US nuclear-powered sub arrives in Subic Bay

Crewmen stand atop the USS Louisville upon arriving at Subic Bay in northern Philippines, Monday, June 25, 2012. The USS Louisville, a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine of the Los Angeles class design, is in the country for a routine port call to replenish supplies as well as give the crew an opportunity for rest and relaxation as stated in a US Embassy statement. AP PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The USS Louisville, a nuclear-powered attack submarine arrived Monday in Subic Bay for a routine port call, according to the US Embassy in Manila. It will stay in Subic until June 30.

In a news release, the embassy said the warship’s brief visit will allow it to replenish supplies and give its over 130 crew an opportunity to rest.

According to the US Navy website, the Louisville is one of the most advanced attack submarines in the world. Its mission is to seek out and destroy enemy ships and submarines.

The 360-foot submarine was commissioned on Nov. 8, 1986, at the US naval base in New London, Connecticut.

Weighing 6,900 tons, it is armed with sophisticated MK-48 torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles, among other weapons.

Homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the Louisville made naval history by firing the first submarine-launched Tomahawk missile during Operation Desert Storm in Iraq in the 1990s.

Last month, the Virginia-class attack submarine USS North Carolina, one of the stealthiest and most technologically advanced nuclear-powered submarines in the world, made a similar port call in Subic.

The warship came amid tensions between the Philippines and China over Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

Late last year, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson sailed into Manila Bay. It was the same ship that reportedly buried Osama bin Laden in the North Arabian Sea after the al-Qaida chief was killed during a raid by US commandos on his Pakistan hideout in May 2011.

The Carl Vinson was escorted by two guided missile cruisers and a destroyer. The four warships were manned by over 6,000 sailors.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario earlier told the Inquirer that “we can anticipate a greater number of port calls” by US Navy vessels as Washington increases its military presence in Asia in the coming years.

Stressing they are covered by the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement between Manila and Washington, the Department of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly defended the ship visits against charges by militant groups that they are a “showcase of the one-side pact.”

The goodwill visits of US warships are “part of the routine port calls that friendly navies make,” said the DFA as it also asserted the VFA was indispensable to the nation’s security.

Navy spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Omar Tonsay echoed Del Rosario, saying the port call was not unusual.

“I don’t see anything unusual if their purpose is to replenish their supplies in the Philippines. That’s normal,” he told reporters in a phone interview.

“It has no mission in the Philippines except replenishment. That’s what is stated in their diplomatic clearance. They have no activity involving the Philippine Navy,” he added.