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USS Louisville (SSN 724)

USS LOUISVILLE is the 37^th LOS ANGELES class attack submarine and the fourth ship in the Navy to bear the name. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on March 9, 2021, the LOUISVILLE is now laid up at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., awaiting recycling.

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Crew List:

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

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History of USS LOUISVILLE:

USS LOUISVILLE began her history in the early 1980s, when the U.S. Navy continued to expand the LOS ANGELES-class attack submarine force as the backbone of its Cold War undersea fleet. The construction contract was awarded on February 11, 1982, to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics at Groton, Connecticut. Her keel was laid at Groton on September 24, 1984, and the hull took shape over the following year as one of the early Vertical Launch System-equipped boats of the class. She was launched on December 14, 1985, with Betty Ann McKee, wife of Admiral Kinnaird McKee, Director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion, as sponsor, linking the new submarine closely to the Navy's nuclear propulsion community. After fitting out and pierside testing, USS LOUISVILLE was commissioned on November 8, 1986, at Naval Submarine Base New London, with Captain Charles E. Ellis as her first commanding officer.

Immediately after commissioning, LOUISVILLE completed an intensive period of trials and shakedown in the western Atlantic, testing her propulsion plant, sensors, and weapons systems. In January 1987, she transited the Panama Canal and shifted to the Pacific, taking up her initial homeport at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego as part of SUBMARINE SQUADRON 11.

From there, she joined the U.S. Pacific Fleet just as the Cold War was entering its final years, spending her earliest months on local operations, tactical development, and work-ups for extended deployments to the Western Pacific.

Her first major overseas cruise came with WESTPAC 88-89. After pre-deployment certifications in late 1988, LOUISVILLE deployed to the Western Pacific in December 1988, beginning what would become a months-long patrol into 1989. During this deployment she visited ports in the Republic of Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, and Guam, reflecting the traditional pattern of U.S. submarine presence throughout the 7TH FLEET area of responsibility in the last phase of the Cold War. At sea she conducted anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare training, surveillance, and presence operations alongside U.S. and allied forces, while ashore the crew saw several of the most important U.S. regional partners whose security the submarine force was dedicated to supporting.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union on the horizon, LOUISVILLE soon found herself involved in a very different conflict. In the latter part of 1990, she prepared for deployment amid growing tensions in the Persian Gulf following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. In January 1991, she began what the Navy described as the first formal "war patrol" ordered for a U.S. submarine since the end of the Second World War.

Departing the Pacific, she undertook a roughly 14,000-mile, largely submerged high-speed transit across the Pacific and Indian Oceans to the RED SEA, entering that theater on January 17, 1991, just as OPERATION DESERT STORM moved into its combat phase. While submerged in the Red Sea late in the morning of January 19, 1991, LOUISVILLE launched Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles against targets in Iraq, becoming the first submarine ever to fire Tomahawks in combat.

She acted as part of a broader strike force of surface ships and submarines from the U.S. and Royal Navy that used cruise missiles to hit Iraqi command, control, and air-defense targets in the opening days of the war. Shortly afterward, she turned back toward the western Pacific, putting in to Apra Harbor, Guam, where she moored alongside the submarine tender USS PROTEUS (AS 19) between about February 13 and February 25 for repairs and resupply. Returning to sea, she headed once more toward the combat zone, but the coalition and Iraqi government agreed to a cease-fire on February 28. With large-scale hostilities over, LOUISVILLE diverted south to Perth, Australia, for a port visit from March 7 to March 12, 1991, before returning to her home waters. For her DESERT STORM war patrol she received the Navy Unit Commendation, underscoring the significance of that early Tomahawk strike in the evolution of submarine roles.

In the years immediately following DESERT STORM, LOUISVILLE remained a busy Pacific Fleet attack submarine. In July 1992, she became the first attack submarine in the Pacific to work up and then deploy as an integrated element of a Carrier Battle Group, signaling a growing emphasis on embedding submarines more tightly into combined air-sea task groups rather than operating them solely as independent hunters.

