USS Louisville Conducts Western Pacific Deloyment
By MC2 Ronald Gutridge
COMSUBPAC Public Affairs

Release Date: 2/7/2012

(PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii) – Friends and families of the crew from the USS Louisville (SSN 724) gathered at the submarine piers at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam to say goodbye as the Los Angeles-class submarine departed for a scheduled Western Pacific deployment, Feb. 7.

"The submarine is in excellent material condition thanks to a combined effort of the crew and the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard," said Cmdr. Lee Sisco, USS Louisville commanding officer. "I am extremely proud of the Louisville crew and their families in their ability to rise to any challenge and in the outstanding job they've done through the inter-deployment training cycle to get themselves and this submarine ready for deployment operations."

Since returning from its last deployment in Oct, 2010, Louisville has undergone maintenance and conducted training in preparation for this deployment.

"My crew is extremely excited to be deploying. Not only to conduct operations in support of 7th Fleet priorities, but also to visit foreign ports and experience other cultures," said Sisco. "Our deployment goals are for advanced qualifications for junior personnel and improving individual level of knowledge across the board to help improve our overall team performance in core competencies and mission areas."

Louisville is the fourth United States ship to bear the name in honor of the city of Louisville, Ky. Her mission is to seek out and destroy enemy ships and submarines, and to protect our naval interests. At 360 ft and 6,900 tons, she is well equipped to accomplish this task. Faster than her predecessors and equipped with highly accurate sensors and weapons systems, Louisville is armed with sophisticated MK48 torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles.