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Cmdr. Kevin Brenton and Petty Officer 3rd Class Adan Rodriguez of USS Portsmouth (SSN-707), during her final cruise to their new homeport, Norfolk, Va. where Portsmouth is scheduled for decommissioning in October of 2005.

This photo is the winner of UNDERSEA WARFARE’s 7th Annual Photo Contest.

Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class (AW/SW) David Levy

“The Virginia Vision” by Rear Adm. Paul E. Sullivan. With this painting, Rear Adm. Sullivan illustrates the revolutionary capabilities of the nuclear-powered USS Virginia (SSN-774)-class fast attack submarine. Silently submerged, one ship launches a Tomahawk cruise missile while the other deploys an Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) demonstrating Virginia’s mission flexibility and advanced technologies. Operating both at depth and close to shore, Virginia-class ships have unprecedented open-ocean supremacy and littoral dominance.

Rear Adm. Sullivan is the former Program Manager for the Virginia-class Submarine Program (PMS 450), and was integral in the ship’s initial design and construction. As an artist, he began painting while stationed aboard a minesweeper, but with its limited space and ventilation he had to abandon oil painting for watercolors. He soon became fascinated with the unpredictability of watercolors and continued on in that medium to paint several ship sponsor gifts and two commissioning paintings. Rear Adm. Sullivan is currently Deputy Commander for Ship Design Integration and Engineering, Naval Sea Systems Command. USS Virginia was commissioned October 23, 2004 and is homeported in Groton, Conn.