By the hand of Kluge!
Some 70 years ago this month, in July 1956, the UGM-27 Polaris SLBM was spitballed at a symposium, starting a compressed four-year development cycle overseen by RADM William “Red” Raborn for the Navy’s side of it, and Kluge, the lucky sock monkey adopted by Lockheed’s technicians– and Kluge was there for every test launch!
Rear Admiral William “Red” Raborn, who led the development of the Polaris missile, smiles with good luck charm Kluge on his shoulder. (NHHC L38-72.03.03)
“Kluge,” the Lockheed Technicians’ lucky monkey who has been on all the test firings of the Polaris Missile in the last two years, oversees the Missile Control Center. “Kluge” is a term meaning jury-rigged, July 1960.
Polaris replaced the Regulus I (RGM-6) and Regulus II nuclear (W5 6-120 kT warhead) cruise missile systems in the U.S. Navy’s submarine-launched strategic deterrent role. It also superseded a planned naval derivative of the US Army’s Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic missile and would remain in service with 41 assorted SSBNs (the “41 for Freedom” submarines) across five classes until augmented by the Poseidon (C3) missile starting in 1972 and fully replaced in 1981.
The first of the 41 for Freedom submarines was USS George Washington (SSBN-598), which made history by successfully launching the first Polaris A1 missile from a submerged position on 20 June 1960.
A total of 1,409 Polaris missiles were manufactured, including X models and A1, A2, and A3 production models.
Gratefully, none were ever expended in combat.
The USNI has a great oral history collection on the program.
Red Raborn retired as a Vice Admiral in 1963 after 39 years of service, and later became DCI.
I’m not sure what happened to Kluge. Hopefully he is enjoying retirement.
