USS ''Hartford'' (SSN-768), a , is the second ship of the Navy to be named for

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

. The contract to build her was awarded to the

Electric Boat An electric boat is a powered watercraft driven by electric motors, which are powered by either on-board battery packs, solar panels or generators. While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail pow ...

Division of

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...

Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 30 June 1988 and her keel was laid down on 22 February 1992. She was launched on 4 December 1993 sponsored by Laura O'Keefe, wife of former Secretary of the Navy Sean O'Keefe, and commissioned on 10 December 1994, with Commander George Kasten in command. In October 2007, the submarine successfully launched and recovered an AN/BLQ-11 unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV)—the first such operation from a submarine. The vehicle was launched via one of the boat's torpedo tubes and recovered with the help of a 60-foot robotic arm.

In the news

2003 grounding in Sardinia

On 25 October 2003 ''Hartford'' ran aground near

La Maddalena La Maddalena (Gallurese: ''Madalena'' or ''La Madalena'', sc, Sa Madalena) is a town and ''comune'' located on the islands of the Maddalena archipelago in the province of Sassari, northern Sardinia, Italy. The main town of the same name is locat ...

in Sardinia with such force that rudders, sonar and other electronic equipment were severely damaged. After the accident Commander Christopher R. Van Metre, captain of ''Hartford'', and Captain Greg Parker, Commodore of Submarine Squadron 22, were relieved of command and sent back to the United States. Six other crewmen were also charged with dereliction of duty.

2009 collision in Strait of Hormuz

On 20 March 2009 ''Hartford'' collided with amphibious transport dock in the

Strait of Hormuz The Strait of Hormuz ( fa, تنگه هرمز ''Tangeh-ye Hormoz'' ar, مَضيق هُرمُز ''Maḍīq Hurmuz'') is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the ...

, slightly injuring 15 sailors on board. Both vessels were able to proceed under their own power after the incident, although the ''New Orleans'' suffered a ruptured fuel tank, releasing 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the strait. ''Hartford'' was escorted back to homeport by destroyer . ''Laboon'' was, at the time, attached to NATO under Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 and was directed to break away and perform escort duties by Sixth Fleet. The Navy announced on 14 April 2009 that the submarine's skipper, Commander Ryan Brookhart, had been relieved of duty by Rear Admiral

Michael J. Connor Michael J. Connor, is a retired United States Navy Vice Admiral. Connor held several, concurrent titles during his last assignment including Commander, United States Submarine Forces ( COMNAVSUBFOR), Commander, Submarine Forces Atlantic (COMSUBL ...

because of a loss of confidence in Brookhart's ability to command. Brookhart was replaced by Commander Chris Harkins, deputy commander of Submarine Squadron Eight. A repair contract was awarded to

. Repairs were initially expected to cost $37.4 million and be completed by January 2010. However, by November 2009, repair costs had already exceeded $100 million. Final repair cost was $120 million when ''Hartford'' returned to duty in February, 2011

Modernization

On 29 July 2022 a $698M contract was awarded to General Dynamics Electric Boat to repair and modernize the ''Hartford''.

Service history

''Hartford'' took part in ICEX 2018, surfacing through the Arctic ice on 21 March.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hartford (SSN-768) Ships built in Groton, Connecticut Los Angeles-class submarines Nuclear submarines of the United States Navy United States submarine accidents Maritime incidents in 2003 Maritime incidents in 2009 1993 ships Submarines of the United States