Computer line drawing by Darth Panda, with our thanks
She was the third nuclear submarine taken into service by the US Navy. Her building at the shipyard of the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics was ordered on 18 July 1955 and 3 days later was her keel laid down at Groton, Connecticut, baptized by Mrs. Lewis L. Strauss was she on 16 May two years later launched, commissioned on 23 December that same year started were the so-called shakedown trials completed on 29 January 1958. In February she started with a voyage including a visit to the Netherlands. On 12 September 1986 was she decommissioned and a month later on the 30th stricken. Her final fate was the disposal on 6 March 11 years later by the submarine recycling program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. She was part of the Skate-class with as sister ships Swordfish (SSN-579), Sargo (SSN-583) and the Seadragon (SSN-584), succeeding the USS Nautilus and Seawolf and was herself succeeded by the Skipjack-class. The Nautilus was in fact a successor of the American Tang class submarines. This latter class was created in the so-called Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program common known as GUPPY using German U-boat technology from the Second World War while designing American submarines.
The photo above is property of NavSource Naval History and probably taken in August 1958.
With a displacement of 2,590 tons/2,550 long tons (surfaced)-2,894 tons/2,848 long tons (submerged) were her dimensions 81,56 x 7,6 metres or 267’7”x 25’. Her crew numbered 84 men and she was armed with 6-53cm (21”) torpedo tubes forward and 2-53cm (21”) torpedo tubes aft. Her S3W reactor allowed a speed was 15,5 (surfaced)-18 (submerged) knots.
According to the Nieuwsblad van het Noorden dated 30 August arrived she at Den Helder for a non-official visit from 1 to 4 September returning from her Artic voyage under the package ice. The Dutch prince Bernhard brought her a visit in his function as inspector-general of the Royal Netherlands Navy just like the under minister for navy vice admiral H.C.D. Moorman and the ministers engineer C. Staf en Luns. Earlier that year visited she Rotterdam, Netherlands between 15-21 March.
The newspaper Amigoe di Curacao reported on 25 August that the Danish cabinet requested that the Skate would not visit Copenhage probably for security reasons. Another newspaper Nieuwsblad van het Noorden dated 23 August supplied more details. The Danish prime minister H.C. Hansen stated that they were afraid for a disaster and the Danish commission for nuclear energy had advised to give her no permission for entering Copenhagen. Norway didn’t agree with this decision and she was now underway to this country.
