BREMERTON, Washington (October 29, 2019) Video interviews of Cmdr. Benjamin J. Selph, commanding officer of the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Olympia (SSN 717), Master Chief Electronics Technician (Communication) Arturo Plasencia, Olympia’s chief of the boat, and Torpedoman’s Mate 1st class Troy Wagner, a crew member who has been assigned to Olympia for 6 years, share their thoughts about the crew’s journey from the submarine’s previous homeport in Hawaii to its new homeport in Bremerton. Footage also shows Olympia pulling into Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton. The submarine is scheduled to begin the inactivation and decommissioning process at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The 35-year-old Olympia was commissioned on November 17, 1984. (U.S. Navy Video by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Allen Lee)
Transcript
My name is Commander Benjamin Selph, the commanding officer of USS Olympia, the greatest submarine in the Navy.
[Interviewer] Can you go ahead and spell your full name for me?
The first name too?
[Interviewer] First name too.
B-E-N-J-A-M-I-N, and the last name is S-E-L-P-H.
[Interviewer] Can you tell us a little bit about what happened today, like why you guys are here?
Well today, Olympia completed our transit from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to Bremerton, Washington, to begin our process of inactivation, for our decommissioning, which will take place in about a year and a half.
[Interviewer] And I know that moving here, you’re closer to your ship’s namesake, and a lot of the Olympia community was out here. Did you have any thoughts and opinions, or like, something you’d like to say about that?
Well, the city of Olympia, City Councilman Jim Cooper, Ralph Monroe, Bob Terhune, the Secretary of the State of Washington, Kim Wyman, are just among the people that are fantastic supporters of USS Olympia. We did two namesake visits just during my command tenure alone, and the city welcomed us with open arms, and we’ve have a great relationship with the city.
[Interviewer] And I know that you guys came over from Hawaii, must be a little bittersweet, because you guys have been there for so long.
That’s right.
To finally coming here. How do you feel about leaving Hawaii and coming to Washington?
Again, it’s bittersweet. Mostly because the ship is such a vibrant, wonderful ship. And even though she’s 35 years old, and the oldest SSN in our Navy, she still performs so well, and she just operated on a worldwide deployment, circumnavigating the globe in a seven month deployment, that we completed, just last month. And so to bring her here, to begin the end of her life is bittersweet. And yet, the end of life comes for every submarine, and so we recognize that, and the crew is excited to come here to the beautiful Pacific Northwest because even though it’s beautiful in Hawaii, it’s warm, they’re eager for the four seasons, for the mountains, and for all that the Pacific Northwest offers.
[Interviewer] And as far as your crew goes on, do you guys have one or two crews, is there like a gold team and a blue team?
No, as a fast attack submarine, we only have one crew, and so this crew has done all of the ship’s operations, and the crew will remain with the ship until we complete the inactivation, availability, and decommission.
[Interviewer] Is there anything you’d like to say about your crew?
Oh, my crew is the best crew in the Navy! They, we are tight-knit, we’ve earned sea experience through tenacious discipline, and that’s what’s required when you operate the oldest SSN that we have, all the way around the world. You have to be able to fix the ship, you have to be able to fight the ship, and this crew does all that.
[Interviewer] And is there anything else that you’d like to add? (inhales)
I don’t know. I’ve gotta think about it for a while. (chuckles) Well… Here this week, I’m coming to the end of my command tour. And I have to say that it’s been the honor of, of my adult life, after marrying my wife and having my kids, to command this submarine. The crew, and the submarine, and the operations we’ve been able to do have been second to none. It’s been a fantastic experience, and one that I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.
Okay? I am ETRC Arturo Poascncia, A-R-T-U-R-O, P-O-A-S-C-N-C-I-A. I’m from Duncan, Oklahoma. I’m the chief of the boat onboard USS Olympia.
[Interviewer] Okay, so can you tell us a little about kinda the journey that your, your crew’s been on in the last, you know basically, years plus? Can you talk about that a little?
