USS Dallas (SSN-700)

USS Dallas (SSN-700) was a Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarine of the United States Navy. She was the Navy's second vessel of that name, and the first to be named after the city of Dallas, Texas, although another two ships were scheduled but never completed. On 4 April 2018, after nearly 37 years of commissioned service, the boat was decommissioned at the Controlled Industrial Area of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The defueled vessel will eventually undergo recycling.[1][2]

For other ships with the same name, see USS Dallas.

Dallas carrying a Dry Deck Shelter in 2004.
History
United States
Name: USS Dallas
Namesake: the city of Dallas, Texas
Awarded: 31 January 1973
Builder: General Dynamics Corporation
Laid down: 9 October 1976
Launched: 28 April 1979
Commissioned: 18 July 1981
Decommissioned: 4 April 2018[1]
Out of service: 22 May 2017
Stricken: 4 April 2018
Homeport: Groton, Connecticut
Motto: First in Harm's Way
Nickname(s): Big D
Status: Stricken, on museum hold
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type: Los Angeles-class submarine
Displacement: 6,900 tons
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
Complement: 127
Armament: 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes

Service history

The contract to build Dallas was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 31 October 1973 and her keel was laid down on 9 October 1976. She was launched on 28 April 1979 sponsored by Mrs. Rita Crocker Clements, wife of former Deputy Secretary of Defense William P. Clements, Jr., and commissioned on 18 July 1981. Dallas was the first submarine of the Los Angeles class to be originally built with an all-digital fire control (tracking and weapon) system and sonar system.

After commissioning, Dallas was attached to Submarine Development Squadron 12 in New London, Connecticut, where she was involved in research and development projects. From September 1988 Dallas was a member of Submarine Squadron 2, New London, Connecticut. During her time with Squadron 2, she completed the first ever Depot Modernization Period and various overseas deployments.

Dallas completed an Engineered Refueling Overhaul (ERO) at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine in 1998. The D1G-2 core was replaced with a D2W core. Dallas has had a removable Dry Deck Shelter for over a decade.[3] This large chamber, fitted aft of the sail, has an array of air, water and hydraulic systems that allow Dallas to employ the Swimmer Delivery Vehicle, a highly mobile and virtually undetectable means of carrying out special forces missions.

Dallas has completed one deployment to the Indian Ocean, four Mediterranean Sea deployments, two Persian Gulf deployments, and seven deployments to the North Atlantic.

On 27 August 1981 Dallas damaged her lower rudder when she ran aground while approaching the Atlantic Underwater Test and Evaluation Center site at Andros Island, Bahamas. The submarine worked herself free after several hours and returned on the surface to New London, Connecticut, for repairs.

Museum and delayed inactivation
Dallas returning from her 2013 deployment.

Naval Sea Systems Command, the city of Dallas and the Dallas Navy League began discussions in 2008 for items from the boat in support of a memorial. These will become available during the actual vessel recycling phase, which is scheduled for 2023 for Dallas.[2] Originally, it was planned to decommission Dallas in September 2014.[4] In May 2013, officials with the city of Dallas, Texas, announced a plan to create a maritime museum more than 250 miles (400 km) from the nearest body of water in which a submarine can operate in. Mayor Mike Rawlings and members of a foundation formed to create the new facility revealed one of their goals is to acquire and display Dallas next to a 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) museum building.

In 2013, the US Navy announced that the plan to retire Dallas had been extended to Fiscal Year 2017 and that instead, USS Norfolk would begin inactivation in early 2015. The US Navy projected to save $10 million in Pre-Inactivation Restricted Availability (PIRA) costs as a result of the change.[5]

The Dallas Maritime Museum, to be located along the banks of the Trinity River (Texas), is planned to contain some components of the original boat, such as her sail, although there is some discussion about moving the entire submarine to the museum if the money can be raised.[6]

The Dallas Navy League had planned to host the four-day inactivation ceremony, to take place in Galveston, TX on 7 April, 2017. The Navy League subsequently reported that this public relations event was canceled by the US Navy, citing "budgetary constraints" while operating under a continuing resolution. Additionally, costs to the City of Dallas and/or the US Navy from leasing back already-allocated pier space were judged as excessive. The requirement to compensate commercial shipping companies for their already-reserved commercial pier space resulted from the Navy's on-again/off-again planning cycle for the inactivation ceremony, which ultimately was re-canceled.

Awards

Dallas received two Meritorious Unit Commendations, two Navy Unit Commendations and was awarded the Battle Efficiency E for FY 1986, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2000 and 2013. Further recognition includes nomination for the 1993 Battenberg Cup as the best all-around ship in the fleet and the 1999 Engineering "E" and Medical "M".

In fiction
  • The ship is used in a more minor role in several other Clancy books; as such, the actual ship's crew adopted the film's tagline "The Hunt Is On" as an unofficial ship's motto. For the filming in the Pacific Ocean, USS Houston was the primary submarine used. USS Louisville was used in two scenes: the drydock scene at the fictional "Patuxent, Maryland" graving dock, and the scene where Jack Ryan is attempting to board Dallas. According to coverage of the filming in Sea Classics magazine, one USS Dallas sailor took leave, from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, to fly to California to participate in the filming.

References
  1. Smith, Michael L. (9 April 2018). "USS Dallas Decommissions After 38 Years of Service" (Press release). United States Navy. NNS180409-30. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  2. Friedrich, Ed (22 May 2017). "USS Dallas completing 36-year-run in Bremerton". Kitsap Sun. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  3. Rehana, Joseph (2000). "First Los Angeles-Class SSN Gets Dry-Deck Shelter". U.S. Navy. Archived from the original on 21 November 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  4. Fellman, Sam (10 July 2013). "7 frigates on list of FY '14 decommissionings". Navy Times. Archived from the original on 13 July 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  5. "Navy Swaps Dallas, Norfolk Inactivation Dates" (Press release). U.S. Navy. 30 May 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  6. Macon, Alex (8 December 2017). "Could the Nuclear Submarine USS Dallas Finally Come to Dallas?". D Magazine. Retrieved 5 January 2018.

This article includes information collected from the public domain sources Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships and Naval Vessel Register.

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