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USS Los Angeles (SSN 688)

USS LOS ANGELES, the fourth naval ship to be named after the City of Los Angeles, was the lead ship of her class. Designed as a follow-on to the STURGEON - class submarines built during the 1960s, the LOS ANGELES - class incorporates improved sound quieting and a larger propulsion plant than previous classes. Her many capabilities include wartime functions of undersea warfare, surface warfare, strike warfare, mining operations, special forces delivery, reconnaissance, carrier battle group support and escort, and intelligence collection. Her missiles could hit on target 75 percent of the Earth's land surface.

USS LOS ANGELES held a decommissioning ceremony at her namesake city on January 23, 2010, shortly before being inactivated at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on February 1, 2010. She was officially decommissioned on February 4, 2011 during a ceremony at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS LOS ANGELES. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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USS LOS ANGELES Cruise Books:

• WestPac Cruise Book 2007

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History of USS LOS ANGELES:

USS LOS ANGELES was ordered on January 8, 1971, as the lead unit of what would become the largest class of nuclear-powered attack submarines built for the U.S. Navy. The keel was laid at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia, on January 8, 1972. She was launched on April 6, 1974, with Anne Armstrong, then counselor to the president and later U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, acting as sponsor. After fitting out and trials, the submarine was delivered to the Navy on November 2, 1976, and formally commissioned on November 13, 1976, at Newport News, with Cmdr. John E. Christensen Jr. in command.

Upon commissioning, USS LOS ANGELES joined Submarine Squadron 6 in the Atlantic. On November 19, 1976, she sailed to New London, Connecticut, to complete certification to employ the new Mk 48 heavyweight torpedo, as well as navigation equipment certification, remaining there until December 9. Shortly afterward she returned to Norfolk, Virginia, where she underwent her first Operational Reactors Safeguards Examination (ORSE) from December 13-15. These early examinations and weapons certifications ensured that the first LOS ANGELES-class boat met the nuclear-safety and combat-readiness standards expected for a front-line Cold War attack submarine.

The tempo remained high at the start of 1977. On January 6, Secretary of the Navy J. William Middendorf III visited the new submarine. Later that month, LOS ANGELES visited Port Everglades, Florida, from January 16-24, then shifted to the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) in the Bahamas to complete combat systems certification and further Mk 48 testing from January 24-31. After a visit to Cape Canaveral, Florida (January 31-February 6), the submarine conducted sound and acoustic trials in Exuma Sound in two periods, February 6-18 and 20-28. On March 1-10 she took part in the antisubmarine exercise SubASWEx 1-77, before entering Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a restricted availability. Once out of the yard, she proceeded to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands for standardization trials and then began pre-deployment training in May. During this workup, she hosted senior Pentagon officials, including William J. Perry, then assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering, and under secretary of the Navy Robert J. Woolsey, reflecting the importance attached to the first of the new 688-class boats.

A particularly notable early event occurred on May 27, 1977, when President Jimmy Carter, himself a former submariner, and First Lady Rosalynn Carter embarked for a one-day at-sea demonstration off the U.S. east coast. Vice Adm. Hyman G. Rickover, the influential head of the Navy's nuclear propulsion program, invited them aboard, and Vice Adm. Joseph Williams Jr., commander, Submarine Force Atlantic, also embarked. Media accounts recorded Carter joking with reporters about claustrophobia and taking a brief turn on the fair-weather planes, while Rosalynn Carter temporarily handled the stern planes under supervision. The destroyer ARTHUR W. RADFORD (DD 968) maintained air, surface, and subsurface surveillance nearby and acted as communications guard to preserve an unbroken chain of command via secure circuits, including the Moscow-Washington "hot line". LOS ANGELES conducted a short surface transit, dived for several hours while demonstrating capabilities, then returned the presidential party ashore later that afternoon.

Shortly afterward, LOS ANGELES made her first operational deployment. From June 8 to September 2, 1977, she deployed from Norfolk with the Sixth Fleet to the Mediterranean Sea. During this cruise she took part in multinational anti-submarine and fleet exercises, including SubASWEx 2-77 and National Week XXII, both aimed at improving coordinated NATO responses to Soviet submarine activity in the region. Port visits included Rota, Spain (June 16-18), La Maddalena, Italy (June 19-21, July 24-August 13, and August 24-25), and Naples, Italy (July 20-22). After returning to the United States, she entered her builder's yard at Newport News for Post-Shakedown Availability (PSA) from September 12 to December 31, 1977, receiving corrections and upgrades based on the initial deployment experience. Cmdr. Ralph E. Beedle relieved Cmdr. Christensen as commanding officer on October 21, 1977, during this period.

