SANTA RITA, Guam\u2014The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Topeka (SSN 754) returned to its homeport of Polaris Point, Guam, on July 1 following a two-month forward operating period to the Western Pacific. This is the submarine\u2019s first Guam homecoming following national tasking since its homeport shift in May 2015.<\/p>\n
Topeka, under the command of Cmdr. David Lammers, is returning from the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility where the crew executed the Chief of Naval Operations\u2019 Maritime Strategy in supporting national security interests and maritime security operations. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am incredibly proud of my crew,\u201d said Lammers. \u201cIn the months leading up to our forward operating period, they trained hard and worked to ensure we were more than prepared for our national tasking. This is our first return to Guam following prolonged operations, and the crew is ready to relax and spend well-earned time with family and friends.\u201d <\/p>\n
Topeka conducted routine patrols throughout the Indo-Asia-Pacific region and operated in conjunction with other Navy ships to conduct maritime security operations that promote stability and peace while developing key partnerships with allies across the region. <\/p>\n
Topeka celebrated the various achievements of its crewmembers in their professional development. <\/p>\n
\u201cTopeka has such a remarkable crew, and they did an amazing job,\u201d said Master Chief Electronics Technician Matthew Schecter. \u201cWe had five Sailors become submarine qualified, 12 crew members frocked and four officers promoted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Topeka was commissioned Oct. 21, 1989, and is the third ship of the U.S. Navy named for the city of Topeka, Kansas. It is the fourth \u201cimproved\u201d Los Angeles-class submarine. Measuring more than 360 feet long and displacing more than 6,900 tons, Topeka has a crew of approximately 140 Sailors. Topeka is capable of supporting various missions, including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, strike warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. <\/p>\n
Topeka is one of four Los Angeles-class attack submarines assigned to Commander, Submarine Squadron (COMSUBRON) 15, located at Polaris Point, Naval Base Guam in Santa Rita, Guam. The COMSUBRON 15 staff is responsible for providing training, material and personnel readiness support to these commands. The U.S. Navy\u2019s two submarine tenders, USS Frank Cable (AS 40) and USS Emory S. Land (AS 39), are also based out of Naval Base Guam. The submarines and tenders are maintained as part of the U.S. Navy’s forward-deployed submarine force and are readily capable of meeting global operational requirements. <\/p>\n
For more news from Commander, Submarine Squadron 15, visit http:\/\/www.csp.navy.mil\/css15 and https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SubmarineSquadron15\/. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SANTA RITA, Guam\u2014The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Topeka (SSN 754) returned to its homeport…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[12357,11456,2661,4624],"class_list":["post-231541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-david-lammers","tag-los-angeles-class","tag-naval-base-guam","tag-polaris-point"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}