Watch: The Sunset of the USS Georgia (SSGN 729)

USS Georgia’s final chapter is being written by the sailors who called her home.

"For the last time ever, surface, surface, surface," said Senior Chief Machinist’s Mate Auxiliary John Edwards, his voice carrying through the ship's general announcing system.

Edwards made the final surfacing announcement aboard the Georgia (SSGN 729), bringing the guided-missile submarine to the surface for the very last time as she returned to her homeport of Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia to begin the inactivation process. After nearly seven years aboard the boat, and with more than half of his Navy career spent walking her decks, he understood exactly what the moment meant.

For nearly four decades, surfacing was simply another routine part of life aboard the Georgia. Under normal operations, a submarine disappears beneath the waves to conduct its mission in total secrecy before eventually returning to the surface. It is a highly coordinated, critical evolution where high-pressure air is blown into massive ballast tanks, displacing thousands of tons of seawater to force the heavy steel hull back to the atmosphere. For the sailors aboard, the transition from the deep ocean to the surface was traditionally just another step in operating one of the Navy’s most capable and complex platforms.

But this time, the routine carried the weight of history.

"There were tears in the room; just the thought of this being the last time ever that this would happen," Edwards said.

Following this final return, the Georgia's ballast tanks will remain dry. She will not dive again.

The submarine is entering the final phase of its service as the first Ohio-class guided-missile submarine to undergo decommissioning. For the sailors who have spent years taking the boat to sea, maintaining its complex nuclear systems, and carrying out covert global missions, the transition is both an ending and another mission of its own.

The "ENG" is the department head who oversees the submarine's nuclear reactor, propulsion, electrical systems, and atmosphere control. Lt. Cmdr. Dennis Mauldwin, the ship’s engineer officer, realized about a week before the Georgia’s final return to home that he would be the officer responsible for bringing the submarine up from the deep for the final time.

Yet the monumental moment also brought his professional and personal lives together in a way that rarely happens in the highly secretive submarine force. His 13-year-old daughter was aboard for a Tiger Cruise, which is a special program allowing family members to sail with their Navy sponsors. This rare opportunity allowed her to see her father perform a high-stakes job she had spent much of her life only hearing about.

"It almost didn’t feel real," Mauldwin said. "While I’ve been in the Navy for almost 15 years at this point, the Navy life and family have always been so separate. And then all of a sudden, here’s my daughter on board the submarine while I’m standing watch and giving orders, but she’s right there when I turn and look at her. That’s going to be something that she and I share forever."

For Mauldwin, the experience created a profound family memory that transcended the historical gravity of the Georgia's final mission.

A submarine built for change

The Georgia’s story has always been one of profound adaptation. Originally commissioned as an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine designed for Cold War nuclear deterrence, she was later converted into a guided-missile submarine (SSGN). This massive engineering transformation completely changed her mission, replacing strategic nuclear missiles with a conventional arsenal of up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles and dedicated lockout chambers to support special operations forces like Navy SEALs.

Because of this dual capability, the sailors aboard the Georgia had to be prepared for highly dynamic missions that could change at a moment's notice.

For Lt. j.g. Jordan Blechman, a junior officer experiencing the intense operational tempo of an SSGN for the first time, this environment demanded a specific mindset.

"It’s the Navy’s motto: Semper Gumby. Always flexible," Blechman said. "That’s what the GNs are best at." This flexibility meant constantly responding to unpredictable operational schedules, integrating specialized military personnel who boarded mid-mission, and rapidly adjusting tactical plans based on the immediate needs of global combatant commanders.

Mauldwin added that this relentless demand to pivot became the defining characteristic of the crew. "The SSGN sailors are some of the most flexible, resilient sailors that I have seen," Mauldwin said. "I’ve just been truly inspired by the ability of the crew to pivot and shift time and time again to respond to whatever the latest schedule change is. They do not only shift, but they spin up and do whatever it is that they’re asked with excellence."

This deep-seated adaptability was not limited to the seasoned leaders standing watch in the control room, but was felt by every rate and rank across the ship as they navigated the final chapters of the Georgia's operational life.

Keeping the crew fed

For Culinary Specialist (Submarine) 1st Class Aaron Sarver, supporting the Georgia's mission meant ensuring the crew had the physical stamina and emotional resilience to keep going.

The submarine routinely carries about 175 to 185 sailors, but that number increases significantly when Navy SEALs or other specialized personnel come aboard. More bodies inside the hull translate directly to more meals and a massive increase in the workload for the culinary division.

"We understand that we play a valuable part in the team," Sarver said. "Mission is first."

