The fast attack submarine USS Key West moors at Naval Base Guam, Dec. 20, 2020, upon returning from regularly scheduled maintenance.

Though her hull was laid down in the 1980s, the USS Key West has consistently been an important part of the U.S. Navy’s submarine arsenal. Originally out of Norfolk, Virginia, the USS Key West was reassigned to the Pacific theater in 1996 where she served in support of several missions. Not least of her tours was her support of the war in Afghanistan in 2001 when she was positioned in the Northern Arabian Sea where she launched Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles against Taliban positions in Afghanistan.

Since that mission, she has earned the Battle “E”, or Battle Effectiveness Award twice; once in 2007 and again in 2009.

In 2012, the USS Key West shifted home port to Naval Base Guam as a forward deployed unit in support of Seventh Fleet operations.

The USS Key West is a Los Angeles class boat, that is a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine and is one of only 32 Los Angeles class submarines still in commission.