The crew of the US Navy Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) USS Helena held a decommissioning ceremony at the US Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, Washington, on Friday, July 25.
Helena was commissioned on July 11, 1987, in Groton, Connecticut. She is the 37th Los Angeles-class SSN and the fourth US ship to bear the name Helena, paying homage to the capital city of Montana.
The navy said Helena carried a full arsenal of submarine-launched weapons and was one of the first submarines designed and equipped with vertical launch missile tubes, providing significant land attack capability for the US submarine force.
Helena and the other Los Angeles-class SSNs have served as the backbone of the US submarine force for the last 40 years. The boats are designed to seek and destroy enemy submarines and surface ships; project power ashore with Tomahawk land attack missiles and special operations forces; carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions; support carrier strike group operations; and engage in mine warfare.