USS ''Los Angeles'' (SSN-688), lead ship of her class of

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s, was the fourth ship of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

to be named for

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California. The contract to build her was awarded to

Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy ...

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

on 8 January 1971 and her keel was laid down on 8 January 1972. She was launched on 6 April 1974 sponsored by

Anne Armstrong Anne Legendre Armstrong (December 27, 1927 – July 30, 2008) was a United States diplomat and politician. She was the first woman to serve as Counselor to the President and as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, serving in those cap ...

, and commissioned on 13 November 1976. She hosted President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

and the

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

on 27 May 1977 for an at-sea demonstration of her capabilities. In 2007 she was the oldest submarine in active service with the United States Navy. The Navy decommissioned ''Los Angeles'' on 23 January 2010, in the

Port of Los Angeles The Port of Los Angeles is a seaport managed by the Los Angeles Harbor Department, a unit of the City of Los Angeles. It occupies of land and water with of waterfront and adjoins the separate Port of Long Beach. Promoted as "America's Port", t ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, her namesake city.

Deployments

''Los Angeles'' made her first operational deployment to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

in 1977 and was awarded a Meritorious Unit Citation. In 1978, she transferred to the Pacific Fleet and was assigned to Submarine Squadron 7, homeported in

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 Re ...

. She conducted 17 Pacific deployments over the next 32 years and earned eight

Meritorious Unit Citation The Meritorious Unit Citation is a collective group decoration awarded to members of Australian military units. It recognises sustained outstanding service in warlike operations. The Meritorious Unit Citation was created in 1991, along with the ...

s and a

Navy Unit Citation The Navy Unit Commendation (NUC) is a United States Navy unit award that was established by order of the Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on 18 December 1944. History Navy and U.S. Marine Corps commands may recommend any Navy or Marine Cor ...

. ''Los Angeles'' participated in four multinational "Rim of the Pacific" (

RIMPAC RIMPAC, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, is the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise. RIMPAC is held biennially during June and July of even-numbered years from Honolulu, Hawaii, with the exception of 2020 where it was held i ...

) exercises, and visited numerous foreign ports in Italy, Republic of the Philippines, Diego Garcia, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Canada and Singapore. In 1999, ''Los Angeles'' 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). Her capabilities included undersea warfare, surface warfare, strike warfare, mining operations, special forces delivery, reconnaissance, carrier battle group support and escort, and intelligence collection.

Decommissioning

''Los Angeles'' was inactivated on 1 February 2010 and decommissioned 4 February 2011. The wardroom of the oldest submarine in the fleet carries

Richard O'Kane Richard Hetherington O'Kane (February 2, 1911 – February 16, 1994) was a United States Navy submarine commander in World War II, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for commanding in the Pacific War against Japan to the most successful record of ...

's personal

cribbage Cribbage, or crib, is a card game, traditionally for two players, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points. It can be adapted for three or four players. Cribbage has several distinctive features: the cribbag ...

board, and upon her decommissioning the board was transferred to the next oldest boat at that time, . Ex-''Los Angeles'' entered the Navy's

Ship-Submarine Recycling Program The Ship-Submarine Recycling Program (SRP) is the process that the United States Navy uses to dispose of decommissioned nuclear vessels. SRP takes place only at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) in Bremerton, Washington, but the preparations ...

, 1 February 2010, and recycling was completed 30 November 2012.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Los Angeles (SSN-688) Los Angeles-class submarines Cold War submarines of the United States Nuclear submarines of the United States Navy Ships built in Newport News, Virginia 1974 ships