ST. MARYS, Ga. -- The Navy will mark the USS Georgia's return to service on March 28 in a ceremony at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base that is expected to draw Georgia's current and former governors, congressmen and top Navy officials.

Georgia is the last of four Ohio-class submarines to be converted from a ballistic missile submarine to a guided missile submarine designation to provide a new conventional weapons platform.

The other three are USS Ohio, USS Michigan and USS Florida.

Each of the converted submarines has the capability to launch up to 154 Tomahawk missiles, carry up to 66 special operations forces and provide enhanced intelligence-gathering. The conversion cost about $1 billion per boat.

The Navy said the Georgia, along with the other three, is a premier weapon in the global war on terrorism, with its primary missions being land attack and insertion and support of special operations forces.

The subs can provide covert, quick response land attack/strike warfare forces prior to establishing sea and air superiority.

Gov. Sonny Perdue will deliver the ceremony’s principal address in the return-to-service ceremony which will cap a week events welcoming the ship back to the fleet and to its home state.

The name Georgia first sailed onboard the confederate ironclad CSS Georgia to protect the city of Savannah. A shell from CSS Georgia sails onboard USS Georgia today.

The first USS Georgia was a 441-foot, 15,000-ton battleship which served from 1906 to 1920 and cruised around the world from 1907 to 1909 as part of President Theodore Roosevelt’s "Great White Fleet."

Capt. Brian McIlvaine, a 1984 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, is the USS Georgia's commanding officer and leads a crew of approximately 164 officers and enlisted personnel.

Georgia is 560 feet long, with a 42-foot beam, 36-foot surface draft, and 18,700-ton submerged displacement.

On The Net: www.USSGEORGIA.org