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USS La Jolla (SSN 701)

- decommissioned -

USS LA JOLLA was the 14th LOS ANGELES class nuclear powered attack submarine. As of December 2000, LA JOLLA was homeported in Pearl Harbor, HI. The submarine was previously homeported in San Diego, Calif. and after a two-year overhaul in Kittery, Maine, shifted homeport to Pearl Harbor where she was then attached to Submarine Squadron One. In October 2014, LA JOLLA departed Pearl Harbor and headed for Norfolk, Va., where she arrived on November 10, 2014. There, she was inactivated on February 3, 2015, and subsequently entered the Dry Dock #3 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a 32-month conversion into a Moored Training Ship (MTS). During the conversion she will have her missile compartments removed, but will have fully operational reactor power plants and will be equipped with a diesel-powered Supplemental Water Injection System to provide emergency cooling water in the unlikely event of an accident. In 2018, LA JOLLA (MTS 701) will replaced the DANIEL WEBSTER (MTS 626) at Naval Support Activity Charleston, SC, as a Nuclear Power Training Unit (NPTU).

On November 7, 2019, conversion of LA JOLLA was completed at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. On November 15, 2019, she was officially decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list.

General Characteristics:Awarded: December 10, 1973
Keel Laid: October 16, 1976
Launched: August 11, 1979
Commissioned: September 30, 1981
Inactivated: February 3, 2015
Decommissioned: November 15, 2019
Builder: Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation, Groton, CT
Propulsion system: one nuclear reactor
Propellers: one
Length: 360 feet (109.73 meters)
Beam: 33 feet (10 meters)
Draft: 32,15 feet (9.8 meters)
Displacement: Surfaced: approx. 6,000 tons
Submerged: approx. 6,900 tons
Speed: Surfaced: approx. 15 knots
Submerged: approx. 32 knots
Armament: four 533 mm torpedo tubes for Mk-48 torpedoes, Harpoon and Tomahawk missiles
Cost: approx. $900 million
Crew: 12 Officers, 115 Enlisted


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Crew List:

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


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Accidents of USS LA JOLLA:

DateWhereEvents
198230 miles off San Francisco, Calif.
In late 1982, USS PERMIT (SSN 594), cruising on the surface, collides with USS LA JOLLA, at periscope depth, while they are on sea trials off San Francisco. The PERMIT receives a ten-foot-long, three-foot-wide "scrape" in the paint on the keel, while LA JOLLA suffers minor rudder damage.
February 11, 1998about 9 miles off Chinhae, South Korea
While approaching the port of Chinhae, South Korea, the crew of LA JOLLA overlooked a fishing trawler (27 tons) and both vessels collided. The trawler sank. The five crewmembers of the trawler were rescued by the crew of LA JOLLA.


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The photo below was taken by me and shows the LA JOLLA at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hi., on March 14, 2008.



The photo below is an official US Navy photo taken by Shayne Hensley and shows the LA JOLLA dry-docked at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va., on September 29, 2015. She has been cut in three pieces in order to add three new sections newly manufactured by General Dynamics Electric Boat. This will add new training spaces for LA JOLLA's new mission as a moored training ship.



The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show LA JOLLA's sail on a barge at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va., on October 12, 2016. LA JOLLA had her sail removed during her conversion to a moored training ship on September 12, 2016, for use as a shipyard training platform. While the complete conversion of the submarine will dispose of a substantial portion of LA JOLLA, shipyard workers are salvaging the boat's components and finding ways to utilize these items for training. Be it training on periscopes, upper and lower hatches, ventilation and exhaust valves, electrical hull penetrations, hull cuts, piping, staging, painting, and more, the benefits of having the sail for training are wide-ranging. NNSY's Sheet Metal, Outside Machine, Electrical, Pipefitter, Painting/Blasting, Lifting and Handling and Temporary Services shops all stand to benefit from the use of the sail to expand the skills and abilities of their employees. Since sail work is among the greatest challenges in overhauling fast-attack nuclear submarines, having an actual one for shipyarders to train on is a big advantage and the NNSY will be the first shipyard in the world to have such a training facility.



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