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Pittsburgh (SSN-720)
USINFO | 2013-09-26 15:06
.jpg) Pittsburgh participates in a dockside ceremony. |
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| Career (US) |
 |
| Name: | USS Pittsburgh |
| Namesake: | The City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Awarded: | 16 April 1979 |
| Builder: | General Dynamics Electric Boat |
| Laid down: | 15 April 1983 |
| Launched: | 8 December 1984 |
| Commissioned: | 23 November 1985 |
| Homeport: | Groton, Connecticut |
| Motto: | Heart of Steel |
| Status: | in active service, as of 2013 |
| Badge: |
 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Los Angeles-class submarine |
| Displacement: |
5,802 long tons (5,895 t) light 6,193 long tons (6,292 t) full 391 long tons (397 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 |
| Speed: |
Surfaced:20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h) Submerged: +20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h) (official) |
| Complement: | 12 officers, 98 men |
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Sensors and processing systems: |
BQQ-5 passive SONAR, BQS-15 detecting and ranging SONAR, WLR-8 fire control RADAR receiver, WLR-9 acoustic receiver for detection of active search SONAR and acoustic homing torpedoes, BRD-7 radio direction finder |
| Armament: | 4 × 21 in (533 mm) bow tubes, 10Mk48 ADCAP torpedo reloads, Tomahawk land attack missile block 3 SLCM range 1,700 nautical miles (3,100 km), Harpoon anti–surface ship missile range 70 nautical miles (130 km), mine laying Mk67 mobile Mk60 captor mines |
USS Pittsburgh (SSN-720) is a Los Angeles-class submarine and was the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
History
The contract to build Pittsburgh was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 16 April 1979 and her keel was laid down on 15 April 1983. She was launched on 8 December 1984 sponsored by Mrs. George Sawyer, and commissioned on 23 November 1985, with Commander Raymond Setser in command.
Pittsburgh demonstrates an emergency main ballast tank blow in 1991.
On 2 April 1991 Pittsburgh and Louisville conducted submarine-launched Tomahawk missile attacks against Iraqduring Operation Desert Storm. This made the Pittsburgh the first submarine to fire a Tomahawk missile.[1]
Pittsburgh departed in October 2002 to deploy in the Mediterranean Sea. There, she again fired Tomahawk missiles into Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. She returned from that deployment on 27 April 2003.
On 3 August 2012, Commander Michael Ward II was relieved of command of the ship after "allegations of personal misconduct" surfaced in the media.[2][3]
