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USS Albany (SSN 753)

USS ALBANY is the third improved LOS ANGELES class attack submarine and the first submarine to bear this name.

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Crew List:

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

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USS ALBANY History:

USS ALBANY took shape at Newport News Shipbuilding after the contract award on November 29, 1983; her keel was laid on April 22, 1985, she launched down the ways on June 13, 1987 with Nancy M. Kissinger as sponsor, and she commissioned on April 7, 1990, under Commander Darl R. Anderson. Built as an "improved" LOS ANGELES-class boat with vertical launch capability and selected HY-100 steel sections, she joined the Atlantic Fleet, homeported at Norfolk, to begin post-commissioning trials and work-ups.

The submarine's first extended overseas employment unfolded in 1992 during a Mediterranean deployment whose port rhythm hints at her tasking. After upkeep at La Maddalena, Sardinia, beginning November 7, 1992, and a Naples visit November 11-19, she paused at Gibraltar on December 10 and returned to Norfolk on December 24, closing a five-month cruise. In early 1993, ALBANY entered SHIPPINGPORT (ARDM 4) at New London for emergent repairs (February 11-22) and ran post-dock sea trials on February 26-27. A four-day Fleet Week-style call at Port Everglades, Florida, on March 13 set a public tone between training bouts on the AUTEC ranges. A July 21 docking in SHIPPINGPORT at Groton, additional AUTEC periods in August, and November pre-overseas training completed the year. On November 30, she sailed for a North Atlantic deployment, calling at Coulport, Scotland, on December 23 to begin a high-latitudes cycle.

The 1994 itinerary read like a Northern Europe textbook. After Portsmouth, England, on February 17, and Haakonsvern/Bergen, Norway, on March 2, ALBANY joined Exercise Arctic Express (March 7-18) and returned to Norfolk on March 31. A change of command followed on May 14 and a Selected Restricted Availability at Newport News began May 31, with sea trials in mid-August and another AUTEC period in November, capped by POM training at Submarine School, New London, in December. In 1995, she deployed again to the North Atlantic (April 25-July 10), visiting Rosyth, Scotland, and Brest, France, then mixed local operations and POM workups, pausing at Port Canaveral on September 30 before year-end certification events.

ALBANY opened 1996 with another North Atlantic deployment (January 3-April 5), including a Faslane call March 21 and a return to Norfolk April 5. Summer and autumn saw battle group operations in the Puerto Rican operating areas, with Roosevelt Roads port calls interleaved from late August through mid-December, a pattern that foreshadowed integration with carrier and amphibious groups. The first weeks of 1997 were spent in floating dry dock RESOLUTE for emergent repairs. COMPTUEX in February and JTFEX in March set the stage for deployment. On April 29, 1997, she departed with the JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67) Battle Group for Fifth and Sixth Fleet waters, visiting Gibraltar (May 12), La Maddalena for SIMON LAKE (AS 33) tender support (May 19-26), Toulon (June 4-10), Palma de Mallorca (June 13-17), and Corfu (July 7-13). She took part in SHAREM 121 (June 21-July 1), then shifted east: Haifa (August 8-15), Suez Canal transit (August 17), Manama, Bahrain (August 28-September 6), a Mediterranean return on September 25 with Limassol (September 27-30) and more La Maddalena upkeep before returning to Norfolk on October 28. Three days later she entered RESOLUTE (December 2) for a three-month SRA.

A training-heavy 1998 followed: VACAPES sea trials and AUTEC sound trials began February 27. PCO operations at AFWTF off Puerto Rico ran through May; and a string of local underways and ORSE preps filled the summer. In September, she conducted a Dependent's Day Cruise, then shifted to New London in late September for POM training and closed the year with December sea trials. In 1999, ALBANY left Norfolk on February 12 for a cold-water North Atlantic run: multiple Faslane lay-overs bracketed visits to Tromso (April 17) and Bergen (May 4), and she returned July 2. A September 10 change of command, a Hurricane Floyd emergency sortie on September 15, and a November dry-dock period closed the millennium.

The 2000 work-up cycle grafted her to the GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73) Battle Group: COMPTUEX in March-April, JTFEX 00-2 in May, then a June 26 departure for Sixth Fleet waters. Her port track for that deployment shows a classic Mediterranean arc - Gibraltar (July 6-10), Toulon (July 21-27), La Spezia (July 29-August 1), Souda Bay (August 24-28), Naples (October 30-November 3), plus repeated La Maddalena tender periods - along with "Slunj 2000" exercises in the Adriatic in early November. Homecoming followed on December 21. In 2001, she executed REFTRA (March 27-April 5), Tactical Development Exercises (mid-April and May), PCO ops, Roosevelt Roads and Port Canaveral port calls in May, and midshipman operations in June. After supporting a THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) FLEETEX in August, she entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard on September 18, 2001, for a 14-month Depot Modernization Period, emerging to sea trials in November 2002 and a series of 2003 training underways capped by fall TRE and POMCERT.

On January 30, 2004, ALBANY deployed for Fifth and Sixth Fleet duty. She worked with allied submarines in Exercise Dogfish (February 17-March 5) before a Souda Bay pause, then shifted to the Arabian Sea littorals for Exercise Arabian Shark with port calls in Muscat (March 21) and Jebel Ali (April 11-16), followed by upkeep in Manama (May 18-25). In late June, she returned to La Maddalena for EMORY S. LAND (AS 39) support, then pulled into Gibraltar (July 1-4) ahead of Shark Hunt and the large NATO exercise Majestic Eagle, and closed the deployment in Norfolk on July 30. After autumn assessments and Submarine Command Course support, she changed command on April 1, 2005.