At the turn of 1992 to 1993, LOUISVILLE was completing a long deployment with the USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) battle group that framed the beginning of the period in question. She had sailed from San Diego, on November 3 for that cruise, integrating as the nuclear-powered attack submarine element of the carrier group. Late in 1992, she made a five-day liberty visit to Hong Kong starting November 25, then continued south to Singapore for a port call from December 5-10. After crossing into the Middle East, she operated in the Red Sea from December 21, 1992, to January 1, 1993, supporting U.S. naval presence in waters still tied to post-Gulf War enforcement operations. In early January 1993, she shifted to the Gulf of Oman to take part in the anti-submarine warfare exercise SHAREM 102 from January 6-15, a series designed to refine tactics against potential regional submarine threats. During the following weeks, she made a sequence of politically notable visits: on February 4 she entered Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, becoming the first U.S. nuclear-powered submarine to visit that port, and then moved a short distance to Jebel Ali on February 7 for a 17-day upkeep alongside the repair ship USS JASON (AR 8). In early March, she reached Victoria in the Seychelles, again marking a first recorded visit there by a U.S. attack submarine, before continuing through Phuket, Thailand (March 24-29), and Pattaya Beach (April 3-7). The deployment concluded with a stop at Pearl Harbor from April 23-26, 1993, before she ultimately returned to San Diego. In strategic terms, this cruise underscored the way U.S. submarines were being used in the early 1990s: quietly supporting carrier battle groups, exercising in choke points such as the Gulf of Oman, and visiting new regional ports at a time when the U.S. Navy was consolidating its post-Cold War and post-DESERT STORM presence across the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific.

After this extensive deployment, LOUISVILLE settled back into a more routine rhythm from mid-1993 through 1994. Publicly available summaries for those years do not record another long overseas deployment on the scale of the previous cruise, which indicates that the boat spent most of this period in home-waters operations from San Diego under SUBMARINE SQUADRON 11. Her activities would have centred on maintenance and inspections following the long deployment, crew turnover, and a steady programme of exercises and type training in the eastern Pacific: tactical development work with other submarines and surface combatants, weapons training, and readiness evaluations typical for front-line LOS ANGELES-class attack submarines of the era.

A major transition came in early 1995. On February 23, 1995, USS LOUISVILLE arrived at her new homeport of Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, after a nine-day transit from San Diego. This change of homeport placed her directly under the operational orbit of U.S. PACIFIC FLEET and aligned her more closely with SEVENTH FLEET missions in the Western Pacific. Almost immediately after arriving, she entered an extended maintenance and modernisation period: on March 25 she commenced a 15-month Depot Modernization Period (DMP) at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. The DMP brought her into dry dock #1 and involved substantial hull, propulsion-plant, and combat-system work typical of mid-life overhauls for LOS ANGELES-class submarines. The boat remained in this intensive shipyard environment until February 14, 1996, when she left dry dock and began the long process of post-overhaul testing and crew re-qualification. The decision to invest in such a lengthy DMP reflected the Navy's intent to keep LOUISVILLE in front-line service well into the 2000s, at a time when U.S. planners still saw the Western Pacific and the Persian Gulf as primary theatres for nuclear-powered attack submarines.

Following completion of her DMP, LOUISVILLE returned to sea in mid-1996 for a carefully staged reintroduction to full operational status. From June 30 to July 6, 1996, she conducted sea trials to verify the performance of her overhauled propulsion plant, navigation systems, and combat suite. Late July saw short local operations from Pearl Harbor, from July 23-26, designed to rebuild basic shiphandling and watch-standing proficiency after the long yard period. On August 1, she went to sea again, and later that month shifted back to the U.S. West Coast: on August 19 she arrived at Naval Submarine Base Point Loma for a four-day port call, then continued north to Esquimalt, Canada, for a visit from August 27-30. Returning to Pearl Harbor on September 13, she embarked on a series of short underway periods for local operations in September, October, November, and December 1996. These runs, interspersed with in-port maintenance, were devoted to weapons-system calibration, tactical training, and the gradual build-up to full deployment readiness. The pattern reflected the standard post-overhaul cycle: careful testing of new or upgraded systems, evaluation events in Hawaiian operating areas, and progressively more complex exercises to restore the crew's war-fighting proficiency.

