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USS La Jolla (SSN 701)

USS LA JOLLA was the 14^th LOS ANGELES class nuclear powered attack submarine. As of December 2000, LA JOLLA was homeported in Pearl Harbor, HI. The submarine was previously homeported in San Diego, Calif. and after a two-year overhaul in Kittery, Maine, shifted homeport to Pearl Harbor where she was then attached to Submarine Squadron One. In October 2014, LA JOLLA departed Pearl Harbor and headed for Norfolk, Va., where she arrived on November 10, 2014. There, she was inactivated on February 3, 2015, and subsequently entered the Dry Dock #3 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a 32-month conversion into a Moored Training Ship (MTS). During the conversion, she had her missile compartments removed, but would have fully operational reactor power plants and would be equipped with a diesel-powered Supplemental Water Injection System to provide emergency cooling water in the unlikely event of an accident. LA JOLLA (MTS-701) would eventually replace the DANIEL WEBSTER (MTS 626) at Naval Support Activity Charleston, SC, as a Nuclear Power Training Unit (NPTU).

On November 7, 2019, conversion of LA JOLLA was completed at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. On November 15, 2019, she was officially decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list. As of the mid-2020s, LA JOLLA is permanently moored at the Nuclear Power Training Unit at Naval Support Activity Charleston in Goose Creek, South Carolina, where she serves as MTS-701.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS LA JOLLA. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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Accidents of USS LA JOLLA:

Date	Where	Events
1982	30 miles off San Francisco, Calif.	In late 1982, USS PERMIT (SSN 594), cruising on the surface, collides with USS LA JOLLA, at periscope depth, while they are on sea trials off San Francisco. The PERMIT receives a ten-foot-long, three-foot-wide "scrape" in the paint on the keel, while LA JOLLA suffers minor rudder damage.
February 11, 1998	about 9 miles off Chinhae, South Korea	While approaching the port of Chinhae, South Korea, the crew of LA JOLLA overlooked a fishing trawler (27 tons) and both vessels collided. The trawler sank. The five crewmembers of the trawler were rescued by the crew of LA JOLLA.

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USS LA JOLLA History:

The story of USS LA JOLLA begins in the mid-1970s, when the U.S. Navy ordered another group of LOS ANGELES-class nuclear-powered attack submarines to replace older boats and strengthen Cold War undersea forces in both the Atlantic and Pacific. The contract to build LA JOLLA was awarded on December 10, 1973, to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics at Groton, Connecticut, one of the Navy's principal submarine builders during the Cold War. Her keel was laid at Groton on October 16, 1976, and the hull took shape over the following years as part of the early, Flight I LOS ANGELES-class configuration.

LA JOLLA slid down the ways at Groton on August 11, 1979, sponsored by Jean Bryant Wilson, wife of California congressman Bob Wilson, who christened the boat in honor of the coastal community of La Jolla, California. After fitting-out and pierside testing, the submarine completed builder's trials and Navy sea trials in the North Atlantic. During these trials an unplanned depth excursion occurred during a propulsion-plant "crash back" test directed by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, a well-known episode in the boat's early history that illustrated both the demands of high-performance nuclear submarines and the exacting standards of the U.S. Navy's nuclear propulsion community.

LA JOLLA was commissioned at Naval Submarine Base New London, Groton, on October 24, 1981, with Captain James R. Lang in command. Contemporary photographs from the ceremony show Lang addressing guests on the pier, crewmen manning the ship for the first time, and the national ensign being raised on the newly commissioned submarine. Shortly after commissioning, LA JOLLA joined the active fleet and began work-ups and training, initially with the Atlantic Fleet before being assigned to the Pacific. She became the first LOS ANGELES-class submarine to be homeported in San Diego, operating under Submarine Squadron 11 and representing the new generation of fast attacks on the U.S. West Coast. From San Diego she conducted local operations, tactical development, and fleet exercises in the eastern Pacific as the U.S. Navy refined LOS ANGELES-class tactics for anti-submarine warfare, intelligence collection and strike warfare during the last decade of the Cold War.

