U.S. Submarine Related - SSGN-587 USS Halibut

USS Halibut (SSGN-587), a unique nuclear-powered guided missile submarine-turned-special operations platform, later redesignated as an attack submarine SSN-587, was the second ship of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy" rel="nofollow - United States Navy to be named after the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halibut" rel="nofollow - halibut .

Operational history

Halibut's keel was laid down by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Island_Naval_Shipyard" rel="nofollow - Mare Island Naval Shipyard at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallejo,_California" rel="nofollow - Vallejo, California , on 11 April 1957. She was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_naming_and_launching" rel="nofollow - launched on 9 January 1959, sponsored by Mrs. Chet Holifield, wife of Congressman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chet_Holifield" rel="nofollow - Chet Holifield of California, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_commissioning" rel="nofollow - commissioned on 4 January 1960 with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_Commander" rel="nofollow - Lieutenant Commander Walter Dedrick in command.

Regulus deterrence patrols, 1960 – 1965

Halibut began as a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel-electric_transmission" rel="nofollow - diesel-electric submarine, but was completed with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power" rel="nofollow - nuclear power . She was the first submarine initially designed to launch guided missiles. Intended to carry the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulus_missile" rel="nofollow - Regulus I and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulus_II" rel="nofollow - Regulus II nuclear cruise missiles, her main deck was high above the waterline to provide a dry "flight deck." Her missile system was completely automated, with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic" rel="nofollow - hydraulic machinery controlled from a central control station.

Halibut departed on her shakedown cruise 11 March 1960. On 25 March,^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Halibut_%28SSGN-587%29#cite_note-2" rel="nofollow - [2]} underway to Australia, she became the first nuclear-powered submarine to successfully launch a guided missile. She returned to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Island_Naval_Shipyard" rel="nofollow - Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 18 June 1960, and after short training cruises sailed 7 November for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor" rel="nofollow - Pearl Harbor to join the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Pacific_Fleet" rel="nofollow - Pacific Fleet . During her first deployment she successfully launched her seventh consecutive Regulus I missile during a major https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia_Treaty_Organization" rel="nofollow - Southeast Asia Treaty Organization weapons demonstration. Returning to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor" rel="nofollow - Pearl Harbor on 9 April 1961, Halibut began her second deployment 1 May. During subsequent cruises, she participated in several missile firing exercises and underwent training.

Halibut deployed for the third time to the Western Pacific in late 1961, establishing a pattern of training and readiness operations followed through 1964. On 4 May 1964 Halibut departed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor" rel="nofollow - Pearl Harbor for the last Regulus missile patrol to be made by a submarine in the Pacific. In total, between February 1961 and July 1964, Halibut undertook a total of seven deterrent patrols before being replaced in the Pacific by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UGM-27_Polaris" rel="nofollow - Polaris -equipped submarines of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington-class_submarine" rel="nofollow - George Washington class .^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Halibut_%28SSGN-587%29#cite_note-3" rel="nofollow - [3]} From September through December 1964, Halibut joined eight other submarines in testing and evaluating the attack capabilities of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permit_class_submarine" rel="nofollow - Permit -class submarine.

According to the documentary Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines the primary target for Halibut in the event of a nuclear exchange would be to eliminate the Soviet naval base at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Halibut_%28SSGN-587%29#cite_note-Spark-4" rel="nofollow - [4]} The patrols made by Halibut and its sister Regulus-firing submarines represented the first ever deterrent patrols in the history of the submarine navy, preceding those made by the Polaris missile firing submarines.^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Halibut_%28SSGN-587%29#cite_note-Spark-4" rel="nofollow - [4]}

Special operations missions, 1965 – 1976

In February 1965 Halibut entered https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor_Naval_Shipyard" rel="nofollow - Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for a major overhaul, and on 15 August was redesignated as an attack submarine and given the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull_classification_symbol" rel="nofollow - hull classification symbol SSN-587. She sailed from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor" rel="nofollow - Pearl Harbor on 6 September for the West Coast, arriving at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyport,_Washington" rel="nofollow - Keyport, Washington , on 20 September. On 5 October she departed Keyport for Pearl Harbor and, after an eight-day stop over at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Island,_California" rel="nofollow - Mare Island, California , arrived 21 October. Halibut then began ASW operations in the area, continuing until August 1968 when she transferred to Mare Island for overhaul and installation of: side thrusters; hangar section sea lock; anchoring winches with fore and aft mushroom anchors; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturation_diving" rel="nofollow - saturation diving (mixed gas) habitat; long and short range https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side-scan_sonar" rel="nofollow - side-look sonar ; video and photographic equipment; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainframe_computer" rel="nofollow - mainframe computer ; induction tapping and recording equipment; port and starboard, fore and aft seabed skids ("sneakers"); towed underwater search vehicle ("fish") and winch; and other specialized oceanographic equipment. She returned to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor" rel="nofollow - Pearl Harbor in 1970 and operated with the Pacific Fleet and Submarine Development Group One (SubDevGruOne) out of Naval Submarine Support Facility San Diego (present day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Base_Point_Loma" rel="nofollow - Naval Base Point Loma / Ballast Poinnt) with attachment offices at Mare Island until decommissioning in 1976.Halibut was also used on secret underwater espionage missions by the United States against the Soviet Union.^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Halibut_%28SSGN-587%29#cite_note-5" rel="nofollow - [5]} Her most notable accomplishments include:

The underwater tapping of a Soviet communication line running from the Kamchatka peninsula west to the Soviet mainland in the Sea of Okhotsk ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ivy_Bells" rel="nofollow - Operation Ivy Bells )
Surveying sunken Soviet submarine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_K-129_%28Golf_II%29" rel="nofollow - K-129 in August 1968, prior to the CIA's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian" rel="nofollow - Project Azorian .

The latter mission is profiled in the 1996 book, Spy Sub – A Top Secret Mission to the Bottom of the Pacific, by Dr. Roger C. Dunham, although Dunham was required to change the name of Halibut to that of the non-existent USS Viperfish with a false hull number of SSN-655 in order to pass Department of Defense security restrictions for publication at the time.^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Halibut_%28SSGN-587%29#cite_note-6" rel="nofollow - [6]}^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Halibut_%28SSGN-587%29#cite_note-7" rel="nofollow - [7]}^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Halibut_%28SSGN-587%29#cite_note-8" rel="nofollow - [8]}

Final disposition

Halibut was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_decommissioning" rel="nofollow - decommissioned on 30 June 1976. She was " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_fleet" rel="nofollow - mothballed " at Keyport/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangor_Trident_Base,_Washington" rel="nofollow - Bangor Trident Base, Washington in 1976, struck from the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Vessel_Register" rel="nofollow - Naval Vessel Register on 30 April 1986, and disposed of through the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship-Submarine_Recycling_Program" rel="nofollow - Ship-Submarine Recycling Program at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puget_Sound_Naval_Shipyard" rel="nofollow - Puget Sound Naval Shipyard , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremerton,_Washington" rel="nofollow - Bremerton, Washington , on 9 September 1994.

Awards and commendations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Unit_Citation_%28United_States%29" rel="nofollow - Presidential Unit Citation with 1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5/16_inch_star" rel="nofollow - star
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_Unit_Commendation" rel="nofollow - Navy Unit Commendation with 2 stars	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_E_Ribbon" rel="nofollow - Navy E Ribbon with wreathed Battle "E" Device	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Service_Medal" rel="nofollow - National Defense Service Medal

In April 1997, officers and men of Halibut and the other four US Navy submarines that conducted https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deterrence_theory" rel="nofollow - strategic deterrent patrols in the Western Pacific between 1959 and 1964 were awarded the right to wear the Navy's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSBN_Deterrent_Patrol_insignia" rel="nofollow - SSBN Deterrent Patrol insignia

Presidential Unit Citation – 1968

Citation:

For exceptional meritorious service on support of National Research and Development efforts while serving as a unit in the Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. Conducting highly technical submarine operations, over an extended period of time, USS HALIBUT (SSN-587) successfully concluded several missions of significant scientific value to the Government of the United States. The professional, military, and technical competence, and inspiring devotion to duty of HALIBUT's officers and men, reflect great credit upon themselves and the United States Naval Service.^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Halibut_%28SSGN-587%29#cite_note-users.erols.com-9" rel="nofollow - [9]}

Citation was given for the search and discovery of the wreck of a Soviet submarine K-129 in three miles of water during https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian" rel="nofollow - Project Azorian .

Presidential Unit Citation – 1972

Citation:

For extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of duty as a unit in the Submarine Force, United States Pacific Fleet during 1972, USS HALIBUT successfully accomplished two highly productive and complex submarine operations of immeasurable value to the Government of the United States. The superb professional competence, extremely effective teamwork and exemplary devotion to duty displayed by the officers and men of USS HALIBUT reflect great credit upon themselves, the Submarine Force and the United States Naval Service.^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Halibut_%28SSGN-587%29#cite_note-users.erols.com-9" rel="nofollow - [9]}