By mid-1997, LOUISVILLE had completed her post-DMP rebuilding and entered a more stable phase of operations out of Pearl Harbor. Command documentation from that year places her under the responsibility of COMMANDER, SUBMARINE SQUADRON THREE at Pearl Harbor, integrating her into the main Pacific fast-attack submarine group. On July 3, 1997, Commander Joseph E. Skinner relieved Commander Christopher R. Earl as the sixth commanding officer of SSN 724, marking a change of leadership as the boat transitioned from overhaul recovery to forward-deployment readiness. During the summer, she conducted Prospective Commanding Officer (PCO) operations, a standard programme in which a submarine hosts officers preparing to assume command of their own boats, and in the process runs demanding tactical scenarios that also sharpen the host crew's skills. These operations, together with continued local exercises in Hawaiian waters, set the stage for a full Western Pacific deployment later in the decade.

That deployment began in the autumn of 1998. In October 1998, LOUISVILLE departed Pearl Harbor for a scheduled WESTPAC cruise, returning to the familiar pattern of long-range operations in the Western Pacific and adjacent seas. The six-month deployment combined forward presence, exercises with allied navies, and port visits that reinforced U.S. relationships in the region. After months of operations, she completed the deployment on April 2, 1999, when she returned to Pearl Harbor. Over the course of the deployment, she made a series of port calls that illustrate her itinerary: Yokosuka, Japan, where she could receive support from U.S. facilities and interact with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force; Hong Kong, which remained a prominent liberty port even after its 1997 handover to China; Apra Harbor, Guam, one of the key American submarine hubs in the Western Pacific; and Brisbane, Australia. Command chronologies for 1999 show that during the last phase of the deployment she moored in Brisbane on March 16 for a port visit and departed on March 22 for the transit back to Hawaii, returning to Pearl Harbor on April 2. Operating against the backdrop of the late-1990s Asian financial crisis and ongoing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the deployment highlighted how U.S. attack submarines continued to underpin alliance commitments and maritime stability in the region even as the Cold War receded into the past.

The remainder of 1999 was dominated by a mix of post-deployment tasks, trials, and preparation for long-term maintenance. On May 3, LOUISVILLE moored at Naval Magazine West Loch, Oahu, to offload weapons after the WestPac cruise, a standard step before entering extended maintenance or availability periods. She returned to sea for local operations from June 18-25 and again from July 6-14, consolidating peacetime tactical routines in the Hawaiian operating areas. A short set of sea trials followed on August 30-31. Further local operations ran from September 13-23, after which the crew focused on preparing for an Operational Reactor Safeguards Examination (ORSE) with a dedicated workup beginning on September 29. In early November, she undertook testing of TB-29 towed-array sonar from November 4-16, contributing to the quieter, more capable sensing systems that LOS ANGELES-class boats would carry into the 21st century. Later in the month, from November 18, she anchored off Lahaina, Maui, for a four-day port visit that provided some respite for the crew before another round of weapons handling at West Loch on November 24. On December 14, 1999, LOUISVILLE entered a Selected Restricted Availability (SRA) at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, a shorter but still substantial maintenance period aimed at correcting deferred issues and incorporating incremental upgrades as the boat approached fifteen years of service.

