Submarine returns from final mission in time for holiday

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U.S. NAVY

Family and friends awaited the submarine and its crew of about 150.

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U.S. NAVY

The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Buffalo sailed into Pearl Harbor Friday, returning from its final deployment, which lasted seven months and included a stop in Singapore.

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The submarine USS Buffalo made it back to Pearl Harbor Friday in the nick of time for Christmas following the vessel’s final deployment over 33 years of service.

More than one family member pier-side for the sub’s return noted with welcome home signs just how difficult the deployments — in this case, seven months — can be.

“I’ve waited 214 days to hug my Daddy,” read one sign festooned with hearts and held aloft in the swarm of greeters.

The 360-foot Los Angeles-class submarine and its crew of about 150 visited Singapore and participated in exercises with that nation and Indonesia, the Navy said.

A July Navy notice said the Buffalo, with a projected inactivation date of Sept. 30, will be scrapped.

“The last crew of Buffalo, through their selfless actions, honored those who have served aboard this ship and contributed to the indelible legacy of the Pacific Fleet submarine force,” Cmdr. Micah Maxwell, the sub’s commander, said in a Navy release.

The Pacific Fleet has 21 Los Angeles and Virginia-class attack submarines at Pearl Harbor — the most in the Pacific. The stealthy vessels are a key component of the U.S. Navy’s ability to clandestinely keep an eye on the activities of other nations in the Indo-Asia-Pacific while also projecting power across the region with missiles, mines and torpedoes.

Commissioned in 1983, Buffalo later was homeported at Pearl Harbor before heading to Guam for duty in 2007. From there it conducted 11 national security missions. In January 2013 the sub returned to Hawaii as a home port.

In September 2015, Buffalo was used off Kauai to test the ability to deploy Mk-67 submarine-launched mobile mines for use in areas inaccessible for other mine deployment techniques or for clandestine mining in hostile environments, the Navy said.

The Mk-67 is launched as a torpedo and travels to a designated area — meaning the submarine doesn’t have to risk passing over the area to be mined.

“Every sailor on Buffalo worked hard to make this deployment a success,” Maxwell said after the return home Friday. “I am especially proud of my sailors who qualified new watch stations and of the new submariners who earned their dolphins while we were away from home. They will continue on in a long tradition of excellence.”