USS Houston (SSN-713)

USS Houston (SSN-713)

USS Houston (SSN-713), a Los Angeles-class attack submarine, was the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for Houston, Texas. The contract to build her was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia on 1 August 1975 and her keel was laid down on 29 January 1979. She was launched on 21 March 1981 sponsored by Barbara Bush, wife of then Vice-President of the United States George H. W. Bush. Houston was commissioned on 25 September 1982, with Captain G. H. Mensch in command. Curiously, her hull number matches the area code for the interior portion (inside the Beltway/Sam Houston Tollway, as of 2000) of Metropolitan Houston, which is also 713, but at the time she was built 713 encompassed most of Metro Houston within Harris County.