The year 2000 marked a leadership transition and the tail end of this maintenance-heavy phase. On February 18, 2000, Commander Russell T. Janicke relieved Commander Joseph E. Skinner as commanding officer. Under Janicke's command, LOUISVILLE completed her SRA work and returned to steady operations from Pearl Harbor. While open-source chronologies list fewer individual events for that year than for 1999 or 2001, the pattern is consistent with a boat consolidating after maintenance: dockyard work winding down, followed by shakedown activities, crew training, and preparations for a major deployment. The shift in command also positioned the submarine for the next cycle of Western Pacific operations that would span the final months before and the first months after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The tempo rose again in 2001. Early that year, LOUISVILLE was already forward deployed. On January 3, 2001, she departed Naval Base Yokosuka after a routine port visit, having been in Japanese waters at the outset of the year. A short liberty period at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, followed from February 4-6, emphasising her role within U.S. FORCES JAPAN and SEVENTH FLEET. On February 28, she moored in Singapore for a five-day port call, returning there again from March 9-12, reflecting Singapore's growing importance as a logistics and liberty hub for U.S. naval forces in Southeast Asia. The deployment then shifted north: on March 18, LOUISVILLE arrived at Chinae Naval Base in the Republic of Korea for a two-day visit, underlining submarine cooperation with the ROK Navy. From March 22-26, she was in Sasebo, Japan, and later undertook an upkeep period at Yokosuka from April 19-30, during which she received tender support from the submarine tender USS FRANK CABLE (AS 40).

In May 2001 the deployment turned south once more. On May 9, LOUISVILLE entered Gladstone, Australia, for a six-day port visit, reflecting the long-standing U.S.-Australian naval relationship and bringing a nuclear-powered attack submarine into a provincial Australian port whose authorities monitored such visits closely from an environmental and safety standpoint. After completing further operations in the Western Pacific, she ended the six-month WESTPAC on June 4, 2001, returning to Pearl Harbor. The submarine then shifted to a lighter operational routine: on July 12, she anchored off Lahaina, Maui, for a four-day visit that provided liberty opportunities for the crew and a visible reminder of the submarine force's presence to the local community. Later in July, from the 19th to the 28th, she conducted local operations in Hawaiian waters, and again from October 12-20, focusing on training and unit-level readiness after the long deployment. These activities took place against a rapidly changing global context: the WESTPAC had begun in the early months of 2001, in a still relatively stable post-Cold War security environment, but by the time the submarine settled into local operations that autumn, the September 11 attacks had already occurred, and the U.S. submarine force was increasingly being tasked to prepare for counter-terrorism and Middle East contingencies.

Late 2001 saw LOUISVILLE return to the U.S. West Coast for high-end training with surface and air units. On October 25, she arrived at San Diego for a week-long port call ahead of participation in a Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) in the Southern California operating areas. JTFEX events typically integrate carrier strike groups, amphibious forces, submarines, and air assets, rehearsing the full range of joint and combined operations. LOUISVILLE's role would have centred on anti-submarine and strike-warfare support, as well as intelligence and surveillance tasks. She was in port San Diego from November 8-13, then returned to Pearl Harbor on November 19. To close the year, she executed an intensive sequence of inspections and training periods: a Tactical Readiness Evaluation (TRE) from November 26-30, a Destroyer Squadron Exercise (DESRONEX) from December 3-5 that integrated her with surface combatants, and an INSURV inspection by the Board of Inspection and Survey from December 10-12 to assess the material condition of the ship. By the end of 2001, LOUISVILLE had thus completed a full deployment and a demanding series of training and certification events, leaving her well placed for the higher-tempo operations that would follow.

The first eight months of 2002 were dominated by preparation for another long Western Pacific deployment and by the broader shift in U.S. strategy following the start of OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan. In early January, from January 7-11, LOUISVILLE was underway for Independent Steaming Exercises (ISE), sharpening basic shiphandling and watch-standing skills after the end-of-year inspection cycle. Sea trials from March 13-15 were followed by local operations from March 25-29 and again from April 2-4, while the crew also conducted dedicated preparations for an ORSE from April 15-25, ensuring the safe and efficient operation of the nuclear propulsion plant. Another set of local operations took place from May 13-17. On May 24, 2002, Commander Michael E. Jabaley Jr. relieved Commander Russell T. Janicke as commanding officer in a ceremony on board the submarine at Pearl Harbor, bringing in a new CO just months before deployment. Four days later, on May 28, LOUISVILLE left homeport for a six-day underway to conduct a Tactics Development Exercise (TACDEVEX) with fellow attack submarine USS CHEYENNE (SSN 773) and a VLF-A tracking exercise with USS OLYMPIA (SSN 717), work that directly supported improvements in undersea tactics and very-low-frequency communications procedures. Further sea trials and ISE on July 20 and a Pre-Overseas Movement Certification (POMCERT) from August 5-9 closed out the pre-deployment preparations.

