USS Alaska (SSBN-732)
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History | |
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United States | |
Name: | Alaska |
Namesake: | State of Alaska |
Ordered: | 27 February 1978 |
Builder: | General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut |
Laid down: | 9 March 1983 |
Launched: | 12 January 1985 |
Sponsored by: | Mrs. Catherine Stevens |
Commissioned: | 25 January 1986 |
Homeport: | Kings Bay, Georgia |
Identification: |
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Motto: | Alert, Confident, Able |
Status: | in active service |
Badge: | |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine |
Displacement: |
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Length: | 560 ft (170 m) |
Beam: | 42 ft (13 m) |
Draft: | 38 ft (12 m) |
Propulsion: | |
Speed: | Greater than 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) |
Test depth: | Greater than 800 feet (240 m) |
Complement: |
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Armament: |
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USS Alaska (SSBN-732), is a United States Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine which has been in commission since 1986. She is the fourth US Navy ship to be named for the Territory or State of Alaska.
The contract to build Alaska was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, on 27 February 1978 and her keel was laid down there on 9 March 1983. She was launched on 12 January 1985, sponsored by Mrs. Catherine Stevens, wife of US Senator Theodore F. Stevens of Alaska; and commissioned on 25 January 1986, with Captain Paul L. Callahan in command of the Blue Crew and Captain Charles J. Chotvacs in command of the Gold Crew.
Alaska spent much of 1986 engaged in shakedown training for her two crews and in clearing up the many details that attend a new fleet ballistic missile submarine’s addition to the Fleet. She operated initially from New London, Connecticut, and Port Canaveral, Florida, but shifted homeport to the Pacific Northwest later in the year, 4 September to 1 October 1986. Alaska sailed through the Panama Canal, and visited San Francisco, California, 21–29 September, while en route. She then served with Submarine Squadron 17, Submarine Group 9, at Naval Submarine Base Bangor, Washington. Alaska sailed on her first missile deterrent patrol, manned by her Blue Crew, in the Pacific, 7 December 1986 to 19 February 1987. Her Gold Crew carried out Patrol 2, 16 March to 28 May 1987.