USS Bremerton (SSN 698), the oldest submarine in the US Navy, will be moved to Bremerton, Washington, and decommissioned later this year, the navy informed.
The Los Angeles-class attack submarine arrived at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in the Philippines on March 1 for a routine port visit during its deployment to the Indo-Pacific region.
“Bremerton’s arrival into Subic Bay means a lot to both my crew and the US submarine force. This is Bremerton’s ninth and final visit to Subic Bay in the ship’s 37-year history,” Cmdr. Travis Zettel , commanding officer, said.
Currently homeported in Pearl Harbor, the submarine was scheduled to be decommissioned by the end of 2017 but her decommissioning was postponed in 2016.
Measuring more than 300 feet long and weighing more than 6,000 tons when submerged, Bremerton is capable of supporting a multitude of missions, including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and mine warfare.