Birth of a Warship
Launching at Electric Boat, Groton CT (March 13, 1982). Inclining experiments. Commissioning ceremony at Naval Base New London (May 21, 1983). Keel laid December 27, 1979.
Cold War Era
North Atlantic patrols, carrier battle group operations, Blue Nose (1984), Shellback Initiation (1988). Dinner for the Crown Prince of Belgium (1985), hosted SECNAV Cheney (1989).
Post-Cold War Era
Mediterranean carrier battle group operations with JFK (1992-93). 83 consecutive days submerged (1996). Operation Noble Anvil — 10 Tomahawks fired, 100% hit rate — earned the "Sure Shooter" nickname (1999).
Global War on Terrorism Era
Record-setting Engineered Refueling Overhaul at Portsmouth (2001-03). Exercise Majestic Eagle (2004, Atlantic). Truman CSG deployment (2004-05). Persian Gulf (2006). Counter-narcotics in SOUTHCOM (2007). American Chopper visit (2005).
Pacific Years
San Diego homeport. Talisman Sabre 2011 with Royal Australian Navy. Brisbane port call. Extensive operations with USS Frank Cable (AS-40) at Apra Harbor, Guam. 2013 WESTPAC — 30,000+ nautical miles, 1,000th dive.
The Final Deployment
50,000+ nautical miles. Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea (CENTCOM). Ports at Garden Island (HMAS Stirling), Duqm Oman, and Diego Garcia. Exercise Lungfish with HMAS Rankin. The final chapter of a 33-year career.
Inactivation & Decommissioning
Inactivation ceremony at Naval Base Point Loma (Oct 16, 2015). Final departure from San Diego (Oct 21). Transit to PSNS Bremerton (arrived Oct 28, 2015). Decommissioning ceremony at Keyport Undersea Museum (Feb 27, 2017).
Photo Credits & Sources
All photographs on this page are U.S. Navy official photographs, in the public domain. Most are reproduced via seaforces.org's SSN-706 archive — photographer and specific Navy VIRIN numbers are unfortunately not preserved in that source.
Where DVIDS (Defense Visual Information Distribution Service) provides direct attribution, we credit the individual Mass Communication Specialist — as with the February 27, 2017 decommissioning photograph by MC1 Amanda R. Gray of Commander, Submarine Group Nine.
If you took any of these photos or know who did — please reach out through the Crew Portal. Every photographer deserves proper credit, and we want to give it.
External sources: seaforces.org · DVIDS decommissioning coverage · navysite.de · uscarriers.net