In late 1982, while on sea trials about 30 miles off San Francisco, LA JOLLA was involved in her first publicly documented incident. Operating at periscope depth, she collided with the submarine USS PERMIT (SSN 594), which was running on the surface in the same area. The impact left PERMIT with a scrape roughly ten feet long and three feet wide along the keel paint, while LA JOLLA sustained minor damage to her rudder. Both submarines were able to continue under their own power, and no serious injuries were reported.

The following year, on April 29, 1983, LA JOLLA achieved a significant technical milestone when she became the first submarine to successfully launch a Tomahawk cruise missile while submerged, conducting the test firing at the Pacific Missile Test Center. This early demonstration of submerged Tomahawk employment highlighted the evolving role of LOS ANGELES-class boats as not only anti-submarine and anti-surface platforms but also as long-range strike assets.

Between August 1984 and February 1985, LA JOLLA conducted her first Western Pacific deployment. Departing the U.S. West Coast, she crossed the Pacific and operated in the Western Pacific and Sea of Japan, visiting Olongapo in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Chinhae in South Korea, and Yokosuka in Japan. Sailors who served in the second half of this deployment received the Navy Expeditionary Medal for operations in the Sea of Japan, reflecting heightened Cold War tensions and the importance of forward submarine presence near the Soviet Far East and the Korean Peninsula in the mid-1980s. By February 21, 1985, local press in California was reporting her homecoming to San Diego, marking the end of that first long Western Pacific deployment.

On April 19, 1985 there was a major change in the boat's leadership: Commander Kent Van Lewis MacNeill relieved Captain G. C. Beard Jr. as commanding officer, becoming the third commanding officer of USS LA JOLLA. Under MacNeill, LA JOLLA continued to operate from San Diego with Submarine Squadron 11, performing the usual mix of pier-side maintenance, local underway periods off southern California and shorter exercises that are only sparsely documented in open sources, but which fit the standard pattern of late-Cold-War anti-submarine warfare training and battle group support for a LOS ANGELES-class submarine.

In 1986, LA JOLLA's operations became more visible in publicly available chronologies. Early that year, she made a northern port visit: on February 4, 1986, she arrived in Esquimalt, British Columbia, for a four-day visit to the major Canadian naval base there, an indication of routine U.S.-Canadian naval cooperation in the North Pacific. Later that spring, on May 20, she departed her homeport for "special operations", a phrasing used in U.S. Navy summaries for deployments or patrols whose details remain classified but which would have involved submarine surveillance and anti-submarine warfare tasks in Cold War operating areas.

Open-source technical histories also record that in 1986, LA JOLLA took part in a major FLEETEX (Fleet Exercise) and Prospective Commanding Officer (PCO) operations, intensive periods where a submarine is used as the at-sea platform on which future commanding officers prove their ability to handle a nuclear attack submarine. During this cycle, she was rated "Top Performer" in a Tactical Readiness Evaluation and her supply department earned the "Blue E" award for excellence in supply management, reflecting very strong inspection results that year.

Through 1987, LA JOLLA remained a San Diego-based attack submarine under Commander MacNeill, continuing Cold War operations with COMSUBRON 11. The boat's command history for that year, describes her basic role as a nuclear-powered attack submarine prepared for independent operations or direct carrier battle group support. Open technical overviews note that she received a second Meritorious Unit Commendation in 1987 and that her medical department earned the "Yellow M" award for medical readiness, indicating consistently high performance across engineering, logistics and crew support functions during the last years before the end of the Cold War. Specific at-sea evolutions in 1987 are not detailed in the public record beyond the general pattern of local operations and exercises, but the awards and evaluations show that the submarine was heavily engaged and performed well under inspection.

The operational tempo stayed high in 1988, a pivotal year in which LA JOLLA both deployed and prepared for a major shipyard period. On January 16, 1988, she arrived in Seattle, Washington, for a three-day port visit, a rare appearance for a San Diego-based attack boat in Puget Sound that reflected the Navy's practice of combining training operations with goodwill port calls on the U.S. West Coast. On March 4, 1988, command passed to Commander Jeffrey A. Fischbeck, who relieved Commander MacNeill as commanding officer. Under Fischbeck, the submarine embarked on another Western Pacific deployment: on June 14, 1988, LA JOLLA departed San Diego for a scheduled WestPac. During this deployment, she called at Naval Base Yokosuka from June 27 to July 5, 1988, again underlining her role in supporting Seventh Fleet operations and allied interactions in Japan.

