USS Santa Fe (SSN 763)

USS SANTA FE is the 52^nd LOS ANGELES - class attack submarine and the 13^th of the 23 improved LOS ANGELES - class submarines.

General Characteristics:	Awarded: March 21, 1986
	Keel laid: July 9, 1991
	Launched: December 12, 1992
	Commissioned: January 8, 1994
	Builder: Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation, Groton, CT
	Propulsion system: one nuclear reactor
	Propellers: one
	Length: 360 feet (109.73 meters)
	Beam: 33 feet (10 meters)
	Draft: 32,15 feet (9.8 meters)
	Displacement: Surfaced: approx. 6,300 tons Submerged: approx. 7,100 tons
	Speed: Surfaced: approx. 15 knots Submerged: approx. 32 knots
	Armament: Tomahawk missiles from 12 VLS-tubes, four 533 mm torpedo Tubes for Mk-48 torpedoes, Harpoon missiles, ability to lay mines
	Cost: approx. $900 million
	Homeport: San Diego, Calif.
	Crew: 13 Officers, 116 Enlisted

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Crew List:

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

Click here to view the list.

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USS SANTA FE History:

USS SANTA FE was ordered from General Dynamics Electric Boat Division in Groton, Connecticut, on March 21, 1986, as part of the third "improved" flight of the LOS ANGELES-class attack submarines, configured for under-ice operations and equipped with vertical launch tubes for Tomahawk land-attack missiles. Her keel was laid on July 9, 1991, and she was launched on December 12, 1992, with Joy Johnson as sponsor. After completion of fitting-out and sea trials, she was commissioned on January 8, 1994, at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, with Commander Rodger P. Krull in command. From the outset she was intended for the Pacific Fleet, but her early work was rooted in the familiar pattern of post-commissioning trials and crew training off the U.S. East Coast.

Following shakedown, which included testing of her combat systems and the vertical launch system in the mid-1990s, USS SANTA FE shifted to the Pacific and established her operational home at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She joined SUBMARINE SQUADRON 7 under Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, and spent the mid-1990s cycling through local operations, type training, and maintenance periods as the crew learned to use the full spectrum of her capabilities - anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence collection, and land-attack with Tomahawk. During this period the broader strategic context for U.S. submarines in the Pacific was defined by post-Cold War force reductions on the one hand, and on the other by continuing commitments in the Persian Gulf and growing attention to the Western Pacific as China and other regional navies expanded their capabilities.

SANTA FE's first long deployment came in 1997, when she conducted her maiden cruise to the Western Pacific and the Persian Gulf. Open sources summarise this as a six-month deployment completed in 1997, without giving exact sailing and return dates, but it is clear that she split her time between Seventh Fleet waters in the western Pacific and Fifth Fleet operations in the Gulf. Tasks likely included surveillance of regional naval activity, support to carrier battle group operations, and presence missions in a period marked by continued enforcement of United Nations sanctions on Iraq and routine U.S. air and maritime operations under Operation Southern Watch. This first deployment established the pattern that would follow: long WestPac/Persian Gulf cruises, interspersed with shorter local operations and upkeep in Hawaii.

In 1998, USS SANTA FE entered a Selected Restricted Availability at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, a planned maintenance period that included work on her hull, mechanical and electrical systems, and combat systems. This availability concluded later that year and prepared her for renewed deployment cycles. By 1999, she was again at sea for a major deployment to the Western Pacific and Persian Gulf. During this cruise, she earned both a Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation and a Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation, reflecting combined or mutually supporting operations with U.S. Coast Guard forces - likely related to maritime interception, sanctions enforcement, or smuggling interdiction in the Gulf and approaches. The specific missions remain classified or not publicly detailed, but the dual Navy and Coast Guard recognition indicates close coordination across services in these operations.

The period around 2000 saw SANTA FE singled out for improvement and performance. She received the Arleigh Burke Fleet Trophy for 2000, awarded to the most improved ship in the U.S. Fleet in operational readiness, and in 2001 she received the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Pacific Fleet, traditionally given to the most battle-ready ship in its category. These awards frame her 2001 deployment, again to the Western Pacific and Persian Gulf. That cruise, conducted as the U.S. Navy adapted to the post-September 11 security environment and the opening stages of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, earned the submarine two additional Meritorious Unit Commendations as well as her first COMSUBRON 7 Battle "E" efficiency award. Public sources describe the deployment only in general terms, but given the timing and theater, SANTA FE would have contributed to intelligence collection, strike options, and undersea security in support of broader coalition operations in the Central Command area.

From late 2001 through 2002 and into early 2003, USS SANTA FE remained primarily in the Pacific, conducting exercises, local operations, and maintenance out of Pearl Harbor while the U.S. Navy's submarine force was heavily engaged worldwide in support of operations in Afghanistan and, beginning in 2003, in Iraq. This period included routine certifications, tactical development work with other Pacific Fleet units, and preparations for another full Western Pacific deployment as the United States "rebalanced" more attention back to Asia even while still engaged in the Middle East.

