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In the late fifties, at
the height of the cold war, the U.S. Navy ordered the first Fleet
Ballistic Missile Submarine (boomer) from the Electric Boat Company,
as part of its new Polaris Missile System. The arms race was
on and the Navy was not willing to wait for a new boat to be
built from the keel up. |
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Commisioning Ceremony |
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A rare look at the missile
tubes |
Instead, they ordered that the USS
Scorpion (which was under construction at the time) be cut in
half and a missile compartment (and supporting equipment) be
added. The new submarine would be called USS George Washington
/ SSBN 598. She was launched
June 9th,1959, commisioned December 30th, 1959. She was dedicated
by Mrs. Robert B. Anderson. Her Blue Crew CO was CDR. James Butler
Osborn, XO was LCDR P.J. Hannifin and ENG was LCDR Shepard Jenks.
The first skipper of the Gold crew was CDR John L. From, Jr.
She was the worlds first boomer. She was certainly a technical
marvel and the new cornerstone of America's nuclear deterance
strategy. |
Adding the new missile compartment |
The 598 while cut in half at EB |
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Here are some odd little factoids about
the Georegfish. Inside the forward escape hatch was a plaque
bearing the name 'USS Scorpion'. To accomodate later boats, the
missile compartment was designed with a deeper test depth rating
than the rest of the boat! Due to the configuration of the forward
ballast tank, the boat dove with an up bubble! The Georgefish
and her crews made 55 deterence patrols in both the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans in her 25 year career. |
 
Test launch off Cape Canaveral |
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On July 20, 1960, she executed the
first test launch of a Polaris missile from a submarine at sea,
off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida. On April 9, 1981, she
collided with the Japanese merchant ship Nissho Maru in the south
china sea. In 1982, she returned to Pearl Harbor from her last
missile patrol. The following year, the missiles were off-loaded
in Bangor, Wa. In 1983 the 598 left Pearl Harbor for the last
time as she began the journey thru the Panama Canal back to New
London, her birthplace. On January 24 1985, the USS George Washington
SS(B)N 598 was de-commisioned. She was officially stricken from
the active ships roster on April 30, 1986. |
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SPECS |
- Length:
381.6 feet
- Beam:
33 feet
- Test Depth:
700 feet
- Builders:
General Dynamics Electric Boat Division; Newport News Shipbuilding;
Mare Island; Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
- Power Plant: S5W Pressurized Water Nuclear Reactor,
2 geared turbines at 15,000 shp to one shaft
- Displacement: Light 5,400 tons, Surface 5,959-6,019
tons, Submerged 6709-6888 tons
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- Speed:
20 knots surfaced, 25 knots submerged
- Crew:
Aprox. 15 Officers, 120 Enlisted
- Armament:
16 tubes for Polaris A1, 6 torpedo tubes
- Christened:
06/09/59
- Commisioned: 12/30/59
- Date Deployed: 12/31/59
- Decommisioned: 01/24/85
- Striken:
04/30/86
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Thanx to Randy
Guttery 4 the pix and Lockheed,GD-EB and FAS for the pix and
info! |
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