Preserving the Legacy of SSN-698 & CA-130
Join us in developing a monument to the submarine, cruiser, their namesake city and the shipyard that cared for them
The “Future Home of the USS BREMERTON Monument at Navy League Park” sign was placed at First and Callow in downtown Bremerton today on a brisk but sunny day. City of Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler joined us to say a few words about the importance of the city’s relationship with the USS BREMERTONs and the Navy. We also had City Councilman Michael Goodnow, and Jim Cline from the Charleston Business District in attendance. Our Committee Chair, Jerry Logan (USS BREMERTON CO #10), welcomed those in attendance, thanked all of our partners on the project to date, and gave an update on the project’s status. Thank you to Bremerton Public Works Director Chance Berthiaume and the City of Bremerton Public Works for installing the sign, with a special thanks to Josh who put the sign up in the rain and wind yesterday.
Bremerton City Councilman Michael Goodnow, Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler, Bremerton Public Works Director Chance Berthiaume, USS BREMERTON CO #3 CAPT (ret) Alan Beam, USS BREMERTON CO #10 CAPT (ret) Jerry Logan, and USS BREMERTON CO #11 Tom Zwolfer with the recently installed Future Home of the USS BREMERTON Monument sign.
BREMERTON (April 28, 2018) — Los Angeles-class submarine USS Bremerton (SSN-698), transits the Puget Sound, returning to its namesake city, Bremerton, Washington.
BREMERTON — Years after discussions were initiated at the local Navy League about keeping the sail of submarine USS Bremerton (SSN 698) in its namesake cityas a monument, the league has made a request to the Navy and completed a preliminary design of a monument that could recognize the vessel and its history in a new city park.
On May 1, the president of the Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula Council of the Navy League Tom Zwolfer and Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler jointly signed a letter to the Navy, making a preliminary request that the Navy retain the components of the Los Angeles-class submarine, including its sail, sail planes, anchor, rudders and stern planes, to create a monument. Jerry Logan, retired Navy Captain, the 10th Commanding Officer of USS Bremerton and chairman of The USS Bremerton Sail Memorial Committee, said the group’s request to use some of those pieces of history as a monument will now move to the next step.
“Once we get our design finalized, we will submit the official request to the Navy for those components that we have in mind here,” Logan said.
Preliminary design of the monument has been completed. The Bremerton City Council reviewed and discussed the project on Wednesday, where Logan, Zwolfer, and Alan Beam of the Navy League — all former commanding officers of the USS Bremerton — presented an update of the project.
With Mayor Wheeler’s suggestion, the Navy League is now proposing to build the monument at a triangular plot of grassy area at First Street and Callow Avenue, near the Naval Base Kitsap’s Charleston gate, tentatively to be named “Navy League Park.”
The approximately 42,000 square feet of land is now the Washington State Department of Transportation’s right of way. WSDOT is in the process of transferring the property to the city at no cost, Wheeler said.
“We do not foresee that (cost of any money),” Wheeler said. “If for some remote reason there was a cost, we work through that.”
The proximity to the Charleston Gate would make the monument an entry point into Bremerton that demonstrates the relationship between the city, its people and the military history, Wheeler said, and give residents and visitors “an idea of the importance of the military presence in our history.” He highlighted the design in which the crisscrossing grey sidewalks could be a symbol of such connection.
Logan shared similar thoughts.
“I think of it personally as not just a military monument, but hopefully a bigger bond to the city and the relationship with the Navy, and the role Bremerton, Washington plays in the country,” Logan said. “We want to try to capture not just about two Navy ships. We think it’s about the city of Bremerton, certainly, and everything the city has done to create a good relationship with the Navy.”
BREMERTON (April 28, 2018) — Los Angeles-class submarine USS Bremerton (SSN-698), transits the Puget Sound, returning to its namesake city, Bremerton, Washington.
A sub’s sail plus the cruiser’s anchor
According to the preliminary design, the USS Bremerton monument will showcase the sail of the submarine as well as the anchors of the submarine and the USS Bremerton cruiser (CA-130). The anchor of the cruiser is now placed at Hal’s Corner, between Warren Avenue and Sheridan Road. The cruiser was commissioned in 1945, struck from the Navy list on 1973, and sold for scrap on 1974, according to the Naval Vessel Register.SS
USS Bremerton CA-130 At Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, California, on 21 November 1951. She was recommissioned for Korean War service on 23 November after having been in reserve since April 1948. Official U.S. Navy Photograph
“We picture the two anchors sort of create the entrance to the monument area,” Logan said.
Benches will be placed at the part to allow people to walk on and stay at the monument, Logan said.
Commissioned in 1981, the USS Bremerton submarine served the country for 37 years before it was inactivated in 2018 and decommissioned in 2021 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, according to Naval Vessel Register. The ship is currently in Bremerton, hasn’t been recycled, and it’s unknown when the Navy will cut it up and make the components available, Logan said. The Navy League hasn’t heard back from the Naval Sea Systems Command regarding the request.
If the plan continues, the USS Bremerton sail would be the fourth submarine sail placed in Kitsap County. The others are the sail of USS Parche, laid outside the Puget Sound Navy Museum in downtown Bremerton, the sail of the USS Woodrow Wilson, at Deterrent Park on Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, and the sail of the USS Sturgeon, at the Naval Undersea Museum at Keyport.
The Navy League is fundraising for the monument project and plan to raise approximately $1 million, Logan said. A retired doctor and big supporter of the USS Bremerton, the late Byron Faber, had donated $20,000 to the Navy League as part of his bequest, which stated a desire to use the funding to create a monument for the ship.
Depending on the Navy’s timeline to recycle the submarine and the Navy League’s fundraising progress, construction would likely begin in a two-year timeframe, Logan said.
In cooperation with the city we did an extensive evaluation of potential site locations. It was a important to have the monument easily available, preferably near a city gateway. This site preserves limited park space and develops a potential new park for the city.