Sure, we were told, roughly in November of 2018 that our deployment was shifting from a CENTCOM to a European Command deployment, so it was a complete mind-shift from what we were getting ready to do. So the crew had to engage themselves in a completely different set of skills and training. And so for about a year, we’ve been shifting from one thing to another. From shifting AORs to operate in to deploying on time, which is a huge deal. Certifying strike for a what we call a non-VLS, or a vertical launch system boat, so we were able to conduct strike operations if the combatant commander needed us to do so. It’s a big deal. It’s been about 10 years since the, what we call, four shooter boats or four, four-two boats have been able to do so. So that was an excellent opportunity. On deployment, we operate in four AORs, where we do various joint operations with our friends from Norway, France, and Great Britain, as well as some of the other communities in Norway and in Gibraltar. So going through the Panama Canal, Suez Canal during this deployment, to circumnavigate the globe. And then coming in from deployment right into a change of home port and, here shortly, to a change of command. So it’s been one transition after another the last year.
[Interviewer] Okay, so how does it feel to, you know, to land in Bremerton today? I know, you know, there seems like there’s a constant, you know, moving, moving target that you guys have acquired and taken down. And, you know, now you guys are here. What is, what is that evolution been like and kinda, what was the journey like from Hawaii?
It was a little bit somber. The crew, got a lot of new guys here and a lot of new places, so it was a great opportunity for them to exercise the skills that they learned on deployment in new watch stations. So that was really good. It was a little bit sobering to realize that this was the last time Olympia was gonna be underway. So last dive, last surface, and those kinda things. And we try to celebrate that with the crew and to just take advantage of that and realize how historic that was. But it was an excellent trip up here. It was a beautiful day to pull in here. I think a lot of us were scared that it was gonna be really cold, being from Hawaii. But it turned out to be a beautiful day to come in here, to our new home port.
[Interviewer] So what would you say you look forward to most next about here? The change of command and other things that are coming up. What are, what’s on the horizon for the crew?
So for the crew, the one thing that we, we visited Olympia about two years ago to do a namesake visit, and the one thing that everybody came back from that visit saying is, we loved to work with the city and the various food shelters and community relations projects that we did. And so that’s what the next big thing for us is Olympia, outside of the shipyard, is to work with the community. I think it’s a unique opportunity to have the namesake so close and to be a part of that city is what we’re looking forward to next.
[Interviewer] Anything else to say?
All right, I’m TM1 Wagner. Troy Wagner from Canton, Ohio.
[Interviewer] Okay, and can you explain a little bit of what, what’s going on today and what you guys did in transit?
So, stood some watch this morning, and then we woke up, had the maneuvering watch, and came up through the, what’s that, the strait and moored here in our new home, Bremerton, Washington.
[Interviewer] How do you, how’s it feel? I know that you guys have your ship’s namesake, or your boats namesake is here. How’s it feel to, you know, finally be in Washington, and got to finally like, you know, decommission, you know, stand in the boat for a lot of, for the ship at least?
It’s, I’m excited for it. It’s gonna be a lot of unique opportunities. A beautiful place to live and very different from Hawaii so I have a lot of cool things to do out here so.
[Interviewer] Would you say that, what, would you say that you guys are kinda excited to be closer to your ship’s namesake with this–
Yeah.
Yeah, it’ll be really nice. I was here for the last two namesake visits we did, so it’ll be cool to get with the city of Olympia and do some work with them and give back to them.
[Interviewer] Okay, and you guys came from Hawaii, so is there anything, like, you can say about Hawaii? You gonna miss it a little bit?
The beaches and the constant 85 degree sunshine weather. It’s gonna be hard to give up but excited for seasonal, having fall and winter. It’ll be kinda cool.
[Interviewer] And as far as like getting decommissioned and this being the ship’s last transit, how do you feel about that? How long have you been with the ship?
I’ve been here six years so it’s kinda sad to see it go. I mean, never thought this day would come after being here so long. But a lot of great times and some not so fun times here. But a lot of fond memories.
[Interviewer] So how do you feel about the ship decommissioning? Are you happy? Are you ready, ready to move on to the next duty station?
Yeah, I’m ready. You know, that’s one reason I wanted to stay here so long to do this process. Never see that. It’s a pretty rare thing to do so be part of that and then move on to shore duty and see what’s next after that. (murmurs)