The submarine's 2006 deployment emphasized Atlantic Africa and the Caribbean, including missions in the Gulf of Guinea and direct support to counter-narcoterrorism operations in the Caribbean. The latter resulted in seizures totaling more than 2.8 tons of narcotics. She returned November 20 and in June 2007, held a change of command at Norfolk. Through late 2007, she integrated with the NASSAU (LHA 4) Expeditionary Strike Group during ESGINT in the Atlantic, then on April 25, 2008, sailed for another deployment whose port string (Souda Bay twice, Augusta Bay, Marseille, Haakonsvern, Jebel Ali, and Manama) reflects a Sixth Fleet-to-Fifth Fleet arc and back. Homecoming on November 18, 2008, gave way to a 2009 maintenance availability and an October change of command. On February 12, 2010, ALBANY departed again, calling at Rota on February 22 and returning August 11 after steaming 34,500 nautical miles in Sixth Fleet waters with Faslane, Haakonsvern, and Lisbon among her ports.

Early 2011 brought a dry-dock continuous maintenance contract at Newport News (announced March 16), followed by a December 14 change of command. She deployed June 7, 2012; a Faslane stop is recorded on October 24 and her return came March 8, 2013, after more than 40,000 nautical miles on an eight-month Sixth Fleet patrol with visits to Lisbon, Haakonsvern, and Rota. Later that year she shifted from a deployment footing to deep maintenance: on October 16-17, 2013, the boat entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a planned, roughly 29-month Engineered Overhaul intended to reset hull-mechanical-electrical life and refresh combat systems across the improved LOS ANGELES baseline.

The yard period framed 2014. A change of command took place at Naval Station Norfolk on February 20, 2014, while the submarine remained in overhaul. Through the balance of the year, shipyard work packages matured from heavy disassembly toward reconstruction and reinstallation, with ALBANY's crew supporting testing and preservation tasks as systems came back together.

In 2015, the shipyard documented two representative milestones that show the scope and specificity of the availability: on January 29, 2015, NNSY's Rapid Prototype Lab publicized a custom hand-honing tool it developed for steering and diving cylinders on ALBANY, and on March 12, 2015, the yard reported completing its first rudder repair since 1991 - work performed on ALBANY's rudder, removed in 2014 and reinstalled after precision machining. These snapshots illustrate how the overhaul blended major component work with bespoke tooling to speed closeout.

Command passed again on August 26, 2016, as the availability neared the pier-side test phase. Within months, the boat cleared the dry dock: on April 25, 2017, ALBANY undocked from Dry Dock No. 2 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard and shifted pierside to complete post-overhaul testing and certifications ahead of a return to regular fleet operations.

The ship re-entered the public eye in 2019 with a community-facing appearance at Port Everglades' Fleet Week in late April-early May, a brief showcase bracketed by the low-visibility training and local operations that typically fill a fast-attack's post-overhaul reconstitution cycle. Early 2020 brought a change of command in Norfolk on February 11, and then a full overseas deployment as ALBANY departed for the U.S. European Command area. She returned on June 10, 2020, after steaming about 36,000 nautical miles, with port calls at Rota, Toulon, and Faslane recorded by the Navy. The contemporaneous release also notes the context of COVID-19 precautions underway during the cruise - a complication for liberty and logistics that every forward unit managed that spring.

In late 2021, ALBANY was again under Commander, Task Force 69 in Sixth Fleet. The boat conducted a brief stop for personnel off Limassol, Cyprus, on December 14, 2021, then made a scheduled Gibraltar port visit on December 30, 2021. Sixth Fleet highlighted that her patrol included coordinated operations with NATO and the HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN 75) Carrier Strike Group, underlining how attack submarines weave independent ISR and strike roles into occasional group integrations.

The deployment rolled into 2022, and on May 14, 2022 ALBANY returned to Norfolk following six months at sea. The Navy's post-deployment summary notes roughly 35,000 nautical miles steamed and a string of Mediterranean and North Atlantic liberty and logistics calls - Gibraltar; Souda Bay, Crete; Faslane, Scotland; and Tromso, Norway - typical touchpoints for a patrol that ranged from the Norwegian and Barents approaches to the central and eastern Med.

The public record for 2023 is thinner (as is common for submarine operations), but the boat remained an active Atlantic Fleet unit out of Norfolk amid elevated NATO undersea focus. In early 2023, ALBANY marked another change of command at Naval Station Norfolk on January 6. In 2024, the command highlighted crew achievements ashore, while the boat continued local operations and workups between underway periods.

In 2025, the submarine's basing shifted north. On February 28, 2025, a change of command ceremony took place in Norfolk, and on August 14, 2025, ALBANY arrived at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton to complete a scheduled homeport shift from Naval Station Norfolk. The move returned the boat to the Thames River waterfront where many of her earliest trials had been staged decades earlier and aligned her with Submarine Readiness Squadron 32 for the next phase of East Coast employment.

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Homeports of USS ALBANY:

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USS ALBANY Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by me and show the ALBANY at Naval Base Norfolk, Va., on May 6, 2012.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the ALBANY at Naval Base Norfolk, Va., on October 12, 2016.

The photo below was taken by Jim Chestnut and shows the ALBANY after departure from Her Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde at Faslane on May 29, 2020. ALBANY is currently on a scheduled North Atlantic deployment: her first deployment in almost 7 years after undergoing an extended 5-year overhaul from 2013-2018. ALBANY's North Atlantic cruise started on December 12, 2019, and port visits included Toulon, France, as well as Rota, Spain and Faslane in Scotland. Her visit to Scotland May 25-29 was the final foreign port visit before ALBANY returned home to Norfolk, Va., on June 10, 2020. During the deployment, the submarine traveled 36,000 nautical miles.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows the ALBANY at Naval Base Norfolk, Va., on October 4, 2024.

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