Technical summaries of the class note that LA JOLLA completed testing of the MK-48 ADCAP advanced capability torpedo in the late 1980s and that in another FLEETEX of this period she achieved the highest percentage of "hits" in exercise firings, although the exact dates and locations of those firings are not spelled out in currently accessible documentation. Her 1988 command history also records that the submarine earned the Submarine Squadron 11 Fiscal Year 1988 Engineering "E" and that she participated in READIEX 89-1A in support of a carrier battle group, showing how her training deployments fed directly into a larger battle group work-up cycle.

On February 17, 1989 LA JOLLA entered a new phase when she arrived at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California for a 14-month Depot Modernization Period (DMP), the first such major availability for her. At Mare Island, she went into Dry Dock No. 4 during the early months of the period and underwent an extensive package of modernization and maintenance work as part of the Navy's then-new extended engineered operating cycle for LOS ANGELES-class boats. The 1988 command history had already noted an "A-3 DMP upkeep" phase preparing for this yard period, and by January 1, 1990 LA JOLLA was still in port at Mare Island, formally recorded as "conducting Depot Modernization" in her 1990 command history.

The 14-month DMP carried through the spring of 1990. At its conclusion the submarine completed post-availability sea trials and recertification before returning to operational status with Submarine Squadron 11. After emerging from the yard in 1990, LA JOLLA rejoined the active Pacific submarine force just as the global political landscape was changing with the end of the Cold War and, soon after, the 1990-1991 Gulf crisis. Detailed day-by-day movements for 1990 and 1991 remain classified or at least are not available in the open command histories that have been digitized, but the official documentation shows her back under COMSUBPAC control and again listed among the active attack submarines in the Pacific.

Crew recollections collected on veteran sites speak of a very successful WestPac deployment in 1991 under a commanding officer remembered as CDR "Jim" Shelton, suggesting at least one major Western Pacific deployment in this period, but open archival sources do not yet provide firm dates or port lists for that cruise. What is clear is that LA JOLLA's role was shifting from purely Cold War confrontation with the Soviet Union toward a broader mix of regional presence, exercises and contingency support in the Pacific as the post-Cold-War era began.

By 1992, there is again more concrete technical and operational detail in the public record. On the systems side, the COMSUBPAC 1992 command history notes that LA JOLLA received the MK-60 mine-handling capability that year, equipping her to handle and employ advanced submarine-laid mines, and that she was among the boats fitted with the new TADIXS-A tactical data link system, which improved battle-group connectivity and strike-warfare communications. At the same time, LA JOLLA's own 1992 command history records her conducting local operations out of Pearl Harbor during at least part of the year, including support to Prospective Commanding Officer training evolutions, which aligns with the boat's repeated use in PCO operations earlier in her career.

A deployment chronology compiled from Navy sources also records that on April 25, 1992, LA JOLLA arrived at Naval Station Pearl Harbor for a five-day visit, combining local operations with a port call in Hawaii, and that she returned to her home port on May 22 after completing these operations. This period illustrates how, in the early post-Cold-War years, Pacific Fleet submarines were updated with new communications and mine-warfare capabilities while still rotating through familiar hubs such as Pearl Harbor on shorter deployments and training swings.

In 1993, LA JOLLA remained assigned to Submarine Squadron 11 and spent much of the year in local operations, as her 1993 command history notes in its chronology. At the force level, COMSUBPAC's 1992-1993 command histories show LA JOLLA as one of the boats participating in FLEETEX 93-1A alongside USS POGY (SSN 647), a substantial multi-unit exercise designed to train and certify Seventh Fleet and battle-group forces. While the exact dates and at-sea tracks for LA JOLLA in that exercise are not provided in the open extract, the listing confirms that she was employed as an anti-submarine and strike-warfare asset in one of the key large-scale exercises of the early 1990s, integrating with surface combatants and maritime patrol aircraft under Seventh Fleet control.

