Date of Incident: 11 February, 1992
Returned to Service: No / No
While on patrol in the Barent's Sea near the primary Soviet submarine base at Severomorsk, the Los Angeles- class nuclear powered attack submarine USS Baton Rouge (SSN-689) collided with Barracuda, a Soviet, Sierra-class, nuclear-powered attack submarine.
Details of the collision were not made public (nor have they been released since), and this remains one of the more controversial collisions in U.S. submarine service history. It also led to heated diplomatic exchanges between the governments involved.
Both submarines are able to return to their respective bases under their own power. However, Barracuda has never returned to service.
Baton Rouge was due to be re-fueled, a lengthy and EXPENSIVE proposition. Military budget cutbacks aparently did not allow for the additional expense of the repairs needed, and Baton Rouge was placed "In Commission, In Reserve" on 01 November 1993. This status meant that the Navy effectively retired Baton Rouge from service. Most of the crew was reassigned to other duties, and preparations were begun to safely shut the nuclear reactor down (so that the radioactive fuel rods could be removed later, during the scrapping process (known as "submarine recycling" and performed at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington). She had been in service less than 16 years (from the time she was comissioned until she was placed in ICIR status).
Baton Rouge was formally decomissioned and struck from the Navy List on 13 January 1995. She was the first Los Angeles-class submarine decommissioned. She was disposed of through the submarine recycling program on 30 September 1997.
The extent of the damage has not been publically disclosed, but must be inferred from the fact that the Baton Rouge was decommissioned, rather than repaired.
No men lost.
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