(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Amanda R. Gray)
With U.S. Navy facilities relatively close by, submarine sightings happen here now and then. Robert reported this one on Wednesday – and later shared the link through which we obtained the photo and the backstory: After 32 years and a half-million miles of service, the fast-attack submarine USS Albuquerque (SSN 706) passed by on its way to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton to “commence its inactivation process,” says the Navy. Its last voyage followed an inactivation ceremony in San Diego a week earlier; the nuclear-powered submarine’s inactivation also drew a tribute in its namesake city. The process of “inactivating” a nuclear submarine is explained by the Kitsap Sun, which says this one joins about a dozen others awaiting dismantling, at a cost of at least $25 million each.
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