USS Key West (SSN-722)
USS Key West (SSN-722) entering Pearl Harbor
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Key West |
| Namesake: | The city of Key West, Florida |
| Builder: | NGNN |
| Laid down: | 6 July 1983 |
| Launched: | 20 July 1985 |
| Commissioned: | 12 September 1987 |
| Status: | in active service |
| Badge: |  |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Los Angeles-class submarine |
| Displacement: | 5799 tons light, 6206 tons full, 407 tons dead |
| Length: | 110.3 m (361.9 ft) |
| Beam: | 10 m (32.8 ft) |
| Draft: | 9.4 m (30.8 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 1×S6G reactor |
| Speed: |
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| Test depth: | In excess of 800 ft (243.8 m) |
| Complement: | 16 officers, 127 enlisted |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
BQQ-10 ARCI passive sonar, BQS-15 high frequency active sonar, WLR-8 fire control radar receiver, WLR-9 acoustic receiver for detection of active search sonar and acoustic homing torpedoes, BRD-7 radio direction finder |
| Armament: | 4 × 21 in (533 mm) midships torpedo tubes, 12 x bow vertical launch tubes (for BGM-109 Tomahawks), up to 25 horizontal reloads (combination of Mk48 ADCAP torpedo or Tomahawk land attack missile block 3 SLCM range 1,700 nautical miles (3,100 km)), mine laying Mk67 mobile Mk60 captor mines |
USS Key West (SSN-722), a Los Angeles-class submarine, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Key West, Florida. The contract to build her was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia on 13 August 1981 and her keel was laid down on 6 July 1983. She was launched on 20 July 1985 sponsored by Mrs. Virginia Conn, and commissioned on 12 September 1987 with Commander Warren Lipscomb, Jr. in command. She is the fourth Los Angeles-class submarine equipped with the vertical launch system (VLS) capable of carrying 12 Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles (TLAM).
USS Key West was home ported at the Norfolk Naval Base, Norfolk, VA. She operated out of Norfolk, VA until 1995. During her Atlantic Fleet service, she completed numerous Cold War deployments and supported operations in the Caribbean, Western Atlantic and Mediterranean. USS Key West was awarded the "Hook-em" antisubmarine warfare (ASW) excellence award following her 1990 Mediterranean Cruise. She later was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation Award for her superior performance in Cold War operations during the 1989 and 1990 deployments. USS Key West won the "TOP TORP" Torpedo Shooting Competition in 1992 and was later awarded the Submarine Squadron Eight Battle "E" for that year.
The USS Key West deployed with the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Battle Group in 1995. During that deployment she operated in the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf and was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation, Armed Forces Service, and NATO Service medals. Following the 1995 deployment, USS Key West underwent an availability in Norfolk, VA in preparation for her transfer to the Pacific Fleet in 1996. She departed Norfolk in June 1996 and transited the Panama Canal as part of her transfer to the Pacific Fleet. She arrived in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in July 1996 and began operations under Submarine Squadron One.
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