The oldest of US Navy’s Los Angeles-class attack submarines, the USS Bremerton (SSN 698), arrived at Fleet Activities Yokosuka, December 22 for a final visit during its Indo-Asia-Pacific deployment.
“I think it’s important for Bremerton to make one last visit to Yokosuka,” said Cmdr. Travis Zettel, USS Bremerton commanding officer. “The region means a lot to the United States and its Navy.”
USS Bremerton has spent 35 years in service with the US Navy and is currently on her 16th Western Pacific deployment.
Bremerton was scheduled to be decommissioned by the end of 2017 but her decommissioning was postponed in 2016. Unconfirmed reports indicate the submarine could retire in 2019.
Commissioned in 1981, Bremerton is homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Bremerton became the oldest submarine in service when the first of the class, USS Los Angeles, was decommissioned in January, 2010.
Measuring more than 360 feet long (109,7 meters), Bremerton is capable of supporting a multitude of missions including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, strike, surveillance and reconnaissance.