USS Queenfish (SSN-651)

USS "Queenfish" (SSN-651), a "Sturgeon"-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the queenfish, a small food fish found off the Pacific coast of North America. The contract to build her was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia on 26 March 1963 and her keel was laid down on 11 May 1964. She was launched on 25 February 1966, sponsored by Hon. Julia B. Hansen, and commissioned on 6 December 1966, with Commander Jackson B. Richard in command.

In 1970, the Queenfish operated below the polar ice pack, mapping the ocean surface for potential military purposes in the event of a shooting war between the Soviet Union and the United States.

"Queenfish" was decommissioned on 8 November 1991 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 14 April 1992. Ex-"Queenfish" entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington, on 1 May 1992 and on 7 April 1993 ceased to exist.

See USS "Queenfish" for other ships of the same name.

References

External links

* [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/science/18arctic.html New York Times story about the 1970 Arctic ocean surface mapping mission.] by [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/william_j_broad/index.html William J. Broad] March 18 2008

See also

*"Unknown Waters" by Capt. Alfred S. McLaren