USS La Jolla (SSN-701)
Encyclopedia

USS La Jolla (SSN-701), a Los Angeles-class submarine
Los Angeles class submarine
The Los Angeles class, sometimes called the LA class or the 688 class, is a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines that forms the backbone of the United States submarine fleet. With 43 submarines on active duty and 19 retired, the Los Angeles class is the most numerous nuclear powered...

, is named for La Jolla, California. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat
Electric boat
While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail power and gasoline engines also remaining popular, boats powered by electricity have been used for over 120 years. Electric boats were very popular from the 1880s until the 1920s, when the internal combustion...

 Division of General Dynamics
General Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation is a U.S. defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest defense contractor in the world. Its headquarters are in West Falls Church , unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Falls Church area.The company has...

 Corporation in Groton, Connecticut
Groton, Connecticut
Groton is a town located on the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 39,907 at the 2000 census....

 on 10 December 1973 and her keel was laid down on 16 October 1976. She was launched
Ship naming and launching
The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 on 11 August 1979 sponsored by Mrs. Bob Wilson, and commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 on 30 September 1981, with Captain James R. Lang in command.

During the sea trials for the La Jolla, an incident where there was a loss of ship control and subsequent depth excursion led to the retirement of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover
Hyman G. Rickover
Hyman George Rickover was a four-star admiral of the United States Navy who directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for three decades as director of Naval Reactors...

.

In late 1982, about 30 miles out of San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

, La Jolla, while at periscope depth, collided with Permit (SSN-594)
USS Permit (SSN-594)
USS Permit became the lead ship of her class of submarine when the former lead ship, was lost. She was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the permit, a food fish, often called "round pompano," found in waters from North Carolina to Brazil.The contract to build her was...

, operating on the surface. La Jolla suffered minor rudder damage, while putting a ten-foot (3 m) long, three-foot (1 m) wide scrape in the paint on Permit’s keel.

La Jolla was the first to successfully test fire a Tomahawk
BGM-109 Tomahawk
The Tomahawk is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile. Introduced by General Dynamics in the 1970s, it was designed as a medium- to long-range, low-altitude missile that could be launched from a surface platform. It has been improved several times and, by way of corporate divestitures...

 cruise missile while submerged at the Pacific Missile Test Center
Pacific Missile Test Center
Pacific Missile Test Center is the former name of the current Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division. The name of the center was the Naval Air Missile Test Center prior to PMTC. It is located at Naval Base Ventura County/Naval Air Station Point Mugu in Ventura County, California...

 on 29 April 1983. Her commanding officer at the time was Cdr. Garnet C. Beard, who was later promoted to Navy Captain (O6). Capt. Beard appeared in the movie Crimson Tide
Crimson Tide
Crimson Tide may refer to:* Crimson tide, a type of algae also known as Karenia brevis* Alabama Crimson Tide, the sports teams of the University of Alabama* Crimson Tide , a 1995 American thriller...

, and was listed in the credits as a consultant to that film.

The first West Pacific (West-Pac) cruise was between September 1984 and March 1985, in which the La Jolla visited ports in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Chinhae Korea, and Yokosuka, Japan. All crew members participating in the second half of the 1984-85 West-Pac cruise received the Navy Expeditionary Medal
Navy Expeditionary Medal
The Navy Expeditionary Medal is an award of the United States Navy which was first created in August 1936 by General Orders of the Department of the Navy...

 for operations in the Sea of Japan.

On 11 February 1998, about 9 miles out of Chinhae, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

, La Jolla accidentally ran into and sank a 27-ton fishing trawler. The five crewmembers of the trawler were rescued by the crew of La Jolla.

In 2000, La Jolla was modified to carry a Dry Deck Shelter
Dry Deck Shelter
A Dry Deck Shelter is a removable module that can be attached to a submarine to allow divers easy exit and entrance while the boat is submerged...

 (DDS).

On 23 August 2004, La Jolla returned to Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

 after a six-month deployment in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

. She conducted port visits in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

, and Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

, and participated in five international exercises, including Pacific Reach 2004.

On October 30, 2009 while the sub was undergoing repair at Pearl Harbor, the ship's skipper, Commander Doug Sampson, was relieved of duty by Submarine Squadron 1 Commodore Captain Stanley Robertson. Robertson cited a "loss of confidence in his [Sampson's] ability to command" and that "La Jolla's in-port planning, operations and administrations, which fell short of high Navy standards" as reasons for the relief. Sampson was replaced by Commander Erik Burian, former commanding officer of .
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