From January to March 1978, LOS ANGELES completed PSA-related certifications, including crew-qualification phases, a post-overhaul reactor safeguards examination, and sea trials, all finished by March 23. After a short period in Norfolk she visited Annapolis, Maryland, on April 7-8, then carried out acoustic trials in Exuma Sound from April 13-20. On May 18, she sailed from Norfolk on a change-of-homeport transit to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The route took her through the Panama Canal on May 23, into San Diego on May 30, and then to Long Beach, California, from June 1-5, where she embarked Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley for part of the passage. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on June 17, 1978, officially shifting to Submarine Squadron 7 and to the Pacific Fleet. This move aligned the first 688-class attack submarine with growing U.S. focus on the western Pacific and Indian Ocean.

In the second half of 1978, LOS ANGELES took part in a series of Pacific anti-submarine training events and weapons evolutions. She participated in PacSubASWEx 1-78 from July 12-28 and PacSubASWEx 2-78 on August 29 and again October 18-31. She also carried out Mk 48 torpedo proficiency firings from August 15-18, mid-Pacific operations from November 3-15, and provided services to the older attack submarine SARGO (SSN 583) from November 27-December 4. These activities refined her crew's skills for long deployments in the western Pacific, where the U.S. Navy was increasingly concerned with Soviet submarine operations and regional contingencies from Northeast Asia to the Indian Ocean.

After completing another ORSE from January 3-5, 1979, together with weapons-system upgrades, LOS ANGELES deployed to the western Pacific from March 5 to August 2, 1979. En route west she participated in TransitEx 3-79 (March 5-12), a series of multiship antisubmarine drills, then an encounter exercise with ships of Destroyer Squadron 33 from March 30-April 1. During the deployment, she was ordered on April 11 to reinforce the MIDWAY (CV 41) battle group as it steamed toward the Indian Ocean, reflecting U.S. concerns over instability around the Persian Gulf and the western Indian Ocean at the end of the 1970s. She took part in exercises MultiplEx 4-79 (June 8-10) and 5-79 (June 15-17) and a Seventh Fleet antisubmarine exercise from July 2-5. Port calls included Guam (March 16-27 and July 8-24), Subic Bay in the Philippines (April 4-10, June 11-13, and June 27-28), Diego Garcia in the British Indian Ocean Territory (April 21-27), Port Louis, Mauritius (May 10-13), and Hong Kong (June 20-24). After returning to Pearl Harbor, she conducted further Mk 48 proficiency firings from October 29-November 3.

In early 1980, LOS ANGELES was tasked for an unscheduled "Ready SSN" deployment, illustrating how the Navy used the 688-class as rapidly deployable assets. From January 11 to April 25, 1980, she made a high-speed transit across the Pacific and conducted independent operations in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean. During this period, she made a port visit to Perth, Australia, from April 1-6, then returned via Guam - where she completed an ORSE - before proceeding back to Pearl Harbor. After a short post-deployment stand-down she took part in TransitEx 3-80 from May 20-23 and then entered Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for a Selected Restricted Availability from June 7 to November 16, 1980. She followed this yard period with sea trials from November 17-22, additional Mk 48 firings from November 28-December 5, and another ORSE from February 12-13, 1981. Cmdr. John F. Shipway relieved Cmdr. Beedle as commanding officer on February 18, 1981.

From April 25 to October 24, 1981, LOS ANGELES carried out another western Pacific deployment. In addition to independent patrols she participated in antisurface warfare exercise ASUWEx 81-3 between July 31 and August 8. Her port calls mirrored key U.S. operating hubs in the region: Diego Garcia (June 27-28), where she moored alongside the destroyer tender SAMUEL GOMPERS (AD 37); Perth (July 6-12), operating in company with the attack submarine CINCINNATI (SSN 693); Subic Bay (July 22-30 and August 14-18); Hong Kong (August 9-11); Agana, Guam (August 24-September 9); and Yokosuka in Japan (October 14-15). The deployment reflected U.S. efforts to maintain a continuous fast-attack submarine presence along maritime chokepoints from the Philippine Sea to the Indian Ocean during the late Cold War.

