Hoover Mayor Gary Ivey presents key to city to USS Alabama commander
Hoover Mayor Gary Ivey this morning presented the key to the city of Hoover to one of two commanders for the USS Alabama nuclear submarine.
Commander Paul Reinhardt and two other crew members of the USS Alabama are in the middle of a three-day “namesake visit” to the state designed to re-establish ties between the ship’s crew and the state for which it is named.
It has been about seven years since a commander for the USS Alabama visited the state, said Reinhardt, who assumed command of the ship’s Blue crew in December 2014.
The USS Alabama, based at the Kitsap Naval base in Bangor, Wash., has two separate crews — Gold and Blue — that rotate tours of duty at sea. Each has about 170 crew members, Reinhardt said.
Reinhardt, his boat chief and a fire control technician arrived in Birmingham Monday night. Reinhardt spoke to the Birmingham Kiwanis Club Tuesday, and he and his men visited the Three Hots and a Cot nonprofit group that helps homeless veterans transition back into society.
The sailors spent about 1 ½ hours with Ivey and four Hoover City Council members this morning in Ivey’s office at the Hoover Municipal Center and then headed out to tour Southern Nuclear facilities in Birmingham, hand out USS Alabama ball caps to kids at Children’s of Alabama hospital and throw out the first pitch at the Birmingham Barons game tonight.
On Thursday, the sailors plan to visit the University of Alabama president and athletic coaching staff, tour the athletic facilities and meet with the university’s director of veterans affairs, and then visit the Lakeshore Foundation’s program for injured veterans.
Ivey this morning gave Reinhardt the key to the city and gave all the sailors challenge coins from the city and its police and fire departments. Reinhardt in turn presented Ivey and the city of Hoover with a USS Alabama plaque shaped like the state.
Ivey, the City Council members and other city officials thanked the sailors for their service and said it was an honor to have them in Hoover.
Reinhardt is a native of Virginia but has ties to Alabama. His wife, Mary, is the daughter of U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, who is from Mobile. They live with their two children in Keyport, Wash.
Reinhardt said his 168-person crew comes from 39 states and Puerto Rico, and three of them are from Alabama (Holly Tree, Tuscumbia and Vance).
The USS Alabama submarine was commissioned in 1985 and is slated to remain in service through 2027, he said. The ship is 565 feet long, which if stood on end would be taller than the Washington Monument. It can travel at speeds greater than 25 knots and dive more than 800 feet below sea level, Reinhardt said.
The ship usually goes out to sea for 2 ½ to three months at a time and typically does not make any stops on land during that time, he said.
Reinhart has been in the Navy for 19 years and served aboard four submarines. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1997 with a bachelor of arts degree in government and was commissioned by the Navy ROTC program. Following initial nuclear power and submarine training, he reported aboard the USS Florida, based in Washington, and served various officer roles, completing five strategic deterrent patrols.
In December 2004, he reported as the weapons officer aboard the USS Chicago in Pearl Harbor and completed two Western Pacific deployments. In October 2009, Reinhardt became executive officer for the USS Georgia and completed two deployment cycles before becoming a commander for the USS Alabama in December 2014.
His shore duty assignments have included flag aide to the deputy director for military support at the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, Va., and deputy chief of the information management division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where he oversaw record management and Freedom of Information Act programs.
Reinhardt has a master’s degree in military operational art and science from the Air Command and Staff College and is a Spanish graduate of the Defense Language Institute.