USS ''Louisville'' (SSN-724), a ''Los Angeles''-class submarine, is 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

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of

General Dynamics Corporation 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 U ...

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 11 February 1982 and her keel was laid on 24 September 1984. She was launched on 14 December 1985—sponsored by Mrs. Betty Ann McKee (née Harris), wife of Admiral Kinnaird McKee, Director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion —and commissioned on 8 November 1986 with Captain Charles E. Ellis in command. ''Louisville'' serves as a trial platform for the prototype BQQ-10 ARCI

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...

s, which incorporate off-the-shelf computer components, allowing easy introduction of modular upgrades.

Service history

''Louisville'' transited the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

in January 1987 to make her home base at

Naval Base Point Loma Naval Base Point Loma (NBPL) is located in Point Loma, a neighborhood of San Diego, California. It was established on 1 October 1998 when Navy facilities in the Point Loma area of San Diego were consolidated under Commander, Navy Region Southwe ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

as a part of Submarine Squadron 11. During her stay at San Diego, ''Louisville'' conducted several WestPac deployments. During her 1988–1989 Westpac deployment, ''Louisville'' visited

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,

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, 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 ...

. In January and February 1991, as

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

began, ''Louisville'' carried out the first war patrol conducted by an American submarine since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The patrol began with a 14,000-mile submerged, high-speed transit across the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

and

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

to the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

. Shortly after noon on 19 January, she launched

Tomahawk cruise missile The Tomahawk () Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is a long-range, all-weather, jet-powered, subsonic cruise missile that is primarily used by the United States Navy and Royal Navy in ship and submarine-based land-attack operations. Under contract fr ...

s against targets in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

, becoming the first submarine to launch Tomahawks in combat. For this war patrol, ''Louisville'' was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation. In 2003, ''Louisville'' participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom, launching 16 Tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea against targets in Iraq. Her deployment was extended to eight and a half months in support of the campaign. She was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for her role in the operation. ''Louisville'' completed an extensive overhaul in Portsmouth, NH, at the end of 2008. She returned to her homeport of Pearl Harbor in the spring of 2009 as a part of CSS-3. ''Louisville'' received Meritorious Unit Commendations for both her 2014-15 and 2016-17 Western Pacific deployments. In 2017, she completed a surge U.S. Southern Command deployment to participate in the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Chile's submarine force. In so doing, she made history as the first nuclear-powered warship to call at Talcahuano, Chile. Following a final U.S. Central Command deployment from 2018 to 2019, ''Louisville'' changed homeport in October 2019 to Bremerton, Washington for decommissioning. She was placed out of service on 6 August 2020, and scheduled for formal decommissioning on 9 March 2021. Like all other recent U.S. submarines, the vessel will be recycled via 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 ...

. ''Louisville'' was decommissioned on 9 March 2021 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Louisville (SSN-724) Ships built in Groton, Connecticut Los Angeles-class submarines Cold War submarines of the United States History of Louisville, Kentucky Nuclear submarines of the United States Navy 1985 ships Submarines of the United States