USS Connecticut Underway off Guam After Undergoing Repairs

The U.S. attack submarine that struck an underwater seamount last thirty day period is underway off the coastline of Guam just after far more than a month of damage evaluation repairs, two defense officials confirmed to USNI News on Thursday.

USS Connecticut (SSN-22) left Guam on its have electrical power Thursday evening nearby time, in accordance to ship spotters monitoring the computerized identification signal (AIS) as it remaining the U.S. naval base on the island. The departure was verified to USNI Information by two defense officers.

Cmdr. Cindy Fields, a spokesperson with Submarine Pressure, U.S. Pacific Fleet, would not affirm the underway when contacted by USNI Information on Thursday. She mentioned in a assertion the submarine, “has been going through problems evaluation, repairs and screening whilst in Guam. The submarine continues to be in a safe and sound and steady ailment.”

It is unclear if the assault submarine was testing repairs and intended to occur into port and start off the voyage to Bremerton, Wash., for its closing round of repairs.

Subsequent the Oct. 2 incident, the boat had traveled to Guam for initial repairs overseen by Naval Sea Devices Command, personnel from the Puget Seem Naval Shipyard and submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS-39).

The injury to the submarine was localized to the forward portions and may perhaps have ruined the ballast tanks, USNI News understands. The Navy has said continuously that the nuclear reactor plant and the propulsion procedure were undamaged.

Connecticut’s underway comes as the submarine force has declared a navigation stand down in what the Navy has determined was a preventable collision, Vice Adm. William Houston, commander of Naval Submarine Forces said on Wednesday.

“We have quite arduous navigation security methods and they fell brief of what our typical was,” he mentioned.

Previously this thirty day period, U.S. 7th Fleet commander Vice Adm. Karl Thomas relieved Connecticut’s commanding officer, government officer and chief of the boat “due to loss of confidence” pursuing the collision.

Moving ahead, the services will now have to figure out how to squeeze the assault boat into the restore schedules of the Puget Audio Naval Shipyard, which is previously suffering a backlog of servicing.

“If we finished up carrying out [the Connecticut work] in one particular of the community shipyards, that would certainly trigger perturbations in all the other perform in the shipyards,” Stefany said before the Household Armed Solutions Committee readiness subcommittee in Oct.

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