SHUT DOWN
BREMERTON – The elite submarine USS Connecticut, bug free, recently set sail for use in the Pacific Ocean.
The Navy announced that the submarine, one of three Seawolf-class boats, will be released on Jan.
The boat had battled a bug infestation on board, but Navy officials told Kitsap Sun that the submarine was insect-free following eradication efforts.
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The USS Connecticut, a Seawolf-class nuclear-powered rapid attack submarine, crosses the Rich Passage en route to Kitsap-Bremerton Naval Base in mid-May. (Photo: MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN)
Some of the more than 100 crew members had complained about bed bugs in late 2020. Navy entomologists found them on February 19 in the perforated bulkheads between the bunks, the Navy said. The berths were thoroughly cleaned and treated against the insects, and bed linen, privacy curtains and clothing on board were washed and dried. Some crew members slept in vehicles until a makeshift structure in the boat’s berth was opened.
The Navy confirmed that Connecticut has been directed into the areas of operation of the 3rd Fleet and 7th Fleet, which comprise the Pacific Ocean. The Navy’s Pacific submarine force happens to be conducting an exercise known as the “Agile Dagger 2021” this month, which involves a third of the submarines in the Pacific. While the Navy press release does not mention the USS Connecticut by name, it states that the exercise includes submarines from Bremerton, Pearl Harbor and San Diego.
The Seawolf-class rapid attack submarine USS Connecticut (SSN 22) leaves Kitsap-Bremerton Naval Base for deployment May 27. Connecticut will conduct maritime operations in the Pacific Ocean. (Photo by Lt. Mack Jamieson, Commander, Submarine Group Nine)
The exercise is intended to show that the submarines can “deploy at short notice to demonstrate their readiness, agility and lethality”.
“The Pacific Submarine Force is always ready,” said Rear Adm. Jeff Jablon, commander of the Submarine Forces of the Pacific Fleet. “Exercise Agile Dagger 2021 allows us to test our skills and demonstrate the ability of our war fighters to deploy armed submarines quickly in the Pacific.”
The Connecticut will be stationed at the Kitsap-Bremerton Naval Base with the sister boat USS Seawolf, which itself returned from a world tour in February. Only three of the Seawolf-class submarines, each costing more than $ 3 billion to build, were actually completed. Many more were planned in the days of the Cold War with the Soviet Union to gain the upper hand. They will now be relied on again as the Navy and military reinforce the rhetoric of “great power competition” with China and Russia and still have skills braver than the Virginia-class, the Navy’s newest rapid attack craft.
“With a weapon capacity almost twice that of a Virginia-class submarine, the Seawolfs are known as ‘fleet killers,'” naval war journalist and commentator Chris Cavas recently said on Twitter.
The Seawolf and Connecticut will soon move from Bremerton to the Hood Canal, where they will join the third Seawolf-class boat, the 2005 commissioned USS Jimmy Carter, at a new $ 89 million pier at Kitsap-Bangor Naval Base.
The Seawolf-class rapid attack submarine USS Connecticut (SSN 22) leaves Kitsap-Bremerton Naval Base for deployment May 27. Connecticut will conduct maritime operations in the Pacific Ocean. (Photo by Lt. Mack Jamieson, Commander, Submarine Group Nine)
Josh Farley is a reporter who covers the military and healthcare for the Kitsap Sun. He can be reached at 360-792-9227, josh.farley@kitsapsun.com, or on Twitter at @joshfarley.
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