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USS Minneapolis - St. Paul (SSN 708)

USS MINNEAPOLIS - ST. PAUL was the 21^st LOS ANGELES - class attack submarine and the 16^th ship in that class built by Electric Boat in Groton, CT. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list, the MINNEAPOLIS - ST. PAUL was later recycled at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS MINNEAPOLIS - ST. PAUL. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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• Click here to see which USS MINNEAPOLIS - ST. PAUL memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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Accidents aboard USS MINNEAPOLIS - ST. PAUL:

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USS MINNEAPOLIS - ST. PAUL History:

USS MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL entered the fleet as a Flight I LOS ANGELES-class attack submarine built by Electric Boat after the Navy awarded the construction contract on October 31, 1973. Her keel was laid on January 20, 1981 at Groton, she was launched on March 19, 1983 with Penny Durenberger as sponsor, and she commissioned on March 10, 1984 under Commander Ralph Schlichter.

Initially assigned to Submarine Squadron Two at New London, the boat completed shakedown phases that spring and early summer, including range work at AUTEC, a brief liberty stop at Port Canaveral on June 16, and services at Guantanamo Bay before returning to Groton. On July 9 she conducted operations with USS SKIPJACK (SSN 585) and then executed her first Operational Reactor Safeguards Examination in mid-July, setting the rhythm for the class's early Atlantic Fleet employment. In late autumn, she shifted south, moving her homeport from Groton to Norfolk during a brief voyage from December 1-3 and joining Submarine Squadron Eight on December 15.

Through early 1985, the submarine cycled through pre-deployment training and certifications from Norfolk in preparation for her first major overseas employment. The following year opened with a Tactical Readiness Evaluation in the Virginia Capes operating areas from January 3-24, followed by FLEETEX 1-86 in the western Atlantic and Caribbean (February 11-21). After a March upkeep, POM workups in May, and POM certification on June 2-5, MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL sailed east on June 16, 1986, for an independent submarine operation in European waters that Commander Charles J. Beers characterized as of "great importance". The deployment ran to September 15 and included voyage repairs and liberty at Holy Loch, Scotland (August 17-20), Portsmouth, England (August 22-27), and Brest, France (August 28-September 2) before she returned to Norfolk to resume Atlantic operations and post-deployment inspections.

After completing the tail end of her first Mediterranean deployment in early 1987, the submarine returned to the Atlantic Fleet routine under Submarine Squadron Eight at Norfolk and entered a Selected Restricted Availability (SRA) before returning to sea for exercises, trials and training evolutions directed by Commander, Submarine Squadron Eight.

From January 1, 1988 through May 24, 1988, MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL executed a Mediterranean deployment with Sixth Fleet tasking. For her undersea warfare performance on that cruise she received the Commander, Sixth Fleet ASW "Hook 'em" Award. After returning stateside, she spent late May-July 1988 in port at Norfolk before resuming local underway periods to close the year.

In 1989, the boat began with SRA work at Norfolk, including a drydocking in the floating dry dock RESOLUTE (AFDM 10), then returned to sea for progressive training and services. In April, she operated with HAMMERHEAD (SSN 663) in the Puerto Rican operating areas and ran a midshipman period with a liberty call at Port Everglades. Through June, she conducted events with GREENLING (SSN 614) and PHILIPPINE SEA (CG 58). In August, she operated with BATON ROUGE (SSN 689). A dependents' cruise and the formal Pre-Overseas Movement certification followed in September. From October-December 1989 she carried out special operations, for which the command history notes award of the Navy Expeditionary Medal. For the fiscal year she also earned Submarine Squadron Eight's Battle Efficiency "E".

On April 27, 1990, command passed to Cmdr. Neil E. Rondorf, relieving Cmdr. James W. Metzger at Norfolk. Late that summer, the submarine deployed for special operations in support of Operation Desert Shield, getting underway on August 22, 1990, and remaining on tasking through February 21, 1991, when she returned to Norfolk at the end of a six-month cruise. The Desert Shield/Storm period awards guidance confirms MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL's qualifying Southwest Asia service during August 1990-February 1991.

In the immediate post-deployment period she resumed Atlantic Fleet workups: in April 1991, she participated in FLEETEX 91-1 and made a short liberty call at Port Everglades before continuing inspections and local training through the remainder of the year under Submarine Squadron Eight. Across 1992-1993, the boat alternated maintenance, certifications, and underway training in the western Atlantic and Caribbean, the typical rhythm for an SSN between major deployments: refresher training and ORSE/TRE cycles, services for fleet units, and weapons/sensor proficiency periods that included time on the AUTEC ranges. Command histories for these years also reflect a steady stream of inspections and short underway periods leading into mid-1990s deployment workups.

