USS Pennsylvania (SSBN-735)
![]() USS Pennsylvania (SSBN-735) in November 1995.
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History | |
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Namesake | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania |
Ordered | 29 November 1982 |
Builder | General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut |
Launched | 23 April 1988 |
Commissioned | 9 September 1989 |
Homeport | Bangor WA |
Motto | Virtue, Independence, Liberty |
Honors and awards | Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award 2001 |
Status | in active service |
Badge | ![]() |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Template:Sclass- ballistic missile submarine |
Displacement | |
Length | 560 ft (170 m) |
Beam | 42 ft (13 m)[1] |
Draft | 38 ft (12 m) |
Propulsion | |
Speed | Greater than 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)[5] |
Test depth | Greater than 800 feet (240 m)[5] |
Complement | |
Armament |
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USS Pennsylvania (SSBN-735) is a United States Navy Template:Sclass- ballistic missile submarine which has been in commission since 1989. She is the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for Pennsylvania, the second state.
Construction and commissioning
The contract to build Pennsylvania was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, on 29 November 1982 and her keel was laid down there on 10 January 1984. She was launched on 23 April 1988, sponsored by Mrs. Marilyn Garrett, and commissioned on 9 September 1989, with Captain Richard M. Camp commanding the Gold Crew and Captain Lee Edwards commanding the Blue Crew.
Service history
On 29 September 1989, Pennsylvania ran aground as she entered the channel during her first visit to Port Canaveral, Florida. Tugboats freed her in about two hours. A U.S. Navy investigation determined that Pennsylvania was properly positioned in the channel, but the channel had been silted by the recent passing of Hurricane Hugo.
![]() | This section needs expansion with: History needed for 1989-2001.. You can help by adding to it. (December 2009) |
In 2001, Pennsylvania won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the United States Atlantic Fleet.
![]() | This section needs expansion with: History needed for 2001 through the present.. You can help by adding to it. (December 2009) |
In 2012, Pennsylvania completed a mid-life 2-1/2 year Engineered Refueling Overhaul (ERO) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard where her reactor was refueled for an estimated 25 more years of service.
USS Pennsylvania in fiction
- In Tom Clancy's 1994 novel Debt of Honor, USS Pennsylvania is one of several submarines sent to deal with a Japanese invasion of the Northern Mariana Islands. She becomes the first U.S. nuclear submarine to sink an enemy warship when she fires a torpedo at a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force hunter-killer (SSK)-type submarine.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "SSBN-726 Ohio-Class FBM Submarines". Federation of American Scientists. 9 February 2000. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
- ^ a b c Frost, Peter. "Newport News contract awarded". Daily Press. Archived from the original on 27 April 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
- ^ "US study of reactor and fuel types to enable naval reactors to shift from HEU fuel". Fissile Materials. 10 April 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
- ^ Brendan Patrick Hanlon (July 2015). Validation of the Use of Low Enriched Uranium as a Replacement for Highly Enriched Uranium in US Submarine Reactors (PDF) (Master thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
- ^ a b "Submarine Frequently Asked Questions". Chief of Naval Operations Submarine Warfare Division. Archived from the original on 13 July 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.
External links
- Photo gallery of USS Pennsylvania (SSBN-735) at NavSource Naval History
- Use dmy dates from January 2011
- Ships built in Connecticut
- Ohio-class submarines
- Cold War submarines of the United States
- United States submarine accidents
- Maritime incidents in 1989
- Nuclear ships of the United States Navy
- United States Navy Pennsylvania-related ships
- 1988 ships
- United States submarine stubs