Name USS Alexandria Laid down 19 June 1987 Construction started 19 June 1987 Length 110 m | Awarded 26 November 1984 Acquired 13 June 1991 Launched 23 June 1990 Beam 10 m | |
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Sponsored by Mrs. Myrtle "Tookie" Clark Builder General Dynamics Electric Boat | ||
USS Alexandria (SSN-757), a Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, is the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for both Alexandria, Virginia, and Alexandria, Louisiana. She was laid down in 1987, launched three years later and commissioned in 1991. Alexandria has since taken part in a number of international exercises and has also been used as a location for the television series Stargate: Continuum, JAG and NCIS.
Contents
Construction
The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 26 November 1984. Her keel was laid down on 19 June 1987.
Pre-commissioning Unit
The history of the Alexandria as a U.S. Navy warship begins with the staffing of what is known as the Pre-commissioning Unit (PCU) Alexandria. CDR Wilbur Cooke was the Commanding Officer of the Unit. Construction delays necessitated the detachment of CDR Cooke on 6 October 1989, and the assignment of Commander Paul E. Normand in his place on 11 December 1989.
Launch
The ship was launched on 23 June 1990, sponsored by Mrs. Myrtle "Tookie" Clark, wife of retired Vice Admiral Glenwood Clark, on 29 June 1991. Commander Normand remained in command.
Sea trials
The Pre-commissioning Unit Alexandria was placed in service on 22 March 1991. A series of sea trials began shortly thereafter:
Commissioning
USS Alexandria (SSN-757) was commissioned at submarine base New London on 29 June 1991, CDR Normand commanding, and given the motto "Twice as Strong" in honor of her two namesakes. Guest speakers at the ship commissioning ceremony were:
Recent operations
Alexandria, together with the guided-missile cruiser USS Cowpens (CG-63), the frigate USS Gary (FFG-51), and P-3C Orion maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, participated in Exercise Malabar 2004, a training exercise with the Indian Navy off the southwest coast of India that ended 11 October 2004.
Some scenes for the movie Stargate: Continuum take place on board Alexandria. The then-captain of Alexandria, Cmdr. Mike Bernacchi, and members of his crew played themselves. The ship was also used as a filming location in the JAG / NCIS universe, although she was referred to there as the fictional USS Cathedral City.
In March 2007, Alexandria was participating in the Joint U.S. Navy/Royal Navy Ice Exercise 2007 (ICEX-2007), conducted in the Arctic Ocean with the Trafalgar-class submarine HMS Tireless (S88). The exercise took place on and under a drifting ice floe, about 180 nmi (333 km; 207 mi) off the north coast of Alaska. The two submarines were taking part in joint testing of submarine operability and tactical development in Arctic waters. On 21 March 2007, Tireless experienced an explosion of a self-contained oxygen generation candle. Tireless suffered only superficial damage, but two crew members were killed and one injured.
On 19 August 2016, Navy machinist mate Kristian Saucier, 29, was sentenced by a U.S. District Court judge in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to one year in prison plus six months house arrest for taking and possessing six cell phone photos of Alexandria’s classified propulsion system while working in her engine room in 2009. Invoking the so-called "Clinton defense," his attorneys had argued for leniency by citing the FBI’s decision not to charge Hillary Clinton for similar crimes of mishandling classified information related to her use of a private email server.