Posted on 08/27/2004 3:11:15 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
PORTSMOUTH NAVAL SHIPYARD - After departing Portsmouth in 1983 and serving the Navy for more than two decades, the USS Portsmouth will be decommissioned on Sept. 10. The Class 688 submarine was commissioned in Portsmouth 21 years ago, and next month it will head to Norfolk, Va., to be decommissioned.
The attack submarine could serve the Navy for another 20 years, but funding shortfalls have altered its course, according to Robert Feinberg, assistant public affairs officer for the Submarine Quadrant.
"It’s a money process (to refuel and overhaul) submarines," he said. "It’s a big money expenditure that was requested but not funded."
Feinberg, who works in San Diego, where the USS Portsmouth has been home-ported since 1984, offered some background on the USS Portsmouth’s career.
"After only three weeks in service, Portsmouth was called upon to support the rescue operations in Granada, where the boat was awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal," he said.
Since it became home-ported in San Diego, the Portsmouth has conducted seven extended deployments and three mini-deployments, said Feinberg.
The submarine, commissioned here at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, was named in honor of the Navy cities of Portsmouth, N.H., and Portsmouth, Va.
According to the Naval Vessel Registrar, the USS Portsmouth measures 362 feet long and can accommodate 98 enlisted sailors and 12 officers.
The Portsmouth’s commanding officer, Kevin Brenton, was quoted in a press release from the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
"A budget decision had to be made about the boat. It is more than 20 years old, and we’re reaching the end of the reactor core life," Brenton said. "We either had to refuel or decommission."
The commander said the decision to retire the submarine notwithstanding, the many accomplishments of the boat and its crew over the years must nevertheless be recognized.
According to Russell Van Billard, a retired shipyard employee who was a business manager when the USS Portsmouth was commissioned, the submarine will join 11 other Class 688 subs that have already been decommissioned.
Van Billard, who is also a member of the Seacoast Shipyard Association, the yard’s advocacy group, said he worried that only 50 such submarines are still in service.
"It’s fewer boats for the shipyard to work on," he said.
Yes, this boat is seared, seared, in my memory ... oh nevermind, sorry, I got Kerried away.
LOL..The first thing I learned when I started working for the Navy is that they are not boats. They are ships.
It's tradition!
In the old days, boats could be hoisted aboard a ship.
The original subs were small enough to be hoisted aboard a large ship (like a battleship). So submarines were called boats .... and that tradition hasn't changed, so a Trident submarine - grossing out at 18,000 tons - is called a BOAT, while an Arliegh Burke Destroyer (DDG) - which has about 1/2 the tonnage, is called a ship.
don't ask if it makes sense ... it's tradition.
R/ Mike (former Sub sailor)
I would not like to dive in a forty year old submarine.
We had some post-WWII submarines (Guppy Class, IIRC) that had a long life in the US Navy, and then were sold to foreign navies. Heck, I think one was just returned to the US and will become a museum piece!
The Trident hulls were recently certified for a 40 year life time.
Giving a class of submarines a 40 year life is NOT a decision made lightly - there was lots of studies and analysis that went into the decision ... and there is lots of data that has been obtained - both by looking at subs that were scrapped and cut up after 30 - 33 years of operations (typical for most nuclear powered submarines before the 688 class submarines), plus the extended operations of non-nukes that were also foreign-military sales.
Mike
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