On September 10, 2002, LOUISVILLE departed Pearl Harbor for a scheduled six-month WESTPAC deployment that would eventually carry her into OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM and, after the close of that year, OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. Within a week, she was alongside in Japan: on September 17 she arrived at Yokosuka for a week-long visit to receive tender support from USS FRANK CABLE (AS 40), then made a brief stop in Sasebo on September 26 to disembark staff from COMMANDER, SUBMARINE GROUP SEVEN. The next day, September 27, she reached Chinae, Republic of Korea, for a five-day port visit that reflected continued submarine cooperation with the ROK Navy. After taking part in a bilateral submarine exercise with the ROKS LEE CHUN (SS 062) on October 3-4, she returned to Chinae for another five-day visit beginning October 5. Later in October, she shifted south and west: on October 19, LOUISVILLE departed White Beach, Okinawa, after a four-day port call, and in November she again entered Yokosuka on November 25 for a two-week maintenance period following participation in the large-scale ANNUALEX exercises with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force from November 12-22. By the end of December 2002, she remained deployed forward in the Western Pacific and Western Indian Ocean approaches, positioned under NAVAL FORCES CENTRAL COMMAND for the evolving crisis with Iraq, with the events of early 2003 still to come.

In early 2003, she deployed from the Pacific to the Middle East to support OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. Operating from the Red Sea, she launched 16 Tomahawk cruise missiles against Iraqi targets on March 21 and March 22, 2003, as part of the coordinated opening strikes that hit leadership, command-and-control, and air-defense sites. Her deployment, which extended to roughly eight and a half months, illustrated the reach of a Pacific-based submarine supporting CENTCOM operations on the other side of the globe. For her contribution to the campaign she received another Navy Unit Commendation, joining a small number of submarines that had executed Tomahawk strikes in two separate conflicts.

In late April 2003, LOUISVILLE turned south and east, entering HMAS Stirling at Garden Island near Perth, Australia, on April 21 for about a week of rest and maintenance, a traditional liberty stop for United States submarines transiting between the Middle East and the Pacific. On May 13, 2003, the submarine returned to Pearl Harbor.

The tempo in 2003 then shifted from combat to repair and modernization. On July 22, 2003, USS LOUISVILLE entered Dry Dock 2 at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard to begin a drydocking selected restricted availability that lasted about six months. During this period, shipyard workers and crew completed hull preservation, maintenance on the propulsion plant and auxiliary systems, and updates to combat and sonar electronics reflecting post-Cold War emphasis on littoral and strike warfare. She left dry dock on November 8 and returned to her berth at Naval Station Pearl Harbor on December 24, closing out a year that had combined intensive wartime employment with heavy maintenance.

In 2004, the submarine's activities reflected a return to peacetime deployment patterns, but now against the backdrop of ongoing operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and a growing United States focus on the western Pacific. Training increasingly emphasized coordinated operations with carrier strike groups and joint forces. In June 2004, USS LOUISVILLE conducted routine training in the southern California operating areas after a transit to Naval Submarine Base Point Loma, working in the same waters used for major war-fighting certifications of Pacific Fleet carrier groups.

On August 13, 2004, a change of command for Submarine Squadron 3 was held aboard the boat at Pearl Harbor, underscoring her status as one of the squadron's front-line platforms as the squadron prepared its units for the mix of strike, surveillance and presence missions that characterized the early 2000s. In early 2005, USS LOUISVILLE moved back to the West Coast to integrate more closely with Carrier Strike Group 11, built around the aircraft carrier USS NIMITZ (CVN 68). On March 14, 2005, she operated off southern California during a major joint task force exercise, training alongside the carrier and its escorts, including guided-missile destroyers such as USS CHAFEE (DDG 90), USS HIGGINS (DDG 76) and USS JOHN PAUL JONES (DDG 53).