When additional personnel boarded, a planned 120-day food loadout often had to be stretched to support a 180-day requirement. To make this happen, the culinary team swapped out bulky comfort foods for nutrient-dense, high-calorie proteins. Carrying thousands of pounds of provisions down narrow, vertical escape trunks and packing them into cramped storage spaces meant the crew literally walked over their food for the first few weeks of an underway.

To survive and lead in such a demanding environment, Sarver relied on a deeply personal philosophy that he carried with him from his youth on a Texas ranch.

"The 3 H’s were honesty, human compassion, and hard work," Sarver said.

These simple, rugged principles shaped how Sarver led his junior culinary specialists through changing missions and the intense transition of combining two crews into one. Despite the grueling physical toll of working in a tiny, rolling galley, Sarver knew his job was ultimately about keeping the crew's spirits high.

"We have steak and lobster, we have hard-pack ice cream, and the crew loves those kinds of things," Sarver said.

"I lean on my guys, and you know they’re there for me, just like I’m there for them."

Despite the grueling physical toll, Sarver knew his job was ultimately about keeping the crew's spirits high. The culinary team hosted monthly menu production review boards, inviting sailors to share what they liked and what they wanted to see more of on the mess decks. This shared reliance in the galley, the engine room, and the control room formed the bedrock of their survival for the crew of the Georgia.

Two crews becoming one

The final chapter of the Georgia's service also brought another major transition. For decades, the submarine operated under the Navy's dual-crew model, with Blue and Gold crews alternating responsibility for the boat to maximize its time at sea. As the Georgia moves into her decommissioning phase, those two distinct units are being combined into a single crew.

This integration means sailors with different experiences, leadership styles, and daily operating procedures must now establish a common baseline. Mauldwin acknowledged the immense difficulty of the transition, noting that he suddenly had to lead and evaluate dozens of sailors whose operational backgrounds and knowledge levels were completely unknown to him.

However, combining the crews also brought a distinct operational benefit. Instead of competing to see which original crew was better, the leadership focused on identifying the most effective practices from both the Blue and Gold teams. By merging, they effectively doubled their institutional knowledge and created a single, optimized set of procedures that became the new standard. The immense value of having one unified crew is that everyone is now working toward the exact same goal. It allows the sailors to pool their talent and manpower to safely execute the highly complex inactivation process.

The transition is ultimately about shedding the old, divided identities of the dual-crew system to embrace a shared, powerful legacy as they guide the boat through her final days shared Sarver.

"I’m ready for those Blue or Gold crew guys to leave and my green crew to just be the Georgia," Sarver said.

A boat that kept fighting

The Georgia’s impressive operational longevity was not simply a miracle of engineering. It was the direct result of a highly disciplined crew that understood the aging systems, meticulously maintained them, and knew exactly how to react when something went wrong.

Some of the submarine's mechanical and electrical systems date back to the early 1980s. This meant that young sailors today were routinely operating and maintaining complex equipment designed, built, and installed long before they were born. Yet, even as the hull reached the end of its designed service life, the systems continued to perform flawlessly.

"It just kind of amazes me when everything works exactly as they said it would, even forty years later," Blechman said. "It doesn’t matter how old the systems are. The people on the boat understand them because we receive such a high level of training. When things go wrong, they know how to start troubleshooting and narrowing the problems to correct them, and that keeps the boat in the fight."

That relentless training pipeline allowed the crew to remain highly effective even as the Georgia approached her final voyage.For Electronics Technician (Nuclear) 2nd Class Trenton Maybee, who was charged with the responsibility of monitoring and controlling the ship's nuclear reactor, the grueling technical work was anchored by a profound sense of global purpose.

"I don’t know if there’s another job that I could have that could have this much effect on the world," Maybee said. Crew members can spend months underwater performing highly specialized, technical tasks without ever seeing the immediate, real-world impact of their labor because submarine operations are conducted in absolute secrecy deep beneath the waves.For Maybee, however, the Georgia's unique position as a premier forward-deployed deterrent in high-tension regions offered a rare, clear view of the ship's geopolitical weight.

"I take pride in what we did because I could see the effect," Maybee said. "We answered the call. The combatant commander asked something of us, and we were able to show up."

That distinct sense of tangible global impact and the pride of sustaining a historic warship ultimately solidified Maybee's decision to remain in the Navy, ensuring that the lessons of the Georgia's legacy would carry forward to the next generation of the undersea fleet.

The people behind Georgia

For many of the sailors interviewed, the strongest memories of the Georgia had little to do with the machinery. They were about the people.

"What made me want to stay in the Navy the most has been working with the sailors," Blechman said. The relationships formed aboard the Georgia became especially important during long deployments, demanding schedules, and periods of high operational uncertainty. For Mauldwin, true leadership meant making those grueling experiences better for the sailors who came after him. He fundamentally rejected the old-school mentality that junior sailors must endure unnecessary hardships simply because their predecessors did.

