A month after it was reported to be sailing from Guam, the US Navy's damaged Seawolf-class submarine USS Connecticut pulled into San Diego early Sunday, transiting the entire journey on the surface.
The submarine was spotted entering San Diego Bay with its entire bow sonar dome missing, leaving it unsafe to travel underwater, according to USNI News.
The vessel had suffered damage after a collision in the South China SeaChina Sea in October. An image of the vessel pulling into the harbor was first shared by Ship Spotter WarshipCam.
According to Cmdr. Cynthia Fields, a Navy spokeswoman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said the submarine is safe and stable after a journey through the Pacific Ocean from Guam. It is not known when the sub will return to its homeport in Bremerton.
The USS Connecticut opted to leave Guam because the latter doesn't have a drydock to make significant repairs, reports The Drive.
Connecticut probably decided not to get its repairs done there because of the drydock facilities that are heavily tasked with such capabilities, even though Pearl Harbor is the closest location with such capabilities. Pearl Harbour's facilities are a strategic asset in the Pacific. Connecticut calling on the drydock there for repairs would affect their capacity, possibly for years, the report said.
The report also mentions that the destroyer USS Mustin arrived in San Diego soon after USS Connecticut, hinting that the ship may have provided security for the submarine on at least part of its voyage.
The U.S. Navy said that the USS Connecticut struck an unmapped seamount in early October in the South China SeaChina Sea. The collision damaged its ballast tanks and forward section. The accident on October 2 left 11 crew members injured.
Analysts who looked at the satellite images last month said that it was almost clear that the sub was involved in a head-on collision that cracked its sonar dome, an important sensor system. This had left the vessel underwater, blind and deaf, and had to escape immediately.
The Navy maintained that Connecticut's nuclear reactor and the rest of its propulsion system were not damaged in the accident.
After the collision, the boat sailed to Guam, arriving on October 8 for initial repairs and a damage assessment. Under its own power, it left Guam last month.