The mid-1990s saw LA JOLLA continue in this pattern of Pacific Fleet service, with a mix of training, test and deployment activity. A Department of Defense image from 1994 documents a Tomahawk cruise missile being launched from LA JOLLA, the missile's target being on the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada. This fits with the boat's earlier pioneering role in the Pacific Tomahawk program and illustrates how, even after her first decade of service, LA JOLLA continued to be used for high-end weapons testing as well as fleet exercises. Other imagery from 1994 shows LA JOLLA at sea and in harbor on the U.S. West Coast, but specific port names and dates beyond these official captions are not available in the open record. Veteran recollections for the period 1990-1995 again speak of intense operational tempos, but without declassified command histories for each year, only this limited picture of mid-1990s operations can be drawn from verified sources.

By 1997, LA JOLLA was still an active unit in the Pacific submarine force and was increasingly visible in Seventh Fleet documentation. On July 28, 1997, the command history of USS JEFFERSON CITY (SSN 759) records that JEFFERSON CITY provided "services at sea" to USS LA JOLLA, an indication of a combined training or support event between the two LOS ANGELES-class submarines during pre-deployment or tactical development operations. Later that year, LA JOLLA deployed forward into the Western Pacific under Seventh Fleet control: the Seventh Fleet 1997 command history lists USS LA JOLLA as assigned to Task Force 74 from October 28 through December 31, 1997. Task Force 74 is the undersea warfare task force for the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean, and assignment to TF 74 during this period means that LA JOLLA spent the final months of 1997 operating as part of the forward-deployed Pacific submarine force, most likely conducting a combination of presence, surveillance and exercise operations in the wider Seventh Fleet area of responsibility. The command history does not list specific ports visited during this deployment, but the dates give a clear window for the boat's forward service at the end of 1997 in an increasingly complex post-Cold-War regional environment in East Asia.

A major and much more serious incident occurred on February 11, 1998, when LA JOLLA was operating near the South Korean port of Chinhae. While maneuvering about nine miles off the coast, the submarine collided with the 27-ton Korean fishing trawler YOUNG CHANG HO. The trawler sank but all five fishermen were rescued by LA JOLLA's crew. Subsequent legal and administrative proceedings in the United States examined the actions of the submarine's command team, including the executive officer, then-Lieutenant Commander Charles H. Piersall III. The case reached federal appellate courts in the 2000s, which preserved detailed descriptions of the collision, the rescue, and the submarine's subsequent return to Chinhae for damage assessment. Publicly available information indicates that LA JOLLA suffered only minor damage and returned to service after the event.

By the end of the 1990s, LA JOLLA had reached the mid-life point of her nuclear reactor core, and the Navy scheduled an Engineered Refueling Overhaul (ERO) at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. Command history documents and official summaries show that LA JOLLA spent the entire calendar year 1999 in dry dock at Portsmouth undergoing this extensive refueling and modernization, which included replacement of the reactor core and significant work on propulsion, combat systems and ship's systems.

On December 3, 2000, the submarine left Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and began post-overhaul sea trials, marking her return to sea after the multi-year ERO. In connection with this overhaul, LA JOLLA was modified to carry a Dry Deck Shelter (DDS), a special removable module fitted aft of the sail that allows the covert deployment of special operations forces such as Navy SEALs using swimmer delivery vehicles. Sources list LA JOLLA as one of three Pearl Harbor-based attack submarines - alongside USS BUFFALO (SSN 715) and USS LOS ANGELES (SSN 688) - equipped with this capability.

In the early 2000s, LA JOLLA's special operations and rescue capabilities were further highlighted by her work with the deep submergence rescue vehicle DSRV-1 MYSTIC. In April 2002, she operated off Japan with MYSTIC embarked, participating in submarine rescue training with Japanese forces. U.S. Navy photographs show LA JOLLA with the rescue vehicle mounted on her back in waters near Japan and alongside piers at Sasebo, illustrating how LOS ANGELES-class submarines could act as mother ships for deep-diving rescue craft. These activities took place against the broader backdrop of international concern over submarine rescue in the wake of accidents such as the Russian KURSK disaster in 2000, and they foreshadowed LA JOLLA's upcoming role in multinational submarine rescue exercises.