In September 2003, SANTA FE deployed again to the Western Pacific, remaining forward until March 2004. During this deployment she took part in the major bilateral exercise ANNUALEX 2003 with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, an annual series designed to strengthen U.S.-Japan naval interoperability in anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare. Over these six months, she conducted port visits in Singapore; Guam; multiple visits to Sasebo, Japan; and a stay in Yokosuka, Japan, where she rode out a typhoon in port. The deployment earned SANTA FE a Navy Unit Commendation, the second-highest unit award available to a U.S. naval vessel, for the significance of her operational contributions during that period, which coincided with the first full year of the Iraq War and heightened attention to maintaining stability and deterrence in East Asia.

On returning to Hawaii, the submarine entered an interim drydocking in October 2004 at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. Over roughly three months, workers completed hull preservation, maintenance to propulsion and auxiliary systems, and selected combat-system upgrades before she refloated and began post-availability trials and workups. In May 2005, SANTA FE undertook a two-month Eastern Pacific deployment from her homeport, operating primarily in the eastern Pacific and along the West Coast. This cruise was used to exercise her crew and systems away from home waters, and to build toward another extended Western Pacific deployment. She returned to Pearl Harbor in June 2005.

On August 9, 2005, USS SANTA FE departed Pearl Harbor for yet another Western Pacific deployment, this time highlighted by participation in Exercise MALABAR with the Indian Navy off Goa, India. MALABAR, originally a bilateral U.S.-India anti-submarine and surface warfare exercise, reflected the deepening maritime partnership between the two countries as India's role in the Indian Ocean grew. SANTA FE was only the second U.S. nuclear-powered submarine to join MALABAR and to make a port call to Goa, underscoring both political sensitivity and operational trust. After MALABAR she made a brief port visit to Phuket, Thailand, becoming the first U.S. submarine to call there since 2001, and then continued Western Pacific operations before returning to Pearl Harbor in February 2006.

In July 2006, SANTA FE left Hawaii for an inter-fleet transfer to the U.S. East Coast, executing a high-latitude transit through the Arctic under the auspices of the Arctic Submarine Laboratory. She transited under ice, surfaced near the North Pole, and then proceeded south into the Atlantic, making a port call in Brest, France, before heading for overhaul. The Arctic transit demonstrated the under-ice capability of the improved LOS ANGELES-class and contributed to U.S. knowledge of operating in high-latitude seas, which are of growing strategic interest as Arctic sea lanes open seasonally.

Following this transit, USS SANTA FE entered a major repair period at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. Public sources describe this as an approximately 18-month maintenance and modernization period, essentially a depot-level overhaul known as a Depot Modernization Period. During this time, starting in early 2007, the submarine received extensive work on her reactor plant, propulsion train, combat systems, habitability spaces, and structural elements to extend her service life. Commander Vernon J. Parks Jr. commanded SANTA FE from January 2007 to January 2010, overseeing completion of this depot modernization, associated testing, and preparations for returning the boat to full operational status.

On completion of the repair period, SANTA FE conducted sea trials out of Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia, and then transited south to the Panama Canal. After passing through the canal she returned to the Pacific and resumed her place in Pearl Harbor as a frontline attack submarine of the Pacific Fleet. In mid-2008, she took part in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, participating in the world's largest international maritime exercise off Hawaii alongside a large multinational force, including surface combatants, submarines, and aircraft from across the Pacific region.

After several months of workups, SANTA FE left Pearl Harbor again in May 2009 for a six-month Western Pacific deployment. Between May and November 2009 she operated across the Western Pacific, making port calls in Singapore, Saipan, Guam, Okinawa, and Yokosuka. These stops reflect a pattern of 7th Fleet operations in support of alliance relationships with Japan and U.S. territories such as Guam and the Northern Marianas, as well as regional engagement in Southeast Asia. Returning to Pearl Harbor in late 2009, she was awarded the Battle Efficiency "E" in January 2010, indicating that she had been judged the top-performing submarine in her squadron across readiness, tactical performance, engineering, and logistical categories.

In early 2011, USS SANTA FE sailed once more for the Western Pacific. During this six-month deployment she again conducted a series of complex missions described in official summaries as operations "of great importance to national security" in demanding undersea environments. The boat visited Sasebo several times, as well as Chinhae in South Korea, Yokosuka, Guam, and Subic Bay in the Philippines. These port calls underscored the U.S. Navy's focus on the broader Indo-Pacific region at a time of increasing Chinese naval activity and continuing tension on the Korean Peninsula. SANTA FE also took part in another iteration of Exercise MALABAR during this period, working alongside Indian Navy units in complex anti-submarine and surface warfare scenarios. She returned to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on August 24, 2011, formally completing the deployment and soon afterward receiving both a Navy Unit Commendation and the COMSUBRON 7 Battle "E" for her performance.

In 2013, she began a six-month Western Pacific deployment that carried into early 2014. She returned to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on January 28, 2014, after this deployment, which again focused on Indo-Pacific security and multinational cooperation but for which detailed public descriptions of operations and port visits are sparse beyond confirmation of a port call at Yokosuka in August 2013.

