to a Med cruise. On 20 September 1977 Ray struck a coral mountain while submerged in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Tunisia due to a combination of equipment failure and crew inexperience. Her nose was blown open by a hydraulic displacement of water, making two "wings" on the port side. The sonar equipment was destroyed and there were several cracks along the hull. There was no other damage to the submarine, but quite a few crew members sustained contusions and got banged around. The worst injuries were sustained by a crew member thrown the length of Auxiliary Machinery 2, who had a dislocated hip and needed 70 stitches. The boat limped to La Maddalena, Sardinia, to cut off the wings, remove loose equipment and shore up the hull. This was followed by a surface transit back to the states for repairs that required a year of work at Charleston Naval Shipyard in Charleston, South Carolina. From 1977 through 1988 Ray made numerous Mediterranean and North Atlantic deployments including an ICE-EX in 1986 where she surfaced at the North Pole along with sister ships USS Hawkbill (SSN-666) and USS Archerfish (SSN-678), the first time three attack submarines had ever surfaced at the pole together. In 1988 and again in 1991 she deployed north of the Arctic Circle, earning a Meritorious Unit Citation, Navy Expeditionary Medal and Arctic Service Ribbon each time. Ray participated in a six-month Mediterranean cruise as a part of the aircraft carrier battle group from October 1989 to April 1990. She participated in various exercises and underwater operations which included operating in the Gulf of Sidra inside what Libya claimed was the "Line of Death" that formed the boundary of Libyan territorial waters, a territorial claim the United States did not recognize. She pulled into several liberty ports during this cruise, including La Maddalena in Italy, Cannes and Toulon in France, and Gibraltar. After her return to Charleston, she underwent routine repairs in drydock the Charleston Naval Shipyard. At the time of Ray'''s deactivation in 1992, she had earned five Navy Unit Citations, six Meritorious Unit Citations, six Navy Expeditionary Medals and at least three Arctic Service ribbons, making Ray one of the most-decorated attack submarines in the Atlantic Fleet. Decommissioning and disposalRay'' was decommissioned on 16 March 1993 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. Her scrapping via the Nuclear-Powered Ship and