Tag Archives: USS Sam Rayburn

Just days short of 60 Years in the SSBN Program…

Posted on by One comment

Norfolk Naval Shipyard on Wednesday announced they have successfully completed the inactivation of the Moored Training Ship Sam Rayburn (MTS 635), an evolution that included prepping the boat for towing to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in spring 2025.

What is a MTS?

Long the last remaining boat of her class still afloat, the MTS 635 was originally commissioned 2 December 1964 as SSBN-635, part of the James Madison-class of Cold War-era fleet ballistic missile (FBM) submarines.

USS Sam Rayburn (SSBN-635) c. 1964, with her missile hatches showing their “billiard ball” livery

A member of the famed “41 for Freedom” boats rushed into service to be the big stick of mutually assured destruction against the Soviets, Rayburn was named for the quiet but determined WWII/Korea War speaker of the House, Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn.

After carrying Polaris SLBMs on a rotating series of deterrent patrols from the East Coast and Rota, Spain, Rayburn had her missile compartment removed in 1985 as part of the SALT II treaty and decommissioned, transitioning to her role as an MTS.In the meantime, all of her sisters were disposed of through recycling by 2000, leaving Rayburn to linger on in her training role. Similarly, MTS Daniel Webster (MTS-626), originally a Lafayette-class FBM decommissioned in 1990, has been in the same tasking.

However, all things eventually end. As the MTS role has now transitioned to a pair of recently sidelined 1970s-construction Los Angeles-class attack boats– La Jolla (SSN/MTS 701) and San Francisco (SSN/MTS 711)— Webster and Rayburn are ready for razor blades.

Today, she looks pretty rough, as one would imagine.

Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) successfully completed the inactivation of the Moored Training Ship Sam Rayburn (MTS 635) Nov. 6, marking the Navy’s first inactivation of a Moored Training Ship. Sam Rayburn served at Nuclear Power Training Unit (NPTU)—Charleston for more than 30 years as a Moored Training Ship training Sailors in the operation, maintenance and supervision of nuclear propulsion systems.

And NNSY had to do lots of work to get her to look that good!

Ensuring the 60-year-old ship was ready for the voyage and storage required installing more than 250 lap plates on the non-pressure hull given several areas had experienced corrosion. Extensive welding was performed to ensure the integrity of the hull and piping systems during storage. The project team also installed and tested all required tow equipment.

57-Year Old SSBN Finally Retires

Posted on by 3 comments

Long the last remaining boat of her class still afloat, the Moored Training Ship Sam Rayburn (MTS 635) was originally commissioned 2 December 1964 as SSBN-635, part of the James Madison-class of Cold War-era fleet ballistic missile (FBM) submarines.

USS Sam Rayburn (SSBN-635) c. 1964, with her missile hatches showing their “billiard ball” livery

A member of the famed “41 for Freedom” boats rushed into service to be the big stick of mutually assured destruction against the Soviets, Rayburn was named for the quiet but determined WWII/Korea War speaker of the House, Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn.

After carrying Polaris SLBMs on a rotating series of deterrent patrols from the East Coast and Rota, Spain, Rayburn had her missile compartment removed in 1985 as part of the SALT II treaty and decommissioned, transitioning to her role as an MTS.In the meantime, all of her sisters were disposed of through recycling by 2000, leaving Rayburn to linger on in her training role. Similarly, MTS Daniel Webster (MTS-626), originally a Lafayette-class FBM decommissioned in 1990, has been in the same tasking.

However, all things eventually end. As the MTS role is now transitioning to a pair of recently sidelined 1970s-construction Los Angeles-class attack boats– La Jolla (SSN/MTS 701) and San Francisco (SSN/MTS 711)— Webster and Rayburn are ready for razorblades.

Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) recently welcomed the Rayburn in advance of her inactivation, from where she will be towed to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for recycling

Navy Photo 210405-N-XX785-003 by Danny De Angelis

“USS Sam Rayburn has proudly served the U.S. Submarine Force and Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program since 1964, and we now welcome it to America’s Shipyard,” said Shipyard Commander Captain Dianna Wolfson. “Performing the first inactivation of a Moored Training Ship will develop another important facet in our service to the Fleet, and we look forward to excelling in our mission as one team.”

Last walk of the half-century old Polaris subs…

Posted on by 2 comments

Back in the darkest days of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy ran the “41 for Freedom” program which put an amazing 41 Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) submarines of the George Washington, Ethan Allen, Lafayette, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin classes in active service in record time. These boomers carried (at first) 16 UGM-27 Polaris, then later Poseidon and finally (in some cases) Trident SLBMs and held the dead-hand switch on the mutually assured destruction concept throughout the 1960s, 70s, and early 80s.

USS Sam Rayburn c. 1964, with her missile hatches showing their "billiard ball" livery

USS Sam Rayburn c. 1964, with her missile hatches showing their “billiard ball” livery

Rapidly replaced by the much larger, more efficient, and better armed Ohio-class in the mid-1980s, these boats were scrapped wholesale. The last one on (active) duty, USS Kamehameha (SSBN/SSN-642) was kept around until 2002 only because she spent the last decade of her life as a frogman boat.

But wait, there’s more!

In 1990, USS Daniel Webster (SSBN-626), a Lafayette-class ballistic missile submarine (FBM), and USS Sam Rayburn (SSBN-635) a James Madison-class FBM, were withdrawn from service, stricken, their torpedo tubes disabled, their missile tubes filled with concrete and the tube hatches were removed.

So what good are they? Well, they still had an active S5W reactor and as such, were reclassified as floating moored training ships (MSTs) assigned to the U.S. Navy Nuclear Power Training Unit, Goose Creek, South Carolina.

The moored training ship Daniel Webster (still with her hull number MTS-626 and an active nuclear reactor) begins its tow from Norfolk Naval Shipyard to Charleston, S.C. on 21 August 2012 for the final quarter of its 16-month dry docking engineered maintenance availability more than three weeks ahead of schedule as she sailed under tow from Charleston,SC. to a scheduled overhaul in Virgina on 26 Sept.2011.USN photo # N-SY521-001 courtesy of navy.mil. via Ron Reeves. Via Navsource. Click to big up

The moored training ship Daniel Webster (still with her hull number MTS-626 and an active nuclear reactor) begins its tow from Norfolk Naval Shipyard to Charleston, S.C. on 21 August 2012 for the final quarter of its 16-month dry docking engineered maintenance availability more than three weeks ahead of schedule as she sailed under tow from Charleston,SC. to a scheduled overhaul in Virgina on 26 Sept.2011.USN photo # N-SY521-001 courtesy of navy.mil. via Ron Reeves. Via Navsource. Click to big up

Over the past quarter century they have trained the submarine force’s (as well as the Royal Navy’s) nuclear watch standers Now, that too will come to an end as they are the last S5W’s around.

Last month the retiring Los Angeles–class attack submarine USS La Jolla (SSN-701), commissioned in 1981, arrived at Norfolk for her conversion to an MST. She will be joined in this mission by sister USS San Francisco (SSN-711) of the same vintage within the next few years. At that point, Daniel Webster and Sam Rayburn will retire after more than 50 years service, having entered the fleet in 1964.