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Alexandria III (SSN-757)

1991–

While the first U.S. Navy ship named Alexandria was named for the city in the state of Louisiana, and the second Alexandria  was named for the city in the state of Virginia, the third Alexandria honors both cities. 

III

(SSN-757: displacement 6,927; length 362'; beam 33'; draft 31'; speed 25 knots; complement 110; armament 12 Vertical Launch System (VLS) tubes for UGM-109 Tomahawk submarine-launched cruise missiles and UGM-84 Harpoon submarine launched anti-ship missiles, and four torpedo tubes for Mk 48 torpedoes; class Los Angeles)

The third Alexandria (SSN-757) was laid down on 19 June 1987 at Groton, Conn., by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corp.; launched on 23 June 1990; sponsored by Mrs. Myrtle C. Clark, wife of Vice Adm. Glenwood Clark Jr., Commander Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command; and was commissioned on 29 June 1991 at Naval Submarine Base New London, Conn., Cmdr. Paul E. Normand in command.

Alexandria, Cmdr. Michael Bernacchi in command, and British attack submarine HMS Tireless (S.88), participated in ICEX-2007 during the spring of 2007, a joint exercise to test allied submarine operability and war fighting capabilities in Arctic waters. The two attack boats carried out the exercise under the operational control of Combined Task Force (CTF) 82 in Norfolk, Va. Capt. Edward Hasell, officer in charge of the Navy’s Arctic Submarine Laboratory -- located at Naval Base Point Loma, Calif. -- and the Applied Physics Laboratory Ice Station, built on the Arctic Ocean sea ice north of Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay), Alaska, supported the submarines. The camp consisted of a small village, constructed and operated especially for the exercise by the Applied Physics Laboratory of the University of Washington. Range safety officers at the ice station coordinated the exercise, monitoring the movement of and communication with the two submarines. Following the completion of the ICEX-2007operations, the Navy planned to share the camp for civilian scientific research as part of the International Polar Year. An explosion occurred on board Tireless on 21 March 2007, killing Leading Operator Mechanic Paul McCann, RN, and Operator Maintainer 2 Anthony Huntrod, RN.

Alexandria III (SSN-757) 1991-Post0062
Cmdr. Bernacchi (right) and a shipmate join the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) 200th celebration from atop the world, after Alexandria breaks through nearly two feet of ice at the North Pole during ICEX-07, 18 March 2007. The joint Anglo-American exercise takes place on and under a drifting ice floe, about 180 nautical miles off the north coast of Alaska. (Unattributed NOAA Photograph Post0062, NOAA’s People Collection, NOAA’s Photo Library)
Alexandria III (SSN-757) 1991-070318-N-3642E-617
Alexandria prepares to submerge, 18 March 2007. (Chief Mass Communication Specialist Shawn P. Eklund, U.S. Navy Photograph 070318-N-3642E-617, Navy NewsStand)

Detailed history under construction.

Mark L. Evans

27 August 2015

Published: Fri Jul 08 14:47:38 EDT 2022