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USS Springfield (SSN 761)

USS SPRINGFIELD is the eleventh of the 23 improved LOS ANGELES class nuclear powered attack submarines.

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Crew List:

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

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USS SPRINGFIELD Image Gallery:

The contract to build USS SPRINGFIELD was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut on March 21, 1986, at a time when the U.S. Navy was still expanding its nuclear-powered attack submarine force in the final phase of the Cold War. The boat was conceived as one of the "improved" LOS ANGELES-class submarines, with enhanced quieting, electronics and under-ice capability compared with earlier units of the class. Her keel was laid at Electric Boat on January 29, 1990, as the geopolitical situation shifted rapidly with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the approaching dissolution of the Soviet Union.

SPRINGFIELD was launched on January 4, 1992, again at Groton. The launch ceremony was sponsored by U.S. Secretary of Labor Lynn Morley Martin, reflecting the political prominence often attached to new nuclear submarines during that period. After fitting out and sea trials, she was commissioned on January 9, 1993, at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut, with Cmdr. R. Kent Ford as her first commanding officer. Initially assigned to Submarine Development Squadron 12 and homeported at Groton, she joined the Atlantic Fleet just as the U.S. Navy was redefining its undersea missions from Cold War antisubmarine operations to more regionally focused presence and strike roles.

Open sources provide relatively few details about SPRINGFIELD's very first months in commission, but, like other new LOS ANGELES-class boats from Groton, she spent this period completing shakedown, tactical training and local operations in the western Atlantic before making extended deployments. By 1994, she was fully worked up and ready for forward presence patrols in European waters, at a time when U.S. submarines were increasingly used to provide intelligence, surveillance and strike options around the Mediterranean and Middle East rather than shadowing Soviet forces in the North Atlantic.

Her first recorded extended deployment ran from September 1994 to March 1995, when USS SPRINGFIELD deployed from Groton to the Mediterranean Sea. She operated there under U.S. 6th Fleet, which at that time was supporting post-Cold War stability operations around the former Yugoslavia and maintaining naval presence near the Levant and North Africa. Sources record this simply as "Mediterranean cruise", but in practice such patrols typically involved tracking foreign submarines, gathering acoustic and signals intelligence, and integrating with carrier battle groups and NATO partners.

From April to October 1998 the boat undertook a deployment that the open deployment record labels "Blue Nose - Arctic Circle", indicating that she operated north of the Arctic Circle and that her crew earned the traditional "blue nose" recognition for crossing that latitude. For an improved LOS ANGELES-class submarine, this signaled the use of under-ice capabilities designed into the 688i variant and reflected continuing U.S. interest in Arctic undersea operations, even after the end of direct superpower confrontation.

Between February and August 2000, USS SPRINGFIELD deployed through the Mediterranean into the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, operating under both U.S. 6th Fleet and U.S. 5th Fleet. This period preceded the September 11 attacks but still fell in an era of heightened concern about Iraq and maritime security in the Gulf. Attack submarines on such deployments typically supported surveillance of regional naval forces, Tomahawk land-attack missile readiness, and cooperation with carrier strike groups transiting between Europe and the Middle East. Although individual port visits from this deployment are not fully documented in open sources, the listed areas of operation show SPRINGFIELD participating in the long-standing U.S. naval presence spanning the Mediterranean, Arabian Sea and Gulf.

In the early 2000s, SPRINGFIELD continued routine Atlantic Fleet operations until she was selected for a major modernization. In March 2004, the U.S. Navy awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a contract modification - ultimately reported at about $111 million - to conduct a Depot Modernization Period (DMP) on USS SPRINGFIELD at Groton. The DMP, which began in mid-2004, was the first major overhaul and repair package Electric Boat had received in nearly a quarter century. In addition to standard maintenance on reactor plant and hull systems, SPRINGFIELD received significant upgrades to fire-control systems, sonar processing, weapons launch equipment, communications, navigation (including a ring-laser-gyro inertial navigation system) and engine-room systems, as well as stealth improvements intended to reduce acoustic signature. Originally planned as a 12-month, $26.3-million test case for awarding more repair work to the private yard, the DMP suffered cost and schedule overruns and was not completed until December 2005, several months late and well over the initial budget. Electric Boat did not receive follow-on DMP contracts afterward.

Following post-overhaul testing and workups, SPRINGFIELD returned to full operational service from Groton. In late 2006, she departed on a deployment of roughly six months. On March 29, 2007 the submarine returned to Submarine Base New London, with official imagery and captions noting that she was coming home from a six-month deployment. Public sources do not specify the exact theaters visited on this particular cruise, but the timing places it in the broader context of early Global War on Terror operations, when Atlantic-based attack submarines were frequently sent either to European waters or to Central Command's area to support maritime security and land campaigns. The return to Groton in March 2007 closed SPRINGFIELD's first major deployment cycle after her extensive mid-2000s modernization.

