USS TOPEKA is the 43rd LOS ANGELES Attack Submarine and the third ship in the Navy to bear the name. Keel laid: May 13, 1986 Launched: January 23, 1988 Commissioned: October 21, 1989 Builder: Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation, Groton, Conn. Propulsion system: one nuclear reactor Propellers: one Length: 360 feet (109.73 meters) Beam: 33 feet (10 meters) Draft: 32,15 feet (9.8 meters) Displacement: Surfaced: approx. 6,255 tons Displacement: Submerged: approx. 7,102 tons Speed: Surfaced: approx. 15 knots Speed: Submerged: approx. 32 knots Armament: Tomahawk missiles from 12 VLS-tubes, four 533 mm torpedo tubes for Mk-48 torpedoes, Harpoon missiles Cost: approx. $900 million Homeport: Pearl Harbor, HI Crew: 12 Officers, 115 Enlisted
Deployments of USS TOPEKA: August 1992 - February 1993 First WESTPAC November 1994 - May 1995 Deployment with the USS CONSTELLATION CVBG to the Arabian Gulf October 1996 - May 1997 Third WESTPAC 1999 - 2000 WESTPAC
Accidents aboard USS TOPEKA: Date Where Events October 11, 2003 off Washington state USS TOPEKA snagged and parted a cable stretched between the tug ERNEST CAMPBELLl and an empty oil barge. The TOPEKA, which was submerged at the time, suffered only a scrape to a bow plane and no crew injuries. No one was injured, and no damage was reported on the ERNEST CAMPBELL. The barge drifted northward in high winds and seas off Cape Flattery for three hours until a tug was able to recover the towline and reattach it. The barge was towed into Port Angeles in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the entrance to Puget Sound. USS TOPEKA was conducting routine training exercises off Washington and was headed to the Bangor Submarine Base when the incident occurred.
Awards of USS TOPEKA: 1993 1994 1995 Battle Efficiency "E" Engineering "E" Battle Efficiency "E" Tactical "T" Supply "E" Supply "E" Administration "A" COMSUBPAC Silver Anchor Medical "M" Damage Control "DC"