USS Louisville (SSN-724)

USS Louisville (SSN-724), a Los Angeles-class submarine, is the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for Louisville, Kentucky. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 11 February 1982 and her keel was laid down on 24 September 1984. She was launched on 14 December 1985 sponsored by Mrs. Kinnaird McKee, and commissioned on 8 November 1986 with Captain Charles E. Ellis in command.

Louisville serves as a trials platform for the prototype BQQ-10 ARCI sonars, which incorporate off-the-shelf computer components, allowing easy introduction of modular upgrades.

Stations and deployments
Louisville transited the Panama Canal in January 1987 to make her home base at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego as a part of COMSUBRON11.

During her stay at San Diego, Louisville conducted several WestPac tours. During her 1988-89 WestPac Louisville visited Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines and Guam.

In January and February 1991, as Operation Desert Storm began, Louisville carried out the first war patrol conducted by an American submarine since World War II. The patrol began with a 14,000-mile submerged, high-speed transit across the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean to the Red Sea. Shortly after noon on 19 January, she launched Tomahawk cruise missiles against targets in Iraq, becoming the first submarine to launch Tomahawks in combat, as well as having fired the first warshot of Desert Storm. For this war patrol, Louisville was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation.

In July 1992 Louisville became the first attack submarine to work up and deploy with a carrier battle group in the Pacific.

Currently stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

In 2003, Louisville participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom, launching 16 Tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea against targets in Iraq. Her deployment was extended to eight and a half months in support of the campaign. She was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for her role in the operation.

Louisville completed an extensive overhaul in Portsmouth, NH at the end of 2008. She returned to her homeport of Pearl Harbor in the spring of 2009 as a part of CSS-3.