In early 1982, LOS ANGELES briefly shifted focus to the northeast Pacific. She visited Esquimalt, British Columbia, from March 29-April 1, then completed acoustic trials at the Santa Cruz Acoustic Range Facility from April 2-5 and called at San Diego on April 6-7. From April 8-19, she participated in the multinational Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 82 exercise, integrating with allied surface, air, and submarine forces in large-scale war games around Hawaii. Following this, she underwent another Selected Restricted Availability at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard from May 3-July 30, 1982.

A further western Pacific deployment followed from November 15, 1982, to May 14, 1983. During this cruise, LOS ANGELES took part in major exercises such as Team Spirit / Valiant Flex 83 in late winter and FleetEx 83-1 from April 3-May 5, both focused on combined operations in Northeast Asia during a period of heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula. Port calls included Diego Garcia on January 12, again mooring alongside SAMUEL GOMPERS; Perth (January 20-25); Agana, Guam (February 4-24), this time alongside the submarine tender PROTEUS (AS 19); and Yokosuka (March 26-April 2). After returning to Pearl Harbor, the submarine spent much of the summer of 1983 conducting midshipman training and local operations. Later that year, she joined exercise RediflEx 1-84, which included visits to San Diego (November 22-28) and Alameda, California (December 6-12). From January 1, 1984, to October 18, 1985, LOS ANGELES underwent an extensive overhaul at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard that updated her sonar, combat systems, and engineering plant. Cmdr. David I. Stanley took command on April 13, 1985, during this long maintenance period.

After completing post-overhaul sea trials from October 19-November 1, 1985, LOS ANGELES resumed local operations around Hawaii. In the first four months of 1986, she focused on training, including another ORSE from March 4-6. From May 9-July 1, 1986, she entered the floating dry dock COMPETENT for upkeep, then returned to sea for further evaluations. In mid-August, she performed sound-range trials at the Southern California Acoustic Range and took part in a Pacific security exercise (PacSecEx) from August 7-10, followed by Mk 48 torpedo certification from October 6-9. She also made brief port calls at Bangor, Washington (August 6), Long Beach (August 13-17), and San Diego (August 21-24).

From October 24, 1986, to April 24, 1987, LOS ANGELES again deployed to the western Pacific. She visited Subic Bay (January 11-28 and February 8-14), Hong Kong (February 1-5), Agana, Guam (February 21-March 1), and Yokosuka (April 6-13). Following her return to Pearl Harbor she alternated between in-port upkeep and local underway training, including midshipman operations from June 25-July 1 and August 10-13, and Mk 48 certification from July 20-24. In November 1987, she took part in ASWOp 88A / SHAREM 72 CanUS in the eastern Pacific, a bilateral anti-submarine warfare exercise with Canadian forces, from November 9-22. Cmdr. John K. Eldridge relieved Cmdr. Stanley as commanding officer on December 11, 1987.

In early 1988, LOS ANGELES spent considerable time underway in local operating areas and completed another ORSE. From March 1-May 10, 1988, she again entered COMPETENT for a Selected Restricted Availability. Post-availability sea trials took place from July 8-16, followed by acoustic trials from August 1-3 and further training evolutions. A new western Pacific deployment then ran from August 30, 1988, to February 22, 1989. On this cruise, she visited Subic Bay (November 8-17 and December 2-10), Singapore (November 23-27), Agana (December 16, 1988-January 4, 1989), Okinawa (January 9-11), Chinhae in the Republic of Korea (January 15-18), and Yokosuka (January 30-February 8), again reflecting a pattern of operations tied closely to key U.S. and allied naval hubs around the Philippine Sea and East China Sea.

After returning from that deployment, LOS ANGELES alternated between upkeep and training but also supported sub-Arctic and northern-Pacific work. She deployed to the northern Pacific from June 20-August 18, 1989, then again carried out northern-Pacific operations from October 18-November 22, 1989, and from March 2-April 19, 1990. At the conclusion of the March-April 1990 sub-Arctic cruise, she visited Long Beach from April 20-24. From April 25-May 13, 1990, she participated in RIMPAC 90 and underwent another ORSE, then entered Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for a Selected Restricted Availability from July 18-October 21, 1990. Cmdr. Michael S. Myers took command on May 23, 1990. These late-Cold-War operations matched the Navy's emphasis on under-ice and northern-Pacific patrols aimed at monitoring Soviet ballistic-missile submarines as the Soviet Union neared its final years.

