A celebrity of the submarine kind is being retired.

The USS Dallas (SSN-700), portrayed in the movie "The Hunt for Red October" based on Tom Clancy's Cold War thriller, has reached the end of its useful life — its military capability no longer outweighs the cost to continue to operate the submarine.

At the end of May, the Dallas arrived at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash. — the sole site for recycling Navy submarines — after leaving its homeport in Groton about two months earlier, transiting the Panama Canal, and making stops in Port Canaveral, Fla., and San Diego, Calif.

When commissioned on July 18, 1981, Dallas was hailed as the cutting edge of the nation's defense system. Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarines like the Dallas cost more than $400 million to build compared to the $2.7 billion price tag of today's Virginia-class attack submarines.

Dallas spent more than 35 years carrying out secret missions at sea, including multiple deployments to the Indian, Mediterranean and North Atlantic oceans.

The Navy squeezed every last bit out of the submarine. Its last deployment lasted nearly eight months, about the longest deployment a fast attack submarine has done since Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Capt. Jack Houdeshell, the commanding officer for that last deployment. Dallas originally was due to be retired sooner, but the Navy in 2014 extended its service life, and retired the USS Norfolk instead to save $10 million.

Little has been disclosed about what the Dallas did, but the submarine had a number of achievements, including two Navy Unit Commendations, which recognize heroism and outstanding actions.

"There aren't a whole lot of submarines out there now that have seen what the Dallas has seen, going through the Cold War, the Gulf War, the modern day fight with terrorism and drugs and the different missions that we do," said Senior Chief Michael Lewis, 41, Dallas' chief of the boat. "To be on a boat that's done all of that, those accomplishments are big."

Museum piece?

How does the Navy dispose of a submarine that weighs about 6,000 tons and spans 362 feet?

Weapons are removed before a submarine arrives at the shipyard. The nuclear reactor is shut down and then the fuel is removed. Spent nuclear fuel, which is still highly radioactive even at the end of a submarine's life, is shipped by rail to the Naval Reactor Facility at the Idaho National Laboratory, where it's stored in specialized containers. Spent fuel from every submarine since the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, has been stored there.

Once defueled and decommissioned, submarines become "exes," for example the ex-Dallas.

Empty reactor compartments are cut out from the steel hull using torches, hand-held saws and other tools, and then taken by barge to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland, Wash., where they are buried in the ground in steel canisters. The site, where 177 tanks with more than 50 gallons of radioactive waste are stored, is only supposed to be a temporary solution. A long-term solution still is being sought. The Obama administration decided against the Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but President Donald Trump's 2018 budget request reportedly includes $120 million to restart the licensing process for the site.

Nuclear waste has seeped from the tanks at Hanford, home to a complicated cleanup effort, and in May a tunnel used to store contaminated radioactive materials collapsed.

Once the reactor is defueled and the reactor compartment is removed, the boat's systems are inactivated, de-energized and drained, then the rest of the hull is cut up in large pieces for recycling. In some cases it's sold as scrap. Valuable materials are salvaged and reused.

At times, interested parties will approach the Navy about featuring an old submarine in a museum. The Dallas Maritime Museum is vying for the Dallas to be the centerpiece of the future museum. The Navy has indicated, however, that it's highly unlikely that an entire submarine would be donated.

Los Angeles–class submarines, which were built between the 1970s and 1990s, are being recycled at high rates — so much so, that they are reportedly piling up at the Puget Sound shipyard.

At the same time, more attack submarines are being built.

Virginia-class submarines, the replacement for the Los Angeles-class, are being built at a rate of two per year. There's talk of building three attack submarines some years. And the Navy wants to build up to 355 ships, from the 277 it has now, including 18 more submarines than previously planned, so it's unlikely the recycling will slow down.

j.bergman@theday.com

Talk of the service

The current crew of the USS Dallas has the distinct experience of retiring the movie star submarine. They, along with shipyard workers, will take the Dallas apart piece by piece. They reflect on a boat that they've called home for months at a time.

"The harsh reality is if we had a significant casualty, the boat could be lost. As much as we take care of her, she takes care of us. This is our family. This is our life. Will she always bring us fond memories? Absolutely."

— Cmdr. David Kaiser, 46, commanding officer

"The junior guys, I don't think they understand the accomplishments and the important role that the Dallas has fulfilled for the last 30-plus years. Once they've been in for a few more years, they'll actually understand what they were a part of: the final crew, being the last in harm's way."

— Senior Chief Michael Lewis, 41, chief of the boat

"At the reunion, we had guys (who served on Dallas) in the 1970s and 1980s. To be part of that, that's what I'm going to remember."

— David Schneck, 34, an electronics technician

"Dallas, she definitely is iconic with the movie star heritage. You pull in someplace, whether it's the Middle East, Europe, in the States, and it's 'Hey, is that the Dallas? The one with the Russian submarine?' Yeah, that's the movie star."

—  Steven Johnson, 29, an informations systems technician

"You always remember when, where, what time, the date and who did it."

— Brice Stone, 21 of Stephenville, Texas, an electronics technician who earned his dolphins, meaning he qualified in submarine service, on the boat named after his home state.