Fleet Timeline
Following our port visit to Hong Kong, we were on our way home to San Diego via Pearl Harbor where we were scheduled for an Operational Reactor Safeguards Examination (ORSE). Our transit was slow enough so that we could run drills and conduct other training each day. Our squadron Deputy Commander met us for the transit home to provide assistance as we prepared for the ORSE. Since my Executive Office XO tour was in the shipyard, I had experienced only one ORSE while engineer on Dace and the standards and expectations had changed a lot since then. I thought my crew was proficient and we were ready for the ORSE, but the squadron riders were not so confident so it was a bit of a stressful transit to Pearl Harbor. We had the ORSE and the results were average that was fine with me and I think surprised the squadron riders. We were now truly on our way home and the deployment was history.