These complex exercises were designed to certify the strike group for deployment, rehearsing scenarios ranging from high-end conventional conflict to maritime security operations linked to the wider campaign against transnational terrorism. Later that year, the submarine deployed again to the western Pacific for about six months. She entered Yokosuka, Japan, on September 22, 2005, for a six-day visit, then conducted a series of operations and port calls that included Guam, Saipan and Brisbane, Australia. During the same deployment she took part in the Australian-hosted exercise Talisman Sabre off the Australian coast and participated in anti-submarine warfare readiness and evaluation activities with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, reflecting the emphasis on alliance interoperability in the region. The submarine returned to Pearl Harbor on November 16, 2005, closing a deployment that blended traditional submerged patrols with a heavy schedule of multinational exercises.

Routine local operations dominated early 2006. After returning to Pearl Harbor on February 10, 2006 from training in the Pacific, USS LOUISVILLE prepared for a short-notice "surge" deployment designed to give Pacific Fleet commanders extra flexibility. On May 2, 2006, under the command of commander David Kirk, she left Pearl Harbor for another western Pacific period at sea, but this time for roughly two months rather than a full six-month cruise. She conducted operations in regional waters and returned to home port on June 28, 2006, a pattern aligned with the Navy's then-emerging "Fleet Response Plan", which sought to have a higher proportion of units ready to deploy on short notice.

In January 2007, the submarine's focus shifted dramatically from deployment to major overhaul. On January 4, 2007, USS LOUISVILLE departed Pearl Harbor for an approximately eighteen-month overhaul and modernization at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, reflecting the need to extend the service life of LOS ANGELES-class submarines into the 2020s. She paused at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut, around February 9, 2007, for a brief port call before heading north to the shipyard.

During this engineered overhaul, which concluded ahead of the planned schedule in early 2009, the boat received extensive work on her reactor plant, propulsion train, and combat systems, including further integration of the AN/BQQ-10 acoustic rapid commercial off-the-shelf sonar improvements that had made her a test platform earlier in her career. She left Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on January 18, 2009, several weeks ahead of the chief of naval operations' mandated completion date, and then made her way back toward the Pacific.

By the spring of 2009, USS LOUISVILLE was back in Hawaii, now assigned to Commander, Submarine Squadron 3 as an overhauled, front-line fast-attack submarine.

On January 8, 2010, commander Lee P. Sisco took command, and later that month and in the early spring, the crew completed work-ups for another long western Pacific deployment. On April 26, 2010, the submarine departed Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for the cruise, arriving at Fleet Activities Yokosuka on May 5 for an early port visit that included maintenance and logistics alongside the forward-deployed surface and submarine forces of the United States Seventh Fleet. As the deployment progressed she continued operations around East Asia, including a brief stop at Sasebo, Japan, on September 8, before returning to Pearl Harbor on October 29, 2010, after about six months away. The cruise took place during a period of rising regional tensions over North Korea's nuclear program and maritime disputes in the East and South China Seas, and fast-attack submarines like USS LOUISVILLE played a routine but important role in surveillance and deterrence.

On February 7, 2012 the submarine embarked on yet another western Pacific deployment, this time with a particularly dense sequence of port visits that illustrates both her operational pattern and the geography of United States undersea presence in the Indo-Pacific. Leaving Pearl Harbor, she reached Sepanggar naval base near Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, on April 3, 2012, where she also received support from the tender USS EMORY S. LAND (AS 39). After a brief stop near Okinawa on April 16, she moved to fleet activities Sasebo, Japan, for about a week of upkeep from April 18, with another short pause at White Beach in Okinawa on April 28. On May 11 the boat called at Apra Harbor, Guam, continuing a long association with that base as a logistics hub and rest stop for Pacific Fleet submarines. Later that same deployment USS LOUISVILLE entered Subic Bay in the Philippines on June 25, 2012, for around five days, reflecting the renewed use of Philippine ports by United States forces following the 1990s drawdown and amid renewed attention to maritime security in the South China Sea. She then returned to Japan, arriving in Yokosuka on July 20 for about a week before heading back across the Pacific. The submarine returned to Pearl Harbor on August 8, 2012, having completed another six-month western Pacific deployment with a pattern of operations and port calls linking Southeast Asia, Japan and Guam.

