USS San Juan Arrives at PNSY for Overhaul

KITTERY, Maine (NNS) -- USS San Juan (SSN 751), along with a crew of 13 officers and 121 enlisted personnel, arrived at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY), April 8, for an engineered overhaul (EOH).

San Juan will undergo maintenance and receive system upgrades.

"We are excited to have San Juan here at PNSY," said D. K. Horne, project superintendent. "Our pre-arrival team has done a great job getting us ready for the boat. I have a great execution team, and we are working with an excellent, hard-working crew. We are committed to delivering San Juan back to the fleet on-time with Portsmouth's historic quality."

San Juan was commissioned in August 1988 and was the first of the Los Angeles-class submarines to receive a number of improvements to the basic design. Like all the submarines that followed in its class, San Juan is quieter, incorporates an advanced sonar suite combat system, and is able to lay mines from her torpedo tubes. Forward diving planes were moved from the sail to the bow, and the sail strengthened for ice break through.

In January, San Juan was awarded the Battle Efficiency "E" from Commander, Submarine Development Squadron 12, for superior performance of duty.

The on-time or early completion of submarine availabilities is critical in the maintenance of today's Fleet and is essential to maintaining warfighter readiness. PNSY, a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command, provides the U.S. Navy's submarine fleet with quality overhaul work in a safe, timely and affordable manner.

SUBLANT Statement Regarding USS San Juan

NORFOLK (NNS) -- During the early evening of March 13, units of the USS Enterprise Carrier Strike Group (CSG) received a series of indications that USS San Juan (SSN 751), a Los Angeles class submarine conducting pre-deployment training with the Enterprise CSG, was in distress.

Fortunately, the submarine established communications in the early morning hours of March 14, and indicated that there were no problems; hence, units were able to stand down from the search and rescue that was already well underway.

Losses of communications, followed by the reported sighting of a red flare, are distress indicators. These indicators, combined with establishing communications with only two of the three submarines operating with the Enterprise CSG, was sufficient information to activate missing submarine procedures.

Ships and aircraft from the Enterprise Strike group immediately commenced a search of the area where San Juan had been operating.

The International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office (ISMERLO) in Norfolk, Va., was alerted to assist with the search and rescue effort. ISMERLO, an international organization, serves to facilitate the rapid call out of international rescue systems in the event of a submarine accident. The immediate response from various international entities was superb. In addition, San Juan family members were notified of the situation at hand.

Although this was a false alarm, the primary concern was the safety of our submariners and the support of family members. Procedures demonstrated that the submarine escape and rescue program is able to quickly respond to an event such as this – when every second counts.

The Submarine Force is concerned about how this event initiated from what would appear to be false indicators. The Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic will conduct a thorough review of the matter to determine any lessons learned.

Navy temporarily loses contact with sub

From Yahoo News and the AP:

The Navy temporarily lost communication with a submarine off Florida's coast and sent ships and aircraft to search for the USS San Juan (SSN-751) before the vessel was contacted early Wednesday (March 14, 2007), military officials said.

You can read the whole story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070314/ap_on_re_us/missing_sub_1

The San Juan is part of the USS Enterprise Carrier Strike Group operating off the Florida eact coast.