Just before noon Saturday, Cindy Giambastiani took the podium on Pier 14 and issued the order: "Officers and crew of the USS New Mexico, man our ship and bring her to life!"
Giambastiani, sponsor of the $2.25 billion Newport News-built submarine, set in motion more than 100 submariners, who broke formation and rushed single file onto the topside hull of the Navy's newest warship, creating a blur of navy-and-white that cut through the center of a sea of onlookers.
Battling cool weather and a stiff easterly breeze, the Navy on Saturday morning commissioned the USS New Mexico, the sixth submarine of the Virginia class and the third delivered by Northrop Grumman Corp.
The setting for Saturday's ceremony invoked the lasting legacy of the company's Newport News shipyard, the nation's sole builder of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and one of two to build fast-attack submarines.
Providing a frame behind the stage was the hulking Newport News-built George H.W. Bush carrier, the Navy's newest flattop that was tied to a pier a few hundred yards in the distance. Visible across Hampton Roads harbor was the yard's 23-story robin's egg-blue crane, standing over the sight where the next Navy carrier will rise.
The yard built its first submersible more than 100 years ago.
But it was 50 years ago that Newport News began its long partnership with the Navy in the submarine-building business when it launched the Robert E. Lee, the first of 14 Polaris-class subs.
"That officially began our long partnership with the United States Navy's submarine program," Matt Mulherin, general manager of the Newport News shipyard, told a crowd of about 3,000. "Building submarines is an important part of our tradition at Newport News."
The yard, along with partner General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Conn., is building portions of at least 12 more Virginia-class submarines for the Navy. The partners each assemble sub modules and take turns on final assembly and delivery.
The New Mexico was completed in December, a span of just 70 months, four months early to its contract delivery date and faster than any of the six subs built so far.
Even so, it was plagued with construction problems. The Navy originally scheduled to accept delivery of the sub in August with a planned Veteran's Day 2009 commissioning, but delivery was pushed back after Northrop found that some of its workers incorrectly installed bolts and fasteners that hold together tracks on which weapons are moved inside its torpedo compartment.
The sub also was tangled in a sweeping investigation into improper welding procedures that the Navy and Northrop later determined didn't pose any long-term risks to the boat.
Though those problems were not directly referenced Saturday, quality issues were an overarching theme of speeches delivered by Navy admirals and industry officials.
Mulherin, who has spent a considerable amount of time over the last two years addressing quality issues, left no room for questioning the condition of the New Mexico: "I'm proud to say there should be no doubt as to the quality of this submarine."
His counterpart John Casey, president of Electric Boat, said a "focus on quality is among our highest priorities, second only to the safety of the people who build (the ships) and the people who sail them."
And Adm. Kirkland H. Donald, director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion, said with the New Mexico's construction, there were "a few bumps in the road, but at the end of the day, this mission-ready ship was delivered in a shorter time than any other ship in its class."
USS New Mexico
Cost: $2.25 billion
Complement: 134 sailors
Displacement: 7,800 tons
Weapons: Tomahawk cruise missiles and MK-48 torpedoes
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