The (Not So) Silent (all the Time) Service
Happy National Shuffleboard Day (tomorrow).
Via the archives of the U.S. Naval Submarine School at Groton comes this little nugget:
The ballistic missile submarine USS Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) had a shuffleboard mounted on a torpedo rack so that the crew could play tournaments. If the sub was ever in a situation in which the rack was needed, the CO said he was prepared to fire the shuffleboard out of the tube.
A George Washington-class FBM rushed into service during the Cold War to curb the “missile gap,” using components initially assembled for the Skipjack-class nuclear attack submarine USS Scamp (SSN-588), SSGN-600 was laid down on 20 May 1958 by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard; named Theodore Roosevelt and redesignated SSBN-600 on 6 November 1958; launched on 3 October 1959; sponsored by Mrs. Alice Roosevelt Longworth– TR’s then 75-year-old daughter– and commissioned on 13 February 1961.
U.S. Navy Launches Third Polaris Submarine. U.S. Navy’s Third Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN 600) is shown during launching ceremonies at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, on 3 October 1959. She is designed to fire Polaris missiles surfaced or submerged. The nuclear-powered vessel is 380 feet long and has a submerged displacement of 6,700 tons. Mrs. Alice Roosevelt, daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, christened the boat named for her father. The photograph was released on 8 October 1959. (9/30/2014).
She was the first FBM to transit the Panama Canal and stood out of Charleston on her first deterrent patrol on 19 July, just five months after commissioning. After 46 patrols, on 1 December 1979, she became the first FBM to offload her A-3 Missiles at the newly built Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor and was decommissioned on 28 February 1981. Her Final dismantling and recycling were completed in 1995.