That summer, SANTA FE joined Rim of the Pacific Exercise 2014. On July 8, 2014, she departed Pearl Harbor for the at-sea phase of RIMPAC, operating alongside more than 40 ships and submarines and around 200 aircraft from 22 nations in and around Hawaii and Southern California. In this context, the submarine contributed to anti-submarine, anti-surface, and strike-warfare scenarios designed to test coalition interoperability and undersea tactics during a period when the U.S. "rebalance" to Asia and concerns about contested maritime spaces - from the South China Sea to the western Pacific - were intensifying.

In 2015, USS SANTA FE again deployed to the Western Pacific. On June 18, 2015, she arrived in Singapore for a port visit during this deployment, highlighting Singapore's role as a key security partner and logistical hub for U.S. forces in Southeast Asia. After this stop she resumed operations in the region, the details of which remain largely classified but would have encompassed surveillance, presence, and training missions characteristic of U.S. attack submarines in the Indo-Asia-Pacific theater. Around this timeframe she again earned the squadron-level Battle "E", reflecting sustained high readiness and performance.

Following routine maintenance and workups, SANTA FE undertook another Western Pacific deployment that concluded in mid-2017. She returned to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on August 15, 2017, after six months deployed. Official accounts emphasise the demanding nature of the deployment's pre-deployment workups and the crew's ability to maintain a high operational tempo throughout the cruise. While specific operations and port visits were not widely reported, the deployment was in line with the U.S. Navy's continuing emphasis on undersea dominance and forward presence in the Western Pacific.

On April 13, 2018, USS SANTA FE held a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, marking another transition in leadership as the submarine prepared for future operations. She embarked on another deployment in January 2019 which, according to official reports, concluded when she returned to Pearl Harbor from deployment on April 22, 2019. That deployment again took her to the Western Pacific, where she supported theater security objectives and engaged with allied and partner navies, though granular details on timing of individual port visits and specific mission sets remain largely undisclosed.

By the late 2010s, SANTA FE's operational and maintenance pattern shifted again toward a major overhaul. On May 22, 2019, she left Hawaii heading for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, for a major submarine overhaul, aligning with a scheduled 18-month maintenance and modernization period. In that depot-level work package, she received modernised systems to keep her tactically relevant into the 2020s, including upgrades to combat and sonar systems and life-extension work on propulsion and ship's systems.

Once this maintenance was complete in early 2022, USS SANTA FE carried out sea trials and shakedown in the western Atlantic, operating from Portsmouth and making use of East Coast ranges before preparing for an inter-theater move back to the Pacific.

On March 30, 2022, SANTA FE arrived at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego, California, from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, formally shifting her homeport as part of the U.S. Navy's strategic laydown plan for Indo-Pacific forces. The move placed her under Commander, Submarine Squadron 11, alongside other LOS ANGELES-class attack submarines based in San Diego. After her arrival in San Diego, she began a new cycle of local operations and certifications in the Southern California (SOCAL) operating areas, using the waters off Point Loma as a base for training and readiness activities.

By 2023, USS SANTA FE was again operating in the wider Indo-Pacific. In November 2023, she entered a South Korean naval base on Jeju Island. South Korean media reported her arrival on November 22, 2023, underscoring the continued use of U.S. nuclear-powered attack submarines as a visible element of extended deterrence and alliance reassurance on the Korean Peninsula. This port visit took place against a backdrop of persistent North Korean missile tests and continuing allied emphasis on combined readiness. The visit also reflected broader U.S. policy to demonstrate undersea presence in Northeast Asia.

After this Western Pacific deployment, USS SANTA FE returned to her homeport on the U.S. West Coast. Official imagery and social-media posts from early 2024 show her moored at Naval Base Point Loma on January 10, 2024, following what is described as a seven-month deployment. During that deployment she operated across the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility, executing the full range of missions typical for an attack submarine: anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare training with allied navies, intelligence and surveillance patrols, and presence operations in support of regional stability. The return to San Diego and subsequent short local underways marked the beginning of another readiness cycle from her new homeport.

According to subsequent official releases, USS SANTA FE has continued to conduct deployments and operations from Naval Base Point Loma. In September 2025, she returned there after a six-month deployment to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area, again emphasizing her continuing role as an active, front-line attack submarine despite her age relative to newer VIRGINIA-class units. The deployment reflected the ongoing reliance of the U.S. Navy on improved LOS ANGELES-class submarines for undersea presence and deterrence in the Western Pacific and beyond.

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USS SANTA FE Patch Gallery:

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USS SANTA FE Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by me and show the SANTA FE at Submarine Base Point Loma, Calif., on October 10 and 11, 2012.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows the SANTA FE at Naval Base Pearl Harbor, Hi., on June 8, 2019.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows USS SANTA FE during an Engineered Overhaul (EOH) at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, on September 14, 2019.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the SANTA FE at Submarine Base Point Loma, Calif., on May 29, 2022.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the SANTA FE at Submarine Base Point Loma, Calif., on October 9, 2022, and October 10, 2022 (the last photo).