USS Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631)

USS "Ulysses S. Grant" (SSBN-631), a "James Madison"-class ballistic missile submarine, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885), the 18th President of the United States (though the earlier two were known simply as "U. S. Grant").

The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 20 July 1961 and her keel was laid down on 18 August 1962. She was launched on 2 November 1963 sponsored by Mrs. David W. Griffiths, the great-granddaughter of General Grant, and commissioned on 17 July 1964, with Captain J. L. From, Jr., in command. In September, Commander C.A.K. McDonald took command of the Gold Crew, leaving the Blue Crew to From.

Following shakedown, the fleet ballistic missile submarine got underway from Groton in early December 1964, bound for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal on New Year's Eve, she arrived at Pearl Harbor in January 1965. She was deployed to Guam, in the Mariana Islands, and operated from there into 1969. She conducted 18 deterrent patrols before returning to the United States, departing the western Pacific in 1969. After an overhaul and Poseidon missile conversion at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, "Ulysses S. Grant" was deployed to Holy Loch, Scotland in 1970, and operated in the European area until September 1975.

In the mid 1980s, "Ulysses S. Grant" underwent a refueling overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, in Kittery, Maine. After the overhaul period, the Blue Crew completed what was quoted by SP 205 as "The best DASO in 10 Years" which concluded with the firing of a test missile on 31 July 1987. "Ulysses S. Grant" then returned to SUBASE Groton, CT, where the Gold Crew, under the command of CDR Michael P. McBride, took the "Ulysses S. Grant" through a non-firing second half DASO. During that period, the Gold Crew enjoyed a luxury for a "boomer" crew, a swim call in the Caribbean. In 1989 after turnover of the submarine to the Gold Crew while moored alongside the submarine tender "Fulton" (AS-11), the Gold Crew transited the submarine to Holy Loch, Scotland, and "Ulysses S. Grant" continued to operate out of Holy Loch, Scotland for the remainder of her years.

"Ulysses S. Grant" was decommissioned on 12 June 1992 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 June 1992. Ex-"Ulysses S. Grant" entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington, and on 23 October 1993 ceased to exist.

The ship's bell is stored at the submarine base in Bremerton, Washignton where it has been used in retirement ceremonies.

Trivia

ca 1977 or 78 the original Grant Bell went missing during an overhaul at Newport News Shipyard. A new bell was procured and inscribed by the Quartemaster division. The whereabouts of the original Bell (to date) has never been officially determined.

References

*Based on data from the Naval Vessel Register