US quits Sardinia nuclear submarine base leaving skeleton staff

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2007

ROME (AFP) — The US Navy has all but ended its presence at a nuclear submarine base in Sardinia with the departure of support vessel USS Emory Land with 1,500 sailors aboard, press reports said Sunday.

Some 400 sailors will remain at La Maddalena naval base until the end of February, when it will be fully shut down after 35 years, to the relief of pacifists and environmentalists but to the chagrin of some of the 200 workers it employed.

"We will miss you" read a banner as the Emory Land pulled out of the harbour on Saturday.

At the same time, Sardinia Governor Renato Soru asked: "What kind of people are we if we need a military force and nuclear submarines to create a job?"

La Maddalena, located within a pristine wildlife and marine reserve, was the...