Following her conversion to a SSGN, "Ohio" rejoined the fleet on 7 February 2006. On 21 January 2007, the Blue Crew departed Naval Base Kitsap for Hawaii to conduct a forward-deployed crew exchange, the first such forward-deployed swap in approximately 20 years. Ballistic submarines of "Ohio"s class employ two crews, "Blue" and "Gold", in order to facilitate continuous operation at sea, called "forward-presence" in USN parlance. "Ohio" left for her first mission as an SSGN on 15 October 2007. The Blue crew underwent several tests and inspections before completing a mission some time in December. "Ohio" was also the first one of the class to complete a mission.