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Career
Awarded:	20 February 1976
Laid down:	1 August 1979
Launched:	31 October 1981
Commissioned:	21 May 1983
Fate:	Active in service as of 2007
Homeport:	Norfolk, Virginia
General characteristics
Displacement:	5751 tons light, 6126 tons full, 375 tons dead
Length:	110.3 m (362 ft)
Beam:	10 m (33 ft)
Draft:	9.7 m (32 ft)
Propulsion:	one S6G reactor
Complement:	12 officers, 98 men
Motto:	Vi per Concordiam (Strength through unity)

USS Norfolk (SSN-714), a Los Angeles-class submarine, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Norfolk, Virginia. The contract to build her was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia on 20 February 1976 and her keel was laid down on 1 August 1979. She was launched on 31 October 1981 sponsored by Mrs. Caspar Weinberger, and commissioned on 21 May 1983, with Commander Kenneth R. Karr in command (Commander Karr was promoted to the Pentagon later that year and retired from the NPEB as a Captain in 1988).

With the second Commanding Officer, Alfred Ponessa, Norfolk conducted extensive trials of the next-generation torpedo, ADCAP, as well as advanced and secret acoustic experiments. The ship also made an active deployment during one of the final spurts of activity from the declining Soviet navy. Commander Ponessa was succeeded by Commander Harrop in 1989.

On January 17th, 1989, Norfolk was involved in a collision with USS San Diego (T-AFS-6) off Cape Charles Light, VA as both vessels were headed to sea. Norfolk was outbound for an engineering inspection, an event whch occupied all of the ships most experienced officers. The Officer of the Deck was the ship's most junior officer, a non-nuclear-trained Lieutenant Junior-Grade, and the Commanding Officer himself was new to the ship, sick and hoarse that day. While trying to pass the San Diego in a turn in the channel, the current set Norfolk towards an outer buoy on the port side. Overcorrecting for this event, Norfolk delivered a glancing blow to the ship on her starboard side, San Diego. There were no injuries, and neither ship suffered significant structural damage. Upon returning to dockside later that day, Norfolk's commanding officer was relieved, and the sub proceeded on the surface to Kings Bay, Georgia, for inspection and repairs. As a result of this collision, COMSUBLANT issued orders limiting submarine speed and passing activities while in the restricted waters of the Hampton Roads channels.

On August 25, 2004, Norfolk returned to Norfolk, VA after a 22-month Engineering Refueling Overhaul (ERO) at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

The Norfolk was also at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine Between 1991 and 1993. This shipyard period was known as a Depot Modernization Period (DMP). Interesting notes about this period are that it was only supposed to take 1 year but wound up taking nearly two.^{[citation needed]} To accomplish this accelerated pace the crew and shipyard were worked nearly 24 hours a day. The shipyard was in shift work and the crew was simply over worked; most crewmen worked an average 100 hours per week with stretches as long as 36 hours without sleep.^{[citation needed]} Interesting as a social experiment the Norfolk had nearly 300 captains masts in a single year with a crew of only 150 men, while most ships of this size have only 7 or 8 per year. Also during this time the ships crew had dozens of drunk driving convictions, the second lowest re-enlistment record on the east coast, and 1 suicide.^{[citation needed]}

The ship is known to keep track of the crew members with the least amount of time left in the navy. In the engineering department they refer to him as the SNOB or Shortest Nuke On Board. This is due to continued discontent for the ship. The SNOBship dates back to 1991 and keeps a variety of tokens. The SNOB is the most admired person aboard the ship.

See USS Norfolk for other ships of the same name.

• nvr.navy.mil: USS Norfolk
• navsource.org: USS Norfolk
• official website

This article includes information collected from the public domain sources Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships and Naval Vessel Register.