Available Navy historical summaries indicate that LOS ANGELES completed another western Pacific deployment in 1991, though unclassified sources provide only limited detail beyond the fact of the deployment and its theater. This additional cruise fits the pattern of alternating western Pacific, Indian Ocean, and northern-Pacific missions recorded in later evaluations of the boat's service.

In 1992, LOS ANGELES again took part in RIMPAC, joining RIMPAC 92 from July 7-23. After the exercise, she began a major milestone in her service life: an Engineered Refueling Overhaul (ERO) at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California. She changed homeport in July, departing Pearl Harbor for Mare Island and arriving on August 6, 1992, marking the first ERO of a LOS ANGELES-class submarine. Work began on August 7 and continued until March 12, 1995, with the submarine spending much of that time in Dry Dock No. 2. Cmdr. John S. Boulden III relieved Cmdr. Myers as commanding officer on March 2, 1993. The overhaul refueled the reactor and modernized sonar, fire-control, and reactor-control systems, enabling the submarine to remain operational into the 21st century.

Sea trials and a gradual return to full operational status occupied much of 1995. LOS ANGELES conducted trial periods on February 24-25, February 26-March 4, July 31-August 18, and November 9-21, combining engineering testing with crew training. She also took part in a battle-group antisubmarine exercise from November 28-December 11, 1995. In 1996, she returned to RIMPAC once again, participating in RIMPAC 96 from May 13-June 18. Cmdr. Thomas G. Rubenstein assumed command on April 19, 1996.

The next major operational period came with a western Pacific deployment from January 23-July 28, 1997, although open-source accounts provide relatively few details beyond the dates and general theater, in keeping with the often-classified nature of submarine deployments. In early 1998, LOS ANGELES entered another Selected Restricted Availability at Pearl Harbor from January 7-June 5. During this availability, she was modified for a Dry Deck Shelter (DDS) configuration, adding the systems and interfaces necessary to operate a SEAL Delivery Vehicle for special operations forces. The shelter itself was installed in two further periods, from October 27-December 10, 1998, and from January 1-8, 1999, followed by DDS sea trials from January 15-26, 1999. Cmdr. Mark D. Jenkins relieved Cmdr. Rubenstein on December 11, 1998. These modifications turned the lead 688-class boat into one of a small group of attack submarines optimized for covert insertion and recovery of special operations forces.

With her new DDS capability, LOS ANGELES deployed again to the western Pacific from July 1-December 29, 1999. On this deployment she visited Okinawa (July 17-18), Sasebo (August 2-9 and 12-14), Chinhae (August 10-11 and September 1-6), Yokosuka (September 18-20), Perth (November 24-30 and December 8-11), and Hobart, Australia (December 16-20). In RIMPAC 2000, held from June 1-12, 2000, she trained with the Japanese submarine NATSUSHIO, extending long-standing U.S.-Japan undersea interoperability.

From March 26-August 10, 2001, LOS ANGELES completed yet another western Pacific deployment. She called at Okinawa (April 30-May 7), Sasebo (May 25-29), Guam (June 9-19 and July 27-August 3), Singapore (July 1-9), and Yokosuka (July 20-24). Photographic records link her presence in June and July 2001 with exercise "Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training" (CARAT) in the Gulf of Thailand, reflecting her role in regional engagement and training alongside Southeast Asian partners.

A further western Pacific deployment took place from February 11-August 11, 2003. During this cruise, LOS ANGELES visited Yokosuka (February 27-March 9), Chinhae (March 14-17 and 26-28), Guam (April 3-13 and June 30-July 3), Sasebo (June 1), and Perth (June 13-20). The deployment coincided with the U.S. invasion of Iraq and wider global counter-terrorism operations, but specific submarine tasking in available unclassified sources is described only in broad terms as independent operations and exercises. Cmdr. Christopher B. Thomas relieved Cmdr. Jenkins on August 31, 2000, and Cmdr. Thomas Stanley later took command on September 11, 2003.

On November 9, 2004, Navy imagery shows USS LOS ANGELES departing Pearl Harbor for another western Pacific deployment that lasted into early May 2005. Official summaries describe this cruise as supporting the Global War on Terrorism, indicating that she contributed to intelligence, surveillance, and deterrent patrols in areas of interest, likely including the Philippine Sea and approaches to the Indian Ocean. Photographs taken during this period show her at Pearl Harbor in November 2004 and at Santa Rita, Guam, in March 2005.

After returning from that deployment, she entered a pre-inactivation restricted availability at Groton, Connecticut, from January 1-July 22, 2006, carried out at the Electric Boat facility. On February 2, 2006, mail-screening equipment in the yard's mail room produced a false positive for hazardous material on a batch of correspondence that included mail destined for the submarine. Follow-up tests were negative, and mail service resumed without incident. Following this availability, LOS ANGELES conducted two separate sea-trial periods to verify material condition.

Later in 2006, she was involved in escape-training operations. From November 30-December 2, LOS ANGELES operated near the Southeast Alaska Acoustic Measurement Facility off Ketchikan, Alaska, where on December 2 seven sailors conducted "EscapeEx" training. At a depth of around 130 feet they exited the submarine via the escape trunk wearing Mk 10 Submarine Escape Immersion Equipment and completed free ascents to the surface, validating procedures for emergency escape from a disabled submarine. In July 2006, Cmdr. Erik A. Burian assumed command. On November 13, 2006, LOS ANGELES marked the 30th anniversary of her commissioning, and in December she visited her namesake city, berthing at the Port of Los Angeles at San Pedro from December 7-12. At this time she, as the oldest attack submarine in commission, carried in her wardroom Rear Adm. Richard O'Kane's personal cribbage board, a symbol traditionally passed among the oldest active boats in the fast-attack force.

From May 8-November 8, 2007, LOS ANGELES undertook what would be her last long western Pacific deployment. She visited Guam repeatedly (May 21-23, May 28-29, May 31-June 4, July 18-25, July 30-August 4, August 15-22, and October 11-16), Sasebo (September 11-25), and Yokosuka (October 24-29). Throughout this cruise she continued to carry O'Kane's cribbage board as the senior attack submarine in the Pacific. In 2008, she joined RIMPAC 08, held from June 29-July 31, operating with about 20 U.S. Navy ships and three submarines, Coast Guard cutters RUSH and KISKA, and a substantial multinational contingent of Australian, Canadian, Chilean, Japanese, Singaporean, and South Korean ships and aircraft. These exercises emphasized high-end, multi-threat operations in the central Pacific.

In 2009, LOS ANGELES completed her final deployment, a six-month western Pacific cruise. While detailed port-visit data remain limited in open sources, photographs document a call at Apra Harbor, Guam, in October 2009. On November 19, 2009, she returned to Naval Station Pearl Harbor from this last deployment. Navy public affairs described the cruise as involving national-level tasking and joint anti-submarine warfare training in support of U.S. Pacific Fleet objectives.

In January 2010, the submarine began the final chapter of her career. She departed Pearl Harbor on January 14, 2010, for the U.S. west coast. A decommissioning-from-active-fleet and deactivation ceremony was held on January 23, 2010, in her namesake city at San Pedro, marking her farewell to active service. Postal records and press accounts confirm special "Deactivation Station" postmarks dated January 23 in San Pedro and describe the ceremony lowering the colors and transferring many of the boat's traditions. On that occasion, O'Kane's cribbage board was passed to USS BREMERTON (SSN 698), which then became the oldest attack submarine in commission.

According to official disposition records, LOS ANGELES entered the Navy's Ship-Submarine Recycling Program on February 1, 2010, at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington. At the same time, she was placed in inactivated reserve status. Further administrative actions followed: a formal decommissioning date of February 4, 2011, is recorded in several Navy-related sources, and she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on the same date. The recycling process - the carefully controlled dismantling of the hull and nuclear plant - was completed on November 30, 2012.

Over her service life, USS LOS ANGELES completed at least one Mediterranean and more than a dozen Pacific and Indian Ocean deployments, covering the western Pacific, Indian Ocean, northern Pacific, and sub-Arctic regions. Navy historical evaluations credit her with three Navy Expeditionary Medals, five Meritorious Unit Commendations, four Navy "E" ribbons for battle efficiency, one Navy Unit Commendation, and a Secretary of the Navy Letter of Commendation.

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