On September 6, 2012, commander Robert D. Figgs relieved commander Sisco, and over the next two years the boat focused on local operations, training, and preparations for the next deployment. She was recorded, for example, anchored off Lahaina, Maui, for a scheduled visit in June 2014.

The period from late 2014 through early 2015 saw USS LOUISVILLE engaged in one of her most intensively recognized western Pacific deployments. On October 10, 2014, she left Pearl Harbor for another six-month cruise. Ten days later, on October 20, she tied up at Berth 13S in Yokosuka for about a week, beginning a deployment that would combine traditional submarine tasks with visits to key regional partners. On December 5, 2014, she moored at Changi Naval Base in Singapore for a three-day liberty stop, underscoring the city-state's role as a key supporter of United States naval operations in the Malacca Strait approach.

In early January 2015, the submarine shifted north again, tying up at Navy Pier, White Beach, Okinawa, for about three days from January 6 and returning briefly on January 12 after operations in nearby waters. From February 19 to March 4 she conducted upkeep in Yokosuka, likely including maintenance on combat systems and machinery after several months of patrols. She returned to Pearl Harbor on April 10, 2015, ending a deployment for which the crew later received a Meritorious Unit Commendation in recognition of sustained superior performance in the western Pacific.

On May 12, 2015, command passed to commander David S. Cox, and for the next year USS LOUISVILLE remained active in Hawaiian waters as an operationally ready unit of Submarine Squadron 3. On September 30, 2016, she sailed again from Pearl Harbor for another western Pacific deployment, one that would again combine deterrent patrols with visible port visits in allied countries. She reached Yokosuka on October 12 for a three-day stay, then continued north and west. In early December, she rendezvoused off the Korean Peninsula for personnel transfer near Chinhae, and on December 8 she moored at Somo Do Pier 22 in Chinhae Naval Base, Changwon, South Korea, for a port visit noted in official navy reports. The visit took place amid continuing tension on the Korean Peninsula, and public statements from the navy emphasized both the boat's multi-mission capabilities and the significance of its thirtieth year in service. Short stops at Sasebo followed on December 16 and again on January 15, 2017, as the submarine moved among operating areas around Japan and Korea. On February 14, 2017, USS LOUISVILLE moored at Alava Pier in Subic Bay, in the Philippines, for a liberty port call that highlighted renewed defense ties between Washington and Manila at a time of shifting Philippine domestic politics and regional concern about Chinese maritime activities.

Brief pauses off Sasebo on March 7 and off White Beach, Okinawa, on March 13 rounded out her visible activity before she returned to Hawaii. On March 23, 2017, the submarine moored at Wharf S1B at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, ending a deployment of about six months. Ammunition was offloaded at Naval Magazine Lualualei on March 27, and she was back at a Pearl Harbor pier by March 29. This 2016-2017 western Pacific deployment, like the 2014-2015 cruise, was later recognized with a Meritorious Unit Commendation, indicating sustained operational performance across two consecutive patrol cycles in the region.

In the second half of 2017, the submarine settled into a pattern of training and preparations from Pearl Harbor. She was recorded moored at Pier S9 after local operations on September 7, 2017, and on October 20 that year commander Robert Rose relieved commander Cox as commanding officer. Around this period, USS LOUISVILLE also made a surge deployment under United States Southern Command control to support the centennial celebrations of the Chilean submarine force. In 2017, she visited Talcahuano, Chile, for events marking one hundred years of Chilean undersea operations, becoming the first nuclear-powered warship ever to make a port call there. The deployment served both to demonstrate nuclear submarine safety in a South American port and to underscore the United States commitment to regional maritime partnerships beyond the usual Pacific and Middle Eastern focus.

