Chancellorsville home, celebrating holiday - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Chancellorsville home, celebrating holiday

SAN DIEGO — The presence of family members aboard guided missile cruiser Chancellorsville for the final leg home from deployment lent a festive air that spilled onto the pier Tuesday to mark the ship’s homecoming.

And the “Tigers” and other relatives who had traveled to see the ship return to San Diego Naval Base might want to hang around the city for an extra day or two: Capt. John Nolan, the Chancellorsville skipper, has extended the invite for them and other families to join members of the crew at 3 p.m. on Thursday for a Thanksgiving Day meal aboard the ship at the 32nd Street base.

“We’re going to have the whole nine yards,” Nolan promised. That means turkey and all the trimmings, courtesy of Chancellorsville’s culinary specialists.

The holiday spread might be the main hot meal for the ship’s 71 sailors who live aboard the cruiser. Those who prefer to dine off the ship, however, have other options around San Diego.

The Armed Services YMCA has a program that links sailors and other service members with local families who offer to host them at their homes for Thanksgiving meals. Most mess halls provide special holiday meals, and Lincoln Military Housing, which manages off-base government housing as the Navy’s public-private venture partner, is hosting the 2nd Annual Thanksgiving meal for some Individual Augmentees families at a local Dave & Busters restaurant.