NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive
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| Click On Image For Full Size | Size | Image Description | Contributed By | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 279k | Note: This photo is part of the PDF christening below. The Whale (SSN-638) was christend by the 1st wife of Mrs. Russell B. Long, Katherine Mae Hattic Long on 14 October 1966. Her husband, Russell Billiu Long, was United States Senator from Louisiana from 1948 until 1987, and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee for fifteen years from 1966 to 1981. The son of Louisiana governor and U.S. senator Huey Long, Russell Long served during the administrations of eight U.S. presidents from Truman to Reagan. According to biographer Bob Mann, "Russell became a leading voice for the plight of the elderly, the disabled, the working poor and the middle class." Long quietly wielded enormous power in the Senate and in 1980 was voted the most effective chairman and most effective debater by his colleagues in a US News and World Report survey, The Wall Street Journal once called him "the fourth branch of government." | Italicized text courtesy of wikipedia.org. USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com | |
 | 304k | Six page PDF of the Whale (SSN-638) & Sunfish (SSN-649) christening on 14 October 1966. | USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com | |
 | 235k | Sunfish (SSN-649) & Whale (SSN-638) are tied to the pier after launching on 14 October 1966. | General Dynamics photo courtesy of Dale Hargrave. | |
 | 31k | Commemorative post mark on the occasion of the double launching of the Whale (SSN-638) & Sunfish (SSN-649) at General Dynamics Corp., Quincy, MA., 14 October 1966. | Courtesy of Jack Treutle (of blessed memory). | |
 | 90k | Commemorative post mark on the occasion of the launching of the Whale (SSN-638), 14 October 1966. | Courtesy of Jack Treutle (of blessed memory). | |
 | 109k | Port quarter bow view of the Whale (SSN-638) underway, probably during her alpha sea trials off the New England coast, late 1966. | Official USN photo courtesy of Wendell Royce McLaughlin Jr. | |
 | 181k | Whale (SSN-638) reached the North Pole on 6 April 1969 and surfaced there in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary's arrival there. | USN photo # NPC K-71474 (B) 4-4-69 courtesy of US Navy Arctic Submarine Laboratory & Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com. | |
 | 152k | Whale (SSN-638) surfaced on Easter Sunday at the North Pole, 6 April 1969. | USN photo # K-71473, Photographed by PHC B.M. Andersen, courtesy of the National Museum of the U.S. Navy, courtesy of flickr.com. | |
 | 207k | Frozen Whale (SSN-638) on 6 April 1969. | USN photo # NPC K-71474 courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com | |
 | 911k | Whale (SSN-638) returned to warmer waters after completing historic patrol of Arctic in which she became the fifth US undersea craft to reach North Pole. | USN photo courtesy of Bill Gonyo. | |
 | 27k | Commemorative post mark issued on the occasion of the Whale's (SSN-638) surfacing at the North Pole on 6 April 1969. | Courtesy of Jack Treutle (of blessed memory). | |
 | 43k | Oil on canvas painting by the artist Jim Christley entitled "Trailing". During the Cold War the US Naval Submarine Force was tasked with keeping tabs on Soviet Naval movements in particular, the Soviet Submarine Force. Submarines of the Sturgeon Class were well suited to this task and often trailed Soviet submarines for days reporting on their movements and recording noise signatures. In this image, such a trailing has turned into a close aboard encounter as a Soviet Viktor III Class has turned to port to check his baffles (to listen to see if anyone is immediately astern). A trailing Sturgeon has stopped his screw and gone quiet. Extending far behind the US submarine is its towed array sonar which assists in giving a clear picture of the ocean's acoustics. | Photo & text courtesy of subart.net. | |
 | 145k | Submerged submarines in tandem. | USN photo courtesy of Robert Hall. | |
 | 513k | Twelve page Welcome Aboard PDF of the Whale (SSN-638), circa 1978. | USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com | |
 | 185k | Surfaced Whale (SSN-638) underway. | USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com | |
 | 100k | Whale (SSN-638), arriving at New London, CT., Friday morning, 9:49am, 12 July 1991, passing the old State Pier. | Photo by Ken Hart. | |
 | 89k | Stern view of Whale (SSN-638), alongside at Groton, 13 July 1991. | Photo by Ken Hart. | |
 | 86k | Whale (SSN-638) at Groton, pier 4 south, 13 July 1991. | Photo by Ken Hart. | |
 | 64k | Undated bow view of what appears to be the Whale (SSN-638) underway. | USN photo courtesy of Bill Gonyo. Text i.d. courtesy of Joe Knowles, John Eldridge (CTR),David Johnston (USN, retired) . |
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 | 136k | Whale (SSN-638), underway, date and place unknown. | USN photo. | |
 | 569k | Sealed reactor compartments are shipped by barge out of Puget Sound Naval Base down the coast and along the Columbia River to the port of Benton. There the radioactively-contaminated hull sections are transferred to special multiwheeled high-load trailers for transport to the Hanford Reservation in Washington State. Pictured below is the burial ground for spent fuel of the following 77 nuclear reactor submarines as of March 2003: Patrick Henry (SSBN-599), Snook (SSN-592), George Washington (SSBN-598), Scamp (SSN-588), Robert E. Lee (SSBN-601), Thomas Jefferson (SSBN-618), Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600), Dace (SSