USS Von Steuben (SSBN-632)
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- This page is about the submarine built in the 1960s. For other ships with the same name, please see the disambiguation page at Von Steuben.
| Career | Image:USN-Jack.png |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 20 July 1961 |
| Laid down: | 4 September 1962 |
| Launched: | 18 October 1963 |
| Commissioned: | 30 September 1964 |
| Decommissioned: | 26 February 1994 |
| Fate: | submarine recycling |
| Stricken: | 26 February 1994 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 6504 tons light, tons full |
| Length: | 129.5 meters (425 feet) |
| Propulsion: | S5W reactor |
| Armament: | |
| Motto: | |
USS Von Steuben (SSBN-632), a James Madison-class ballistic missile submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (1730–1794), the German army officer who served in the American Revolutionary War.
The contract to build her was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia on 20 July 1961 and her keel was laid down on 4 September 1962. She was launched on 18 October 1963 sponsored by Mrs. Fred Korth, and commissioned on 30 September 1964, with Commander John P. Wise in command of the Blue Crew and Commander Jeffrey C. Metzel in command of the Gold Crew.
During the fall of 1964, the fleet ballistic missile submarine completed two shakedown cruises—one for each crew—and a period of antisubmarine warfare (ASW) training between the two. On 22 December, the submarine's Gold Crew fired her first Polaris missile on the Atlantic missile range before returning to Newport News for Christmas. She changed crews again at the beginning of the new year, 1965, and returned to the missile range off Cape Canaveral (then called Cape Kennedy) where the Blue Crew fired its first missile. In February, after completing all initial training operations, she returned to Newport News.
In March, Von Steuben headed for her first duty assignment. The submarine joined Submarine Squadron 18 (SubRon 18) at Charleston, South Carolina, her new base of operations, and immediately began conducting strategic deterrent patrols.
At the end of her 11th patrol early in 1968, Von Steuben was reassigned to SubRon 16 and operated out of Rota, Spain, until the middle of 1969. During that assignment, she visited Groton, Connecticut, in the summer of 1968 for repairs at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation, after which she resumed deterrent patrols out of Rota. In November 1970, she visited Groton once again, this time near the end of a 16-month overhaul during which she was modified to carry the newly developed Poseidon C-3 missile. She conducted post-conversion shakedown during the early months of 1971 and fired her first and second Poseidon missiles in February and March, respectively. She returned to Charleston and resumed deterrent patrols in May 1971.
- 23 years of history go here
In the early 1980s, the Von Steuben was converted to carry the new Trident C-4 missile. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the Von Steuben operated out of Kings Bay, Georgia as part of Submarine Squadron 16. Off-crew periods were spent training in Charleston, SC, where all the crews' families lived.
Von Steuben was decommissioned on 26 February 1994 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 26 February 1994. Ex-Von Steuben entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington, on 1 October 2000, and on 30 October 2001 ceased to exist.
References
Based on data from the Naval Vessel Register