Plastered on plaques, chair covers, and tabletops aboard the USS Pasadena is a decorative crest reminding the submarine’s sailors of their mission: “anytime, anywhere.”
“We are like ninjas,” Lt. j.g. Judner Attys said with a smirk.
The USS Pasadena, a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine, is undergoing a scheduled maintenance pierside at Naval Station Norfolk. It is one of about 60 active U.S. Navy submarines around the world.
Capable of operating for months from the deep, these submersibles are seldom seen once they dive, resurfacing only for supplies.
What allows the Pasadena, as well as every submarine in the Navy’s fleet, to live up to the “anytime, anywhere” motto is the ability to be self-sufficient. This includes making its own freshwater and oxygen for the 140 sailors on board.
“Every time we make the decision to surface, we are saying, ‘Here we are,’” said Senior Chief Petty Officer Eddie Murray, the master chief of the Pasadena’s engineering department.
In July, the Pasadena made national headlines for stopping at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay around the same time a Russian naval vessel arrived at Havana’s port. The Cuban Foreign Ministry called the Pasadena’s visit a “provocative escalation,” ABC News reported.
Self-sufficiency, Murray said, can be the difference between life and death for the entire crew.
Submarines use reverse osmosis for freshwater production. The process is…
