USS Bremerton (SSN-698)


USS Bremerton , a, is the second vessel of the United States Navy to be named for Bremerton, Washington. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 24 January 1972 and her keel was laid down on 8 May 1976. She was launched on 22 July 1978 sponsored by Mrs. Helen Jackson, wife of Henry M. Jackson, and commissioned on 28 March 1981 with Captain Thomas H. Anderson in command.
On 11 March 1999, Bremerton used one torpedo to sink the derelict forebody of the merchant ship New Carissa off the Oregon coast. assisted in sinking the ship.
After a successful Western Pacific deployment, in September 2003 Bremerton changed its homeport to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Bremerton spent two months in drydock at Pearl Harbor ending 21 January 2010.
When was decommissioned on 23 January 2010, Bremerton became the oldest commissioned submarine in the US fleet. On that day, Richard O'Kane's cribbage board was transferred from Los Angeles to Bremerton, a tradition that dates back to World War II. When Bremerton was inactived in 2018, the cribbage board was transferred from Bremerton to USS Olympia.
In January 2011, Bremerton was adopted by its namesake city, along with a partnership of community members and organizations led by the Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula Council of the US Navy League. In February 2015, Bremerton visited the City of Bremerton USS Bremerton is deployed with COMSUBPAC.
On 15 June 2016 the 35-year-old submarine completed her 15th deployment. Although originally scheduled for decommissioning in 2017, USS Bremerton's life was extended for an unspecified period. On 20 July 17, she became the longest-commissioned U.S. Navy submarine, at the time, surpassing . On 6 April 2018, she returned to Pearl Harbor from her final deployment, soon to be decommissioned.
On April 20, 2018, USS Bremerton left Pearl Harbor for the last time en route to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton WA to enter the submarine recycling program.