Moored training ship

A Moored training ship (MTS) is a United States Navy designation for nuclear powered submarines that have been converted to training ships for the Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit's Nuclear Power Training Unit (NPTU) at Naval Support Activity Charleston in South Carolina. The Navy uses decommissioned nuclear submarines and converts them to MTSs to train personnel in the operation and maintenance of submarines and their nuclear reactors. The first moored training ship was USS Sam Rayburn (SSBN-635) a James Madison-class fleet ballistic missile submarine, redesignated as (MTS-635) in 1989, followed a year later by USS Daniel Webster (SSBN-626), a Lafayette-class ballistic missile submarine, redesignated as (MTS-626). Conversion of these two boats took place at the Charleston Naval Shipyard and modifications included special mooring arrangements with a mechanism to absorb power generated by the main propulsion shaft.^[1]

The Navy plans to add two more moored training ships to this facility, USS La Jolla (SSN-701)^[2] and USS San Francisco (SSN-711),^[3] a pair of Los Angeles-class attack submarines. The conversions for these two will take place at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard^[4] and they will then be taken to NSA Charleston. La Jolla became inactive in early 2015 and began the 32 month conversion to a training ship. Changes include having the hull cut into three sections, with the center section being recycled and the other two joined with three new sections, manufactured by Electric Boat, extending the length of the boat by 23 m (76 ft). The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.^[5] San Francisco arrived at Norfolk to begin her conversion in January 2018.^[4]