Fast-attack submarine USS Tucson trades places in Guam with USS Jefferson City

The fast-attack submarine USS Tucson steamed into Apra Harbor recently, joining an existing fleet of three submarines at Naval Base Guam as the U.S. Navy continues to rebalance its presence in the Pacific.

The Tucson, a Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine, effectively traded homeports Friday with its sister ship the USS Jefferson City, which arrived July 9 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, according to news releases from Guam’s Submarine Squadron 15 and Hawaii’s Submarine Squadron 7.

The Navy did not characterize the homeport shifts as one-for-one replacements but instead as separate movements meant to balance operational requirements with “maintenance, modernization and future force needs across the submarine force,” Submarine Squadron 15 spokesman Lt. James Caliva said by email Tuesday.

“Tucson’s arrival sustains a responsive, combat-ready submarine presence in Guam and reinforces the Navy’s stealthy undersea arsenal in the Pacific,” he said.

As of July 10, four fast-attack submarines were homeported in Guam, including the Tucson, Caliva said.

A Navy news release June 3 described the USS Springfield as one of five at Guam, and the squadron’s website also listed five. Caliva did not immediately respond to phone and email requests for clarification Tuesday.

The Tucson and Jefferson City’s homeport shifts occurred under the Navy’s broader Strategic Laydown and Dispersal Plan, which establishes a framework for how the Navy postures ships on a global scale.

Among the factors considered are maintenance schedules, pier and shipyard support, personnel, environmental requirements and other logistics, according to a May 2024 Office of the Chief of Naval Operations instruction.

More than a dozen families also relocated to Guam to join the Tucson, which has a crew of approximately 140 sailors, according to Caliva.

Approximately half of the United States’ submarines are based in the Pacific, where they play a “vital role” in the region by maintaining a persistent presence, strengthening deterrence and working with allies, Caliva said.

The nuclear-powered fast attack submarine’s mission is to seek and destroy enemy submarines and surface ships, carry out intelligence gathering and surveillance, support battle groups and perform other activity. 

Guam, which Caliva described as a “strategic outpost and linchpin of U.S. maritime strength in the Western Pacific,” is also home to the Navy’s only two submarine tenders, USS Emory S. Land and USS Frank Cable.

Those two ships, responsible for maintaining, repairing and resupplying submarines at sea, are currently operating beyond their expected service lives and will eventually be replaced by the new AS(X) submarine tenders, according to the Navy’s May 2026 shipbuilding plan.

The Navy’s fiscal 2027 budget request seeks $4.44 billion for two AS(X) tenders.

Guam will also soon be the home to the Guam Additive Material & Manufacturing Accelerator, an approximately $40 million facility that would enable 3D-printed submarine components to reduce downtime and reliance on distant supply chains. The facility is expected to be fully operational in 2028.