} USS ''La Jolla'' (SSN-701/MTS-701), a , is named for La Jolla, California. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in

Groton, Connecticut Groton is a town in New London County, Connecticut located on the Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United States Navy. The Naval Submarine Base New London i ...

on 10 December 1973 and her

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was laid down on 16 October 1976. She was launched on 11 August 1979 sponsored by Mrs. Jean Bryant Wilson, wife of Congressman Bob Wilson, and commissioned on 24 October 1981,. The USS La Jolla was converted to a Moored Training Ship and is currently stationed at NPTU Charleston in Goose Creek, SC.

Service history

During the sea trials for ''La Jolla'', an unexpected depth excursion occurred during a propulsion plant "crash back" test at the direction of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover. In late 1982, about 30 miles out of San Francisco, ''La Jolla'', while at

periscope depth A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...

, collided with the submarine , operating on the surface. ''La Jolla'' suffered minor rudder damage, while putting a scrape in the paint on ''Permit''s keel. ''La Jolla'' was the first to successfully test fire a

Tomahawk A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Eur ...

cruise missile while submerged at the

Pacific Missile Test Center Pacific Missile Test Center (PMTC) is the former name of the current Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division. The name of the center was the Naval Air Missile Test Center prior to PMTC. It is located at Naval Base Ventura County/Naval Air Stat ...

on 29 April 1983. The first West Pacific (West-Pac) cruise was between August 1984 and February 1985, in which ''La Jolla'' visited ports in Olongapo Philippines, Hong Kong, Chinhae Korea, and Yokosuka, Japan. All crew members participating in the second half of the 1984–85 West-Pac cruise received the

Navy Expeditionary Medal The Navy Expeditionary Medal is a military award of the United States Navy which was established in August 1936. Award criteria The General Orders of the Department of the Navy which established the medal states, "The medal will be awarded, to ...

for operations in the Sea of Japan. On 11 February 1998, about 9 miles out of Chinhae, South Korea, ''La Jolla'' accidentally ran into and sank a 27-ton fishing trawler. The five crewmembers of the trawler were rescued by the crew of ''La Jolla''. In 2000, ''La Jolla'' was modified to carry a

Dry Deck Shelter A dry deck shelter (DDS) is a removable module that can be attached to a submarine to allow divers easy exit and entrance while the boat is submerged. The host submarine must be specially modified to accommodate the DDS, with the appropriate mating ...

(DDS). On 23 August 2004, ''La Jolla'' returned to

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

after a six-month deployment in the Pacific Ocean. She conducted port visits in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, Japan, Singapore, Saipan, and

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, and participated in five international exercises, including Pacific Reach 2004.

Post stand-down conversion to training ship

''La Jolla'' was converted to a

Moored Training Ship __NOTOC__ A moored training ship (MTS) is a United States Navy nuclear powered submarine that has been converted to a training ship for the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command's Nuclear Power Training Unit (NPTU) at Naval Support Activity Charl ...

(MTS) in August 2017 and decommissioned and stricken from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

on 15 November 2019. The conversion to a MTS began in February 2015 and completed in late 2019. After a "Fast Cruise" period in the spring of 2020, ''La Jolla'' was certified and cleared for student training. The conversion to a MTS was expected to take 32 months according to the commanding officer, however it took much longer. During its time in shipyard, the submarine was cut into three pieces, and a portion of the hull taken out. Three new hull sections from General Dynamics Electric Boat were added to accommodate the sub's new mission. A newly fabricated hull section was welded in place, and the new compartment (OPS, or Operations) contains training spaces, office spaces, and an emergency safeguard system. ''La Jolla'' is permanently moored at Nuclear Power Training Unit (NPTU) at

Naval Support Activity Charleston Naval Support Activity Charleston, originally designated Naval Weapons Station Charleston, is a base of the United States Navy located on the west bank of the Cooper River, in the cities of Goose Creek and Hanahan South Carolina.17,000 acres ...

in South Carolina.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:La Jolla (Ssn-701) Ships built in Groton, Connecticut Los Angeles-class submarines Cold War submarines of the United States Nuclear submarines of the United States Navy 1979 ships Submarines of the United States