US submarine tender in Fremantle for drill with Australian submariners

US Navy submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) arrived in Fremantle, Australia, on September 11 as part of the ship’s fall deployment.

This is the ship’s second port visit during its Indo-Pacific winter patrol, after it departed its homeport at Apra Harbor, Guam, Aug. 19.

The combined Navy and civilian mariner crew will spend the next several days conducting bilateral training with the Australian Submarine Force.

“The crew is very excited about this visit to Fremantle,” said Land’s commanding officer, Capt. Michael D. Luckett. “We just finished a week-long visit to Darwin, which was a remarkable port visit. Now, we are ready to train and share ideas with our allies. Port visits and joint training like this ensure both the US Navy and Royal Australian Navy maintain a high level of interoperability between our forces.”

USS Emory S. Land is on a deployment that follows its 2018 dry docking overhaul. The ship spent 100 days at the Mare Island Dry Dock (MIDD) undergoing scheduled repairs to the ship’s deck, turbines, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

Land is also one of two US Navy submarine tenders homeported in Guam, along with four Los Angeles-class attack submarines. The submarine tenders provide maintenance, hotel services and logistical support to submarines and surface ships in the US 5th and 7th Fleet areas of operation.