Career
Awarded:	13 August 1981
Laid down:	5 January 1983
Launched:	13 October 1984
Commissioned:	27 October 1986
Fate:
Homeport:	Pearl Harbor
General Characteristics
Displacement:	5759 tons light, 6162 tons full, 403 tons dead
Length:	110.3 meters (362 ft)
Beam:	10 meters (33 ft)
Draft:	9.4 meters (31 ft)
Propulsion:	one S6G reactor
Complement:	12 officers, 98 men

USS Chicago (SSN-721), is a Los Angeles-class submarine, the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city of Chicago, Illinois.

The contract to build her was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia on 13 August 1981 and her keel was laid down on 5 January 1983. She was launched on 13 October 1984 sponsored by Mrs. Vicki Ann Paisley, and commissioned on 27 October 1986, with Commander Rovert Avery in command.

Early in 1996, an RQ-1 Predator aerial reconnaissance drone was successfully controlled from Chicago. The drone reached altitudes up to 6000 meters (20,000 ft) and ranged up to 185 kilometers (100 nmi.) from the submarine, which was operating at periscope depth.

See USS Chicago for other ships of the same name.

Chicago in fiction

• In Tom Clancy's novel Red Storm Rising, the Chicago plays a major role in the war for control of the Atlantic Ocean.

References

This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register as well as various press releases and news stories.