On February 23, 2004, LA JOLLA departed Naval Base Pearl Harbor for a six-month Western Pacific deployment, photographed leaving the harbor with a Dry Deck Shelter clearly visible aft of the sail. During this 2004 deployment, she operated widely across the Western Pacific and broader Pacific Ocean, returning to Pearl Harbor on August 23, 2004, after six months at sea. Public summaries and later archival descriptions note that she conducted port visits in Korea, Japan, Singapore, Saipan and Guam and took part in five multinational exercises, including the submarine rescue exercise Pacific Reach 2004, which involved navies such as Japan and South Korea and was an early example of trilateral submarine cooperation in Northeast Asia.

In this period, LA JOLLA was also singled out within the submarine force as the first LOS ANGELES-class boat to deploy overseas with the advanced AN/BQQ-5D sonar system and as the first of her class to be fitted to operate a deep submergence rescue vehicle, underscoring her role as a pathfinder for new capabilities.

LA JOLLA continued to deploy frequently from Pearl Harbor in the mid-2000s. On May 16, 2006, she again departed Pearl Harbor, this time for another six-month Western Pacific deployment, according to a Navy NewsStand release. While detailed operations from this deployment remain largely classified, the article emphasized that the crew had trained intensively since the previous autumn to prepare for a demanding mission set. During the second half of the decade, LA JOLLA also made further Western Pacific port visits. Photographs show her arriving at Yokosuka, Japan, on April 14, 2008, for a port call, a reminder of the longstanding U.S. submarine presence in Japan that supports alliance commitments and regional stability. By January 2009, LA JOLLA was back in Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, where she was photographed in Dry Dock 1 undergoing repairs and maintenance.

Later that year, on October 30, 2009, her commanding officer Commander Doug Sampson was relieved of command while the submarine was still in port at Pearl Harbor, with official statements citing a loss of confidence in his ability to command and shortfalls in in-port planning and administration. He was replaced by Commander Erik Burian, a former commanding officer of USS LOS ANGELES. The episode occurred as the submarine force placed increasing emphasis on procedural compliance and shore-side standards in the wake of several high-profile incidents across the fleet.

In the autumn of 2010, LA JOLLA appeared in another distinctive operational setting when she and USS HONOLULU (SSN 718) anchored in Hong Kong harbor alongside the submarine tender USS FRANK CABLE (AS 40). A widely circulated U.S. Navy photograph dated October 7, 2010, shows FRANK CABLE tending both submarines, whose presence in Hong Kong required the tender because U.S. nuclear-powered submarines could not moor directly to the mainland piers. The visit formed part of a Western Pacific port schedule for both submarines and underscored the continuing role of submarine tenders in enabling forward operations for nuclear boats in ports without suitable infrastructure.

On January 27, 2011, LA JOLLA departed Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for another scheduled six-month deployment, this time explicitly described as being to the Middle East and the Western Pacific. A U.S. Pacific Fleet news release noted that the deployment would provide extensive opportunities for training, qualifications and support to operational commanders, reflecting the tempo of submarine operations in support of U.S. Central Command and Pacific Command as the United States remained engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan while also rebalancing attention toward Asia. During this deployment, LA JOLLA visited India: on April 23, 2011, she was photographed moored alongside the submarine tender USS EMORY S. LAND (AS 39) in Goa, India. Media coverage in India highlighted the significance of a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine docking there amid growing U.S.-India naval cooperation. LA JOLLA later called at San Diego in October 2011, as shown in photo captions, before returning to Pearl Harbor, closing out a deployment that had taken her across both the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The submarine soon returned to sea. On August 30, 2012, LA JOLLA left Pearl Harbor once more for a scheduled Western Pacific deployment. During this 2012-2013 cruise, she again operated in the Western Pacific and made a series of port visits that are documented in Navy and media reporting. On January 16, 2013, a U.S. Navy photograph shows LA JOLLA departing Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands after a port visit, with captions noting that she was then deployed in the Western Pacific. Nine days later, on January 25, 2013, she returned to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. A contemporaneous Naval Today article reported that friends and families gathered on the pier to welcome the boat home after a six-month deployment to the Western Pacific, during which LA JOLLA had represented the U.S. Navy in Yokosuka, Busan and Saipan and carried out a variety of operations and training exercises deemed vital by theater commanders.