By September 2008, SPRINGFIELD was again deployed overseas, this time on a six-month cruise that ran through March 2009 and is recorded as including operations in the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. During this period, she served as the attached attack submarine for CARRIER STRIKE GROUP TWO, centered on the aircraft carrier USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71). The strike group departed on deployment on September 8, 2008, and during its time with U.S. 5th Fleet aircraft from the carrier flew thousands of sorties providing close air support over Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission. As the group's submarine, USS SPRINGFIELD would have provided undersea screening, intelligence collection and strike readiness in the same theaters. A detailed narrative in an open technical history notes that on March 12, 2009 SPRINGFIELD returned from a regularly scheduled six-month overseas deployment in support of the Global War on Terror. Photography from this deployment shows the submarine in Rota, Spain in February 2009, confirming at least one port visit on the way home under U.S. 6th Fleet.

After completing this 2008-2009 deployment, SPRINGFIELD resumed Atlantic operations from Groton. In 2011, she was again tasked to Central Command and adjacent regions. According to an official Navy news release, USS SPRINGFIELD departed for deployment on May 11, 2011 and spent approximately six months operating in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. During this cruise SPRINGFIELD conducted maritime security and presence operations, supporting broader U.S. national security objectives as coalition navies focused on stability in the Gulf, counter-piracy in the Arabian Sea and ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Imagery from July 13, 2011, shows the submarine coming alongside the submarine tender USS EMORY S. LAND (AS 39) during a port visit to Manama, Bahrain, highlighting one of the deployment's recorded liberty and logistics stops. On November 10, 2011, the boat returned to New London after what Navy reporting described as a scheduled six-month deployment.

Less than two years later, USS SPRINGFIELD was again sent forward. On July 22, 2013, she returned to Groton after another six-month deployment, this time described by the Navy as involving more than 34,000 miles of transit and maritime operations in Europe and the Middle East in support of U.S. national security interests. Official images of SPRINGFIELD in Diego Garcia in June 2013, indicate that this deployment likewise took her deep into the Indian Ocean under 5th Fleet, with the British-U.S. support facility at Diego Garcia serving as a logistics and rest stop. With this 2013 cruise completed, the submarine had accumulated a series of demanding late-2000s and early-2010s deployments that combined Mediterranean, Gulf and Indian Ocean operations.

In 2014, SPRINGFIELD underwent another significant maintenance evolution, this time described by Naval Sea Systems Command as an "off-yard docking continuous maintenance availability" delivered one day early and under budget in September 2014. Conducted under PNSY oversight, this availability focused on docking work and system maintenance without a full engineered overhaul, keeping the boat at a high readiness level for continued Atlantic tasking.

Two years later, in early 2016, the submarine began what would be her last major deployment from Groton before transitioning to extended overhaul and a Pacific assignment. During the first half of 2016, USS SPRINGFIELD deployed to the U.S. European Command area of responsibility. The boat's operations fell under U.S. 6th Fleet at a time of growing NATO concern about Russian naval activity in the North Atlantic and High North and about security challenges along Europe's southern flank. On July 14, 2016, she returned to Naval Submarine Base New London from this regularly scheduled deployment. A Navy press release summarizing the cruise noted port visits to Haakonsvern, Norway; Faslane, Scotland; Lisbon, Portugal; Toulon, France; and Rota, Spain - illustrating a deployment pattern that combined operational patrols with engagement in key NATO naval hubs from the North Sea to the western Mediterranean.

Later in 2016, SPRINGFIELD shifted from active deployment to deep maintenance. Public summaries of the boat's history record that she arrived at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY) in Maine on December 1, 2016 to begin an Engineering Overhaul. Portsmouth's 21st-century history lists work on USS SPRINGFIELD among its major LOS ANGELES-class availabilities, describing a series of engineered overhauls and docking periods that the yard executed ahead of schedule and under budget for several submarines. For SPRINGFIELD, the overhaul focused particularly on propulsion-plant and engine-room modernization and associated system certifications, but also included updates to combat systems and habitability, effectively resetting the boat for an extended Pacific career. Open reporting and later Navy statements indicate that the yard required roughly two and a half years to complete the work.

Upon completion of this Engineering Overhaul and sea trials, the Navy reassigned SPRINGFIELD from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In October 2019, she departed the Portsmouth/Kittery, Maine area and began a month-long transit to Hawaii. On October 21, 2019, the submarine arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, completing a change of homeport from Kittery to Pearl Harbor. Two days later, on October 23, a formal change-of-command ceremony was held at Pearl Harbor, at which the boat was welcomed into SUBMARINE SQUADRON 7.

