USS Hammerhead (SSN-663)

USS "Hammerhead" (SSN-663), a "Sturgeon"-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the hammerhead shark, a voracious fish found in warm seas, with a curious hammerlike head. The contract to build her was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company on 28 May 1964 and her keel was laid down on 29 November 1965. She was launched on 14 April 1967 sponsored by Mrs. O. Clark Fisher, and commissioned on 28 June 1968, with Commander E. Frederick Murphy, Jr., in command.

In 1981, she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet.

One little-known event was a brief ride into port aboard Hammerhead by author Tom Clancy, prior to the filming of The Hunt for Red October. After spotting a decidedly low-tech device mounted in the sonar room -- a roll of toilet paper (it was used for wiping grease pencil markings off the screens) -- he proclaimed his intent to write that contrasting image into the film. True to his word, he did.

"Hammerhead" Under the Command of QMCS/SS Art Simon, was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 5 April 1995. Ex-"Hammerhead" entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington, and on 22 November 1995 ceased to exist.

References

Based on data from the Naval Vessel Register

External links

* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08663.htm navsource.org: USS "Hammerhead" (SSN-663)]
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/h2/hammerhead-ii.htm DANFS: USS "Hammerhead" (SSN-663)]