By 2014, LA JOLLA's long tenure at Pearl Harbor was drawing to a close. On October 15, 2014, a ceremony at Pearl Harbor marked her farewell to the base and to Submarine Squadron One before she headed east for conversion. A U.S. Pacific Fleet article about the event emphasized LA JOLLA's many "firsts": she had been the first LOS ANGELES-class submarine homeported in San Diego, the first of the class to deploy overseas with the AN/BQQ-5D sonar, the first to participate in the multinational submarine rescue exercise Pacific Reach 2004, and the first to be specially fitted to operate a deep submergence rescue vehicle.

On November 10, 2014, she arrived at her new homeport of Norfolk, Virginia, where she would begin the transition from active attack submarine to training platform. On February 3, 2015, LA JOLLA was taken out of operational service, and major conversion work began at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia. The plan was to convert the former fast attack submarine into a moored training ship to support the Navy's Nuclear Power Training Unit at Charleston, South Carolina. According to Navy and engineering summaries, conversion work formally began in February 2015 and was expected to last around 32 months. The process was extensive: the hull was cut into three sections, one section was removed, and three new hull modules built by Electric Boat were inserted to create additional training and support spaces. A newly fabricated operations compartment provided dedicated classrooms, offices and an emergency safeguard system suitable for training nuclear propulsion students rather than sending the ship to sea.

During the conversion period, the submarine remained pier-side at Norfolk, and on December 4, 2015, a change of command ceremony saw Captain James E. Crosley relieve Commander Kevin K. Roach as commanding officer of LA JOLLA, reflecting the shift from an operational submarine's command team to leadership focused on overseeing the complex shipyard project and the boat's future training mission.

The physical conversion of LA JOLLA to a moored training ship proceeded over the next several years. By August 2017, she had been formally redesignated as a moored training ship (MTS-701), even as detailed outfitting and testing continued at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Work was reported complete in late 2019, when Norfolk Naval Shipyard announced the completion of the MTS conversion and the Navy decommissioned LA JOLLA as an active warship, striking her from the Naval Vessel Register on November 15, 2019.

In the spring of 2020, LA JOLLA carried out an extended "fast cruise" alongside the pier, simulating at-sea conditions for crew and trainees without leaving port. After successful testing she was certified and cleared to begin her new role in student training for the Navy's nuclear propulsion program.

As of the mid-2020s, LA JOLLA is permanently moored at the Nuclear Power Training Unit at Naval Support Activity Charleston in Goose Creek, South Carolina, where she serves as MTS-701. There, she operates alongside the converted training submarine MTS-711, the former SAN FRANCISCO, providing realistic, full-scale platforms on which officer and enlisted students learn to operate and maintain naval nuclear propulsion plants under controlled conditions.

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USS LA JOLLA Image Gallery:

The photo below was taken by me and shows the LA JOLLA at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hi., on March 14, 2008.

The photo below is an official US Navy photo taken by Shayne Hensley and shows the LA JOLLA dry-docked at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va., on September 29, 2015. She has been cut in three pieces in order to add three new sections newly manufactured by General Dynamics Electric Boat. This will add new training spaces for LA JOLLA's new mission as a moored training ship.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show LA JOLLA's sail on a barge at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va., on October 12, 2016. LA JOLLA had her sail removed during her conversion to a moored training ship on September 12, 2016, for use as a shipyard training platform. While the complete conversion of the submarine will dispose of a substantial portion of LA JOLLA, shipyard workers are salvaging the boat's components and finding ways to utilize these items for training. Be it training on periscopes, upper and lower hatches, ventilation and exhaust valves, electrical hull penetrations, hull cuts, piping, staging, painting, and more, the benefits of having the sail for training are wide-ranging. NNSY's Sheet Metal, Outside Machine, Electrical, Pipefitter, Painting/Blasting, Lifting and Handling and Temporary Services shops all stand to benefit from the use of the sail to expand the skills and abilities of their employees. Since sail work is among the greatest challenges in overhauling fast-attack nuclear submarines, having an actual one for shipyarders to train on is a big advantage and the NNSY will be the first shipyard in the world to have such a training facility.

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