The Association recently received an Email from the Commanding Officer, CDR Beam with an update from their deployment. Here it is in part:

"Deployment is going great. We have completed some primary tasking and executed a couple of foreign port visits. The crew has performed amazing and all of the time spent the previous year at sea and the late nights in port working on plans and maintenance have paid off.12 enlisted sailors have earned their silver dolphin warfare qualifications and 3 officers have earned their gold dolphin warfare qualifications. In addition, I have the extreme pleasure of introducing our two newest members of the Chiefs’ Mess, MMNC Chris Norsworthy and TMC Todd Schriver. We recently celebrated halfway-day and took a short break from our work to relax, recognize the accomplishments COLORADO has achieve thus far and of course, partake in the usual halfway festivities. I think the highlight for most of the crew was opening halfway boxes. It was great to “hear” from home and share some of the special things our loved ones included for us that made us all feel loved. An added bonus to this has been receiving care packages from the Colorado Chapter of DeMolay Freemasons and reading letters from the fourth and fifth graders from Mission Viejo Elementary School in Aurora, Colorado.”

Happy 248th Birthday, Navy!

October 13 marks the birthday of the U.S. Navy, which traces its roots back to the early days of the American Revolution. On October 13, 1775, the Continental Congress established a naval force.

Thank you to all our Sailors, Veterans and Navy family members that have served and supported the Navy.

USS Colorado's Triad Team: Commanding Officer CDR David Beam, Chief of the Boat STSCM Christopher Goss and Executive Officer LCDR Matthew Swezey.

We are sorry to hear of the passing of renowned Colorado Nature Photographer John Fielder. John had donated several of his iconic Colorado landscape pictures to USS Colorado (SSN 788) during the construction period. They now adorn the Crew's Mess, reminding the crew of the beauty of the state they represent. For the Commissioning Chairman's Reception, he personally put together and played a slide show of his pictures as a backdrop for the music portion of the event. He also attended a reception for the crew during one of their pre-commissioning visits to Colorado and donated one of his books to raffle off. He recently donated the majority of his work to History Colorado. We are grateful for his generosity, personal involvement and support of USS Colorado. He will be greatly missed. 

Prior to leaving the Family Readiness Group made up some 80 morale boosting Single Sailor boxes which the Association was happy to contribute to. 

What were you doing eight years ago today? Many of us were attending the Keel Laying Ceremony for the USS Colorado!

The Keel Laying Ceremony for COLORADO (SSN 788) was held on Saturday March 7, 2015 at General Dynamics Electric Boat Quonset facility in North Kingston, RI. A number of speakers paid tribute to the hard work and dedication of the shipbuilders of Electric Boat and Newport News as well as the officers and crew of COLORADO.

https://usscoloradocommittee.org/colorado-ssn-788-keel-laying-ceremony/

The ceremony took place next to sections of the SSN 791 DELAWARE and SSN 790 SOUTH DAKOTA. The backdrop for the ceremony was section 8-9 (pictured). This 100-foot, 1,600-ton module would soon contain COLORADO’s engine room. Later transported to the Groton shipyard, it was joined with three other hull sections to form the COLORADO.

We are sorry to report the passing of BB-45 veteran William Meadows Sr. who passed away on February 9th at the age of 95. His funeral was this last week, Thursday March 9th.

Here is a link to his obituary:

https://www.orwoodyard.com/obituaries/William-Meadows-6/#!/Obituary

Mr. Meadows was a WWII and Korean War veteran; he served on several ships:

LC (landing craft) 1944

USS Duffy (destroyer) 1945

USS Colorado in 1946

USS Iowa (BB-61) in 1947 – 1948

Happy 11th Anniversary, COLORADO!

On March 2, 2012, construction started on the USS Colorado (SSN-788). She was constructed at Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, CT known as the “Submarine Capitol of the World”. She is the fourth ship named Colorado.

The USS Colorado (BB45) Alumni Association recently distributed a newsletter updating progress on Adam's County Veteran's Memorial featuring a large scale model of USS Colorado (BB45) located at Riverdale Regional Park. The memorial is to be dedicated on May 29th and will have several of the surviving WWII veterans in attendance. The event will be open to the public and all are encouraged to attend. For more details see their newsletter which we have posted on our website:

 The Colorado Lookout