George Washington class submarine

George Washington class submarine

The "George Washington" class was a class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines employed by the United States Navy. The Navy ordered a class of nuclear-powered submarines armed with long-range strategic missiles on 31 December 1957, and tasked Electric Boat with converting two existing attack submarine hulls to ballistic missile-carrying boats to quickly create the deterrent force. To accomplish this conversion, Electric Boat persuaded the Navy in January 1958 to slip the launch dates for two "Skipjack"-class fast attack submarines, the just-begun
"Scorpion" (SSN-589) and the not-yet-started "Sculpin" (SSN-590). On 12 February 1958, President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower signed funding for three ballistic missile submarines.

The "George Washington"s were essentially "Skipjack"s with a 130 foot (40 m) missile compartment ("Sherwood Forest"), inserted between the ship's control navigation areas and the nuclear reactor compartment. In the case of the lead ship, "George Washington" (SSBN-598), that is literally the case: the keel already laid by Electric Boat at Groton, Connecticut for "Scorpion" was cut apart and extended to become the keel for "George Washington". Then Electric Boat and Mare Island Naval Shipyard began construction of one other boat each from extended plans.

President Eisenhower authorized construction of two more submarines on 29 July 1958. Newport News Shipbuilding and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard began work immediately.

USS "George Washington" (SSBN-598) began the first strategic deterrent patrol on 15 November 1960, and USS "Patrick Henry" (SSBN-599) departed for patrol on 31 January 1961. "George Washington" returned from patrol on 21 January 1961, coming alongside the tender USS "Proteus" (AS-19) at New London, Connecticut. "Patrick Henry" returned from patrol on 8 March 1961, also tying up alongside "Proteus", which was now in Holy Loch, Scotland, beginning the use of Holy Loch as a refit and upkeep anchorage.

The "George Washington"s carried the Polaris A1 missile on their patrols until 2 June 1964, when "George Washington" changed out her missiles for Polaris A3s. The last of the class, USS "Abraham Lincoln" (SSBN-602) swapped out her A1s for A3s on 14 October 1965.

In the early 1980s, to make room within the limitations imposed by SALT II for the "Ohio"-class ballistic missile submarines, "George Washington", "Patrick Henry", and "Robert E. Lee" had their missiles removed and were reclassified as attack submarines, a role in which they served for several years prior to decommissioning by 1986.

Boats

* (SSBN-598) USS "George Washington"
* (SSBN-599) USS "Patrick Henry"
* (SSBN-600) USS "Theodore Roosevelt"
* (SSBN-601) USS "Robert E. Lee"
* (SSBN-602) USS "Abraham Lincoln"

See also

* "41 for Freedom" Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines
*

External links

* [http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/slbm/ssbn-598.htm "SSBN-598 George Washington-Class FBM Submarines" from the FAS] (contains outdated links)


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