THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 1, 1995 TAG: 9504020229
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Launched nearly a generation ago, during an era of nuclear proliferation, by people with genius and a nation with seemingly bottomless pockets, the world's largest class of nuclear-powered submarines runs out of new hulls with the christening at 7 tonight of the last authorized Los Angeles class submarine.
The fast-attack submarine Cheyenne, carrying the hull number 773, is the 62nd submarine of its class to be built, and the 29th constructed at Newport News Shipbuilding.
The Los Angeles class is also known as the ``688-Class,'' for the hull number of its first sub. Tonight's commissioning marks the beginning of the end of the class, which the Navy built to counter what was once a 3-to-1 Soviet advantage in submarines.
Funding for the class began in 1970 with the Los Angeles, which was commissioned in 1976. During that era, the average cost of each submarine was $225 million, a figure that grew each year because of inflation and added capabilities built into the ships.
Today, the authorized cost of the Cheyenne is $782 million.
The Navy calls the last 23 of its 62-ship series the ``improved'' class, since they were built with Tomahawk vertical-launch missile tubes and mine-laying and under-ice capabilities.
Shipyard problems and late deliveries plagued the sub class in its early years, but today's submariners know it better for its unlucky ``world record'' - the 13 swings it took before a bottle of California champagne would break on the bow of the Los Angeles as it was sent down the ways.
Luck has run strong with the submarine class. None has ever been demolished, or sustained a severe casualty after being placed into service. They have fired in anger at only one country, launching cruise missiles against Iraq, and have never fired torpedoes at an adversary.
They have all been named for American cities, with the exception of one - the Hyman G. Rickover. He was the admiral and genius the Navy considered to be the father of the nuclear Navy.
The Los Angeles submarines are the backbone of the nation's undersea fleet. Yet the oldest ships in the class already have begun to be retired. They are the Baton Rouge, Cincinnati and Omaha.
The Navy is now turning its attention to the Seawolf class, a slightly faster vessel that will carry more weapons. Only three Seawolfs are currently planned. Another class may yet follow it.
In the past 35 years, the Newport News shipyard has turned out 53 nuclear-powered submarines for the Navy. It shared construction of the Los Angeles class subs with the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, Conn.
The Cheyenne, which is named after Wyoming's capital city, is 360 feet long and will have a crew of 14 officers and 126 enlisted personnel. The crew consists of just 66 now, but that will rise as it nears its commissioning in late 1996. MEMO: [For a related story, see page A1 of The Virginian-Pilot for this
date.]
ILLUSTRATION: L.A. CLASS SUBS
The Los Angeles class is the largest of about a dozen classes of
nuclear-powered submarines that the Navy has built since the
Nautilus - the first U.S. nuclear submarine - was completed in
1954.
Total submarines - 62
Built at Newport News - 29
First in the class - Los Angeles:
Commissioned - 1976
Decommissioned - 1994
Cost - $225 million
Last in the class - Cheyenne:
Commissioning - late 1996
Cost - $782 million
Length - 360 feet
Crew - 140
KEYWORDS: U.S. NAVY CHRISTENING SUBMARINE CHEYENNE by CNB