SSN 714 Norfolk

The contract to build the USS Norfolk was awarded on Feb 20, 1976 and her keel was laid August 1, 1979. She was launched over two years later on October 31, 1981 and she was commissioned on 7 May 1983. The 360-foot submarine was the third naval ship to be named in honor of its namesake city of Norfolk, Virginia. It was built by Newport News Shipbuilding and was commissioned May 21, 1983 by then Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger. Norfolk was also the Navy's 133rd nuclear-powered submarine, the 89th attack submarine, and the 24th Los Angeles-class submarine.

Norfolk joined the fleet on May 21, 1983 and was a key player during the huge transition in submarine warfare that spanned her entire life. She was designed and constructed as primarily an anti-submarine warfare platform but that all changed from the bipolar Cold War to today's chaotic and unpredictable asymmetrical war involving various state supported and non-state actors worldwide.

The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Norfolk (SSN 714) was decommissioned 11 December 2014 during a ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk. The submarine remained in Norfolk until she left in January 2015 to begin the decommissioning process at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine.