The work will be done at Norfolk, Va., then it will head to its new home port of Kings Bay, Ga.

In preparation for the move, the sub's two crews will combine and be reduced in number from about 360 sailors and officers to about 240, Chief Petty Officer Ronald McComb said . The Alaska has been based here since 1986, the same year it was commissioned. It completed a retrofit to carry Trident II (D5) missiles in 2002 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

The sub is not able to do its refueling and overhaul at the naval shipyard, because the shipyard is already booked with other submarine work, McComb said.

Some Alaska crew members will transfer to other subs at Bangor. McComb said about 20 Alaska crew members' families have already moved to Norfolk in advance of the sub.