In 1994, MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL spent the winter and spring providing services in the Narragansett Bay and New London operating areas, then supported a Chief of Naval Operations project in the Gulf of Mexico with a port visit to Port Canaveral on March 1, 1994. She took part in FLEETEX 2-94 and the large joint exercise Agile Provider in April 1994, executed a two-week training availability at Groton in May, and conducted weapons-proficiency firings at AUTEC during July. Late in the year, the submarine departed on a North Atlantic cruise.

The submarine began 1995 on her three-month North Atlantic deployment, returning to Norfolk in January 1995 after liberty calls at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, and Brest, France. She entered Selected Restricted Availability (SRA) at Newport News in March-June 1995, then resumed operations: support to the AMERICA (CV 66) battle group's COMPTUEX Phase II, services for JACKSONVILLE (SSN 699), SSBN support in July, TRE at AUTEC with acoustic trials at Exuma Sound in September, and inspections through November-December. On March 28, 1995, Cdr. Arnold L. Lotring relieved Cdr. Michael P. Agor in command.

After early-year POM workups, 1996 saw another three-month Atlantic deployment wrapped up in July 1996. In September, the boat executed TACDEVEX 18-96 and completed ORSE. In October she ran TRE and TWP at AUTEC; in November she entered an emergent dry-docking before closing the year with additional examinations. In April-July 1997, the submarine deployed again "in support of national security" tasking in the North Atlantic and high-latitude operating areas typical for the class in the late 1990s, bracketed by local training and inspections. On August 15, 1997, Cdr. Michael T. Maliniak relieved Cdr. Arnold L. Lotring. The boat completed an Underway Material Inspection in December 1997, setting conditions for the next overseas period.

On February 26, 1998, MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL departed Norfolk for a five-month Mediterranean deployment with the JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74) battle group and Destroyer Squadron Twenty-Two. During the cruise she participated in Exercise Shark Hunt '98 off Spain - an undersea warfare evolution with CARON (DD 970), Maritime Prepositioning Ship MAJ. STEPHEN W. PLESS (T-AK 3007), VP-26, and Dutch maritime patrol aircraft - and made port calls at Lisbon, Gibraltar, Naples, La Maddalena, and Souda Bay before returning in late summer.

Through 1999-2001, the submarine continued the Atlantic Fleet pattern of POM workups, ORSE/TRE cycles, AUTEC acoustic and weapons proficiency, and periodic North Atlantic tasking, supporting carrier and surface groups and allied ASW forces as the post-Cold-War mission set matured toward land-attack and intelligence roles. These inter-deployment years set up her immediate post-9/11 operations.

In January 2002, MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL deployed to the Mediterranean in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, with a change of command at Santo Stefano/La Maddalena, Sardinia in April 2002 when Cdr. David S. Ratte relieved Cdr. John A. Ferrer. During the cruise, she made port calls at Toulon, Aksaz, Souda Bay, and Naples, then returned to the western Atlantic later that year. Navy unit command histories for 2002 also place the boat in combined ASW evolutions and live-fire maritime-interdiction work with surface combatants.

The 2003 command history records a full operating year of inspections, workups and underway periods consistent with increased North Atlantic tasking for fast-attack submarines. The subsequent cycle culminated in a six-month North Atlantic deployment ending with a homecoming on November 5, 2003, after three national-tasking missions and liberty calls at Faslane, Stavanger, and Plymouth. A change of command followed at Norfolk on December 3, 2003, when Cdr. Edwin J. Ruff relieved Cdr. David S. Ratte.

During 2004-2005, the submarine mixed local operations, inspections, and upkeep out of Norfolk with periodic underway periods and Atlantic exercises - photographic sequences from the time show her at Norfolk in September 2003 and November 2004, bracketing that operating cycle - before preparing for what proved to be her final deployment.

On December 29, 2006, while departing HMNB Devonport at Plymouth on the surface after a port visit, four sailors were washed overboard in heavy seas. Two - Senior Chief Thomas Higgins and Sonar Technician (Submarines) Second Class Michael Holtz - later died. The incident prompted investigations and fleet-wide emphasis on fundamentals. MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL continued her return transit with pictures placing her at Rota, Spain in January 2007. The submarine arrived home from her final North Atlantic deployment on April 3, 2007, then was formally inactivated at Norfolk on June 22, 2007. She sailed shortly thereafter for Pearl Harbor to prepare for retirement and was decommissioned and stricken on August 28, 2008. MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL was subsequently towed to Bremerton, Wash., with custody passing to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for recycling. The boat's sail and rudder have since been recovered to Minnesota for preservation.

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USS MINNEAPOLIS - ST. PAUL Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by me and show the MINNEAPOLIS - ST. PAUL laid-up at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., on March 14, 2010.

The photo below was taken by me and shows a number of decommissioned nuclear-powered attack submarines laid up at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash. The photo was taken from Port Orchard, Wash., on May 12, 2012. The submarines' names are on the photo.

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