"So much of what you hear in the Navy is, 'I went through this, so you should have to suffer too,' but I think that is the totally wrong attitude to have," Mauldwin said. "I went through it and it was miserable, so how can I make it so you do not have to go through that? Wherever I can, I am looking for opportunities to make the Navy more enjoyable, or at least less miserable, for people while still accomplishing the mission."

This focus on mentorship, resilience, and adaptability is taking on a new level of importance as the Georgia prepares for inactivation. Every sailor interviewed noted that the unique challenges they are navigating right now, learning to safely wind down a 42-year-old nuclear submarine while maintaining peak crew readiness, are actively shaping the future of the Navy. Decommissioning an SSGN is a rare, historically significant process that forces the crew to solve complex problems and master legacy systems.

As the crew eventually disbands, these submariners will scatter across the fleet to Ohio-class submarines, Virginia-class attack submarines and the upcoming Columbia-class platforms. They will carry with them the unique operational mindset forged on the Georgia's final deployment.

Sarver noted that his responsibility directly extends to developing sailors who can take these critical lessons to their next commands. He pointed out that one of his culinary specialists is already leaving the Georgia to become a leading petty officer aboard another submarine, bringing with him the exacting standards required to sustain a crew in the most demanding environments.

That, ultimately, is how the Georgia's legacy will survive. Long after her steel hull is retired, the resilient culture built within her bulkheads will continue to influence and strengthen the submarine force for decades to come.

A year of firsts and lasts

The transition has made the Georgia's final year unlike any other in the sailors' careers.

"I joined the Navy for an adventure, and boy, have I gotten it," Maybee said. "I’ve been on Georgia for a lot of firsts, a lot of lasts, and it has just been amazing. I’m just excited to be with the Georgia and kind of put her to rest because she’s ready for it. She’s been asking for it for a while. Seeing this final chapter closed out is going to be super exciting."

Because the Georgia is the first of the converted Ohio-class guided-missile submarines to undergo decommissioning, there is no established, step-by-step playbook for the crew to follow. The sailors are essentially writing the instruction manual for the inactivation of this specific class of warship from scratch, documenting every technical lesson learned to help future commands navigate similar transitions.

"To be the first to go through it, the first to write, it is like making the playbook all on your own," Edwards said. "And even as she is prepared for decommissioning, a lot of the parts from this boat are going to make other things happen for the Navy."

Through the Navy's recycling program, the Georgia will continue to serve. Her high-value, specialized parts will be carefully harvested and distributed to keep her active sister ships in the fight, while her highly trained crew will disperse across the fleet, carrying their unparalleled technical expertise and resilient culture to new commands. The physical submarine may be retired, but the spirit of the Georgia will remain active across the deep ocean for years to come.

What remains after Georgia

For the sailors aboard the Georgia, the physical machinery will eventually be scrapped, but the human element will endure. Lt. Cmdr. Mauldwin believes the boat's true legacy lies in the sailors who will disperse across the fleet. "The level of excellence with which they do those things will make people ask where they came from, and they will answer that they were a Georgia sailor," Mauldwin said.

Edwards sees that same legacy in the young sailors he has mentored over his long career.

"It is all about a bench that you build or a legacy that you leave behind," Edwards said.

The final chapter also allowed the crew to share their highly classified world with their families during a Tiger Cruise. For Maybee, it meant watching his father experience rare submarine traditions.

"I got to watch him drive the boat, and he got to con the boat," Maybee said, referring to the honor of giving steering and depth commands. "He even got to dive a torpedo tube, which is something I have never been inside."

For Mauldwin, having his teenage daughter beside him as he ordered the ship to the surface for the last time forged an unforgettable family bond. Bringing the massive submarine up from the depths one last time carried a heavy operational and emotional weight for everyone in the control room. For Lt. j.g. Blechman, being apart of the final surfacing evolution was a profound responsibility.

"It is kind of awe-inspiring because you are the last person to do it, and you have to make sure you are doing it right," Blechman said.

The final surfacing, the last return to Kings Bay, the merging of the crews, and the intense preparation for inactivation are now permanently written into naval history.The physical story of the USS Georgia will eventually end at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where her hull will be dismantled and recycled. But the spirit of the boat lives on in the men who stood the final watch.

From Blechman's tactical precision on the bridge and Edwards' seasoned leadership in the machinery room, to Sarver's relentless dedication in the galley, Maybee's vigilance at the reactor panel, and Mauldwin's overarching engineering command, these five sailors represent the living legacy of the USS Georgia. The submarine may never dive again, but her sailors' stories are just beginning.

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.