The COMSUBPAC account of the event emphasized that SPRINGFIELD had just concluded an "extremely successful" two-and-a-half-year overhaul at Portsmouth, and that she was now poised to take on missions in the Pacific theater at a time of increasing strategic attention to the Indo-Pacific.

For the next years, USS SPRINGFIELD was based from Pearl Harbor as part of the Pacific Fleet's LOS ANGELES-class force. During this phase she would have conducted local operations, training with other Pearl Harbor-based submarines, and shorter patrols across the central Pacific, aligning with the broader U.S. shift toward countering great-power competition in the Indo-Pacific region.

On March 21, 2022, SPRINGFIELD's role in that strategy was deepened when she arrived at Naval Base Guam in Apra Harbor after sailing from Pearl Harbor, formalizing a change of homeport to Guam. A COMSUBPAC release noted that this move was part of the Navy's 2021 "strategic laydown" plan, under which five LOS ANGELES-class attack submarines would be based in Guam by the end of 2022 to increase forward undersea presence in the western Pacific. The submarine was assigned to SUBMARINE SQUADRON 15 at Polaris Point, joining other forward-deployed fast-attack submarines supported by the tenders USS FRANK CABLE (AS 40) and USS EMORY S. LAND.

Barely a month later, USS SPRINGFIELD demonstrated her new forward role by conducting a port visit to HMAS STIRLING naval base on Garden Island near Perth, Australia. On April 23, 2022 she moored alongside USS FRANK CABLE during a Western Pacific deployment, in a visit that included bilateral engagement with the Royal Australian Navy. The stop came amid growing trilateral cooperation under the AUKUS framework and regular U.S. submarine visits to Western Australia. Official reporting emphasized weapons-handling exercises and exchanges with Australian counterparts at Stirling. This illustrated the way Guam-based attack submarines were now being used to strengthen ties with key regional partners and to demonstrate undersea presence deep in the Indian Ocean approaches.

By early 2023, SPRINGFIELD had settled into a pattern of routine Indo-Pacific patrols from Guam. On January 9, 2023, an Indo-Pacific Command news release recorded the submarine's return to Naval Base Guam after a nearly four-month deployment. The deployment, conducted under SUBRON 15, involved operations across the western Pacific in support of deterrence and alliance commitments. Although specific operating areas were not detailed, the description matches typical Guam-based SSN patrols into the Philippine Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea and surrounding waters during a period of heightened regional tensions.

The same year, SPRINGFIELD undertook a high-visibility port visit to the Republic of Korea. On February 23, 2023 the submarine pulled into Busan, South Korea, and on March 1 she departed after a scheduled visit that was explicitly linked to the 70th anniversary year of the U.S.-ROK alliance. During the port call, SPRINGFIELD hosted tours for Republic of Korea Navy leadership, including Vice Adm. Kim Myung-soo, and for U.S. Navy officials. She coordinated with Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea to organize a day of cultural outreach at the Buddhist temples Tongdosa and Hongbeobsa, where sailors learned about Korean history and culture. ROK Navy sailors from the diesel-electric submarine ROKS LEE JONG MOO (SS 066) visited SPRINGFIELD, with combined events that focused on interoperability and professional exchange between the two submarine forces. The visit underscored the submarine's role as a forward-deployed asset supporting both deterrence and alliance diplomacy in Northeast Asia.

In the summer of 2024, the boat completed another deployment from Guam. A DVIDS release notes that USS SPRINGFIELD returned to her homeport on June 29, 2024, after a four-month deployment in the Indo-Pacific. During this cruise, she conducted "vital missions" tied to national security and deterrence, again without specific operating boxes disclosed, reflecting the usual secrecy surrounding submarine patrol patterns. The report highlights a routine port visit to Yokosuka, Japan - home of U.S. 7th Fleet - where the crew hosted Arima Yutaka, Assistant Minister and Director-General for North American Affairs at Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aboard. This engagement gave Japanese officials a firsthand look at a forward-deployed U.S. fast-attack submarine and illustrated how SPRINGFIELD's missions are intertwined with alliance management and reassurance in the face of regional security challenges in East Asia.

In 2025, the submarine continued this steady cadence of Guam-based Indo-Pacific patrols. On August 31, 2025 USS SPRINGFIELD again returned to Naval Base Guam after what official accounts described as a routine deployment in the region. The deployment included port visits to Sasebo and Okinawa, Japan, both key nodes in the forward presence of U.S. and Japanese maritime forces. Reports from SUBRON 15 emphasized that during the cruise, SPRINGFIELD carried out missions critical to national security, strengthened deterrence across the Indo-Pacific, and provided opportunities for crew development - 31 sailors advanced in rank and 19 earned their submarine warfare insignia during this period.

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