Toccoa native serves aboard USS Alaska

Toccoa, Georgia native Harrison Walsch serving in the U-S Navy is part of a crew aboard one of the world’s advanced ballistic missile submarines—the USS Alaska. Petty Officer Walsch serves as a missile technician aboard the Kings Bay, Georgia-based boat. The submarine measures 560 feet long, 42 feet wide and weighs more than 16,500 tons. Nuclear power propulsion helps push the ship through the water at more than 20 knots. The sub serves as an undetectable launch platform for inter-continental ballistic missiles. They are designed for stealth, extended patrols and precise delivery of missiles—if directed by the President. According to the Navy submariners, such as Walsch, are accepted only after rigorous testing and observation.