In early 2018, USS LOUISVILLE's activity foreshadowed what would be her last full operational deployment. On March 30, 2018, she lay alongside Wharf Y2 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, then cycled among wharves and ammunition piers in April and May as she loaded stores and weapons and conducted local underways to verify systems readiness. By late September, she had completed further local operations in the Hawaiian operating areas and moved to an ammunition wharf at the end of the month.

On October 2, 2018, the submarine departed Pearl Harbor for a deployment focused initially on the Middle East under United States Central Command, before later shifting back toward Southeast Asia. During this 2018-2019 deployment USS LOUISVILLE operated in the Arabian Sea and adjacent waters, supporting maritime security operations and providing a covert undersea presence in a region characterized by tensions over Iran's nuclear program, instability in Yemen and ongoing counterterrorism operations. In mid-December 2018, she took part in Ship Anti-Submarine Warfare Readiness and Evaluation Measurement 195, an exercise off the coast of Oman designed to test the ability of navy units to detect and track submarines in the warm, complex acoustic environment of the Arabian Sea. Early in 2019 she called at Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates, mooring at Quay 9 to give the crew liberty in Dubai and to take on supplies in one of the main logistics hubs for United States naval forces in the Gulf region. From there she turned eastward once more.

In April 2019, USS LOUISVILLE participated in the bilateral anti-submarine warfare exercise Guardian Sea in the Andaman Sea, reflecting the long-standing maritime security relationship between the United States and Thailand and the increasing importance of undersea warfare in the region's naval planning. On April 9, she took part in a photo exercise west of Phuket together with the fleet oiler USNS GUADALUPE (T-AO 200) and the Royal Thai Navy ships HTMS BHUMIBOL ADULYADEJ (FFG 471), HTMS TAKSIN (FF 422) and HTMS LONG LOM (FS 533), illustrating her integration into a combined surface and subsurface task group. As part of Guardian Sea, she also hosted senior Royal Thai Navy leaders on board, providing them with a first-hand look at a LOS ANGELES-class attack submarine's capabilities and contributing to allied anti-submarine warfare training. On May 2, 2019, USS LOUISVILLE returned to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam at the end of this seven-month deployment, a homecoming noted in an official navy release the following day.

The report highlighted that during the cruise the submarine had operated in both Fifth and Seventh Fleet areas of responsibility and had hosted Thai dignitaries during Guardian Sea, and it noted that the deployment would be her last before inactivation. The crew's achievements included numerous promotions and the qualification of new submariners, marking a generational handover as younger sailors gained their first experience of extended deployments. Shortly after returning, the boat offloaded her remaining weapons at Naval Magazine Lualualei in June and conducted final local evolutions out of Pearl Harbor over the summer. On August 30, 2019, she was again moored at Pearl Harbor after a short underway, and on October 7 she left Hawaii for the last time, bound for the Pacific Northwest.

On October 22, 2019, USS LOUISVILLE tied up at Berth 4, Delta Pier, Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton, to begin a year-long inactivation process at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility. There, she joined other aging LOS ANGELES-class submarines awaiting defueling and dismantling under the navy's Ship-Submarine Recycling Program. On February 21, 2020, commander Christopher V. Brown relieved commander Rose as the boat's final commanding officer during a ceremony at the Puget Sound Navy Museum in Bremerton, formally ushering the submarine into the last phase of her career. On July 9, 2020, she entered Dry Dock 5 at Puget Sound for inactivation work, and on August 6, 2020, she was officially placed out of service and in reserve status.

The formal end of the submarine's active life came on March 9, 2021, when USS LOUISVILLE was decommissioned at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility after more than thirty-four years in commission.

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USS LOUISVILLE Image Gallery:

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows ex-LOUISVILLE laid up at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., on June 12, 2022, awaiting recycling.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows ex-LOUISVILLE laid up at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., on August 4, 2023.

The photo below was taken by me and shows ex-LOUISVILLE laid up at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., on July 15, 2024, awaiting recycling.

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