Commissioned on November 6, 1993, the attack submarine USS HAMPTON (SSN 767) is the fifth ship to bear that name. She is homeported at the Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia and is in the Providence class of attack submarine, which an improved version of the Los Angeles class. Hampton is the 54th submarine of the Los Angeles class to be commissioned into the U.S. fleet. Modifications which identify an improved Providence class are; hardened sails and retractable bow planes for surfacing through the ice during Arctic missions. Her crew is a compliment of 14 officers and 127 enlisted men. Her capabilities include the ability to operate in shallow water in order to perform missions such as: mine warfare; covert coastal surveillance and intelligence gathering; special forces insertion/extraction; and combat search and rescue. Her design makes her class an ideal Carrier Battlegroup escort due to her speed and stealth. The Hampton has twelve vertical launch tubes and is armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, which significantly increase her attack and strike capability of land based targets, as well as the Mk48 Advanced Capability anti-ship/submarine (ADCAP) torpedoes and mines. The improved Providence class (688I) has the ability to lay mines from her torpedo tubes and is equipped with the advanced BSY-1 sonar suite combat system.

In the seven years that the Hampton has served the fleet she has been deployed primarily to the Mediterranean in the role of support to carrier battlegroups. Her first Mediterranean Deployment took place from August 1995 to February 1996 and during that cruise she was awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation.