USS Toledo (SSN-769)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Toledo.
Career (US)
Name: USS Toledo
Namesake: The City of Toledo, Ohio
Awarded: 10 June 1988
Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
Laid down: 6 May 1991
Launched: 28 August 1993
Sponsored by: Mrs. Sabra Smith
Commissioned: 24 February 1995
Homeport: Groton, Connecticut
Status: in active service, as of 2015
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:Los Angeles-class submarine
Displacement:6,000 long tons (6,096 t) light
6,927 long tons (7,038 t) full
927 long tons (942 t) dead
Length:110.3 m (361 ft 11 in)
Beam:10 m (32 ft 10 in)
Draft:9.4 m (30 ft 10 in)
Propulsion:S6G nuclear reactor
Complement:12 officers, 98 men
Armament:• 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
• 12 × vertical launch Tomahawk missiles

USS Toledo (SSN-769), a Los Angeles-class submarine, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Toledo, Ohio. The contract to build her was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia on 10 June 1988 and her keel was laid down on 6 May 1991. She was launched on 28 August 1993 sponsored by Mrs. Sabra Smith, and commissioned on 24 February 1995, with Commander Jack Loye III in command. The submarine was a cover story of the 6 April 1998 issue US News & World Report.

Deployments

The USS Toledo returned to the Naval Submarine Base New London in mid-April 2003 after having taken part in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

On 7 December 2004, Toledo returned to Groton, Connecticut, after a six-month deployment in the Persian Gulf with the John F. Kennedy carrier strike group that included port calls in Crete, Dubai, and Bahrain. Her route home from Bahrain was unusual, rounding the Cape of Good Hope rather than using the Suez Canal. Once back in the North Atlantic, she was diverted for a classified drug interdiction mission with the Joint Interagency Task Force–South in the Caribbean Sea.

On 31 January 2006, Toledo again departed for a six-month deployment to CENTCOM. Port calls included Augusta Bay, Dubai, the British island territory of Diego Garcia and La Maddalena. The ship returned from this deployment on 31 July 2006 and a change of command ceremony took place in 2009 where Commander Reckamp relieved Commander Goldman.

Toledo left for another six-month deployment on 23 July 2010.

In December 2010 Toledo did a port call in Haifa. Commander Reckamp was received by the Haifa City Major Yona Yahav in the City Hall as is customary for visiting commanders of warships doing port calls in Haifa.

On 20 January 2011, Toledo returned to Groton, Connecticut after a six-month deployment that included port calls in Cyprus, Bahrain, and Haifa.

Maintenance

Northrop Grumman Corporation was awarded a contract from the U.S. Navy for maintenance work, known as a depot modernization period, on the nuclear-powered submarine USS Toledo (SSN 769). The initial planning contract was valued at approximately $34.7 million. The final value, including the actual execution, was $178.5 million. The ship arrived in December 2006 to Newport News, VA and the work was completed in March 2009. The project was delayed more than eight months because of more than 2,000 project changes. This was a competitive award under a Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) multiple award contract.

In July 2009 two hull cracks, including one in the pressure hull, were discovered during a routine inspection. The Navy has begun an investigation. Although the Navy and Northrop Grumman launched two investigations into welding practices at the yard while Toledo was under maintenance, the cracks do not appear to be related to welds.[1]

Kursk-Toledo collision hypothesis

For more details on this topic, see Kursk submarine disaster.

French filmmaker Jean-Michel Carré, in Kursk: a Submarine in Troubled Waters,[2] which aired on 7 January 2005 on French TV channel France 2, alleged that Kursk sank because of a sequence of events triggered by a collision with the Toledo. According to Carré, Kursk was performing tests with Shkval torpedoes and the tests were being observed by two US submarines on duty in the region, USS Toledo and USS Memphis (SSN-691).

References

  1. ↑ Peter Frost (21 July 2009). "Cracks found in USS Toledo". Newport News, Va., Daily Press.
  2. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vR2MIriTCY « Koursk » : un sous-marin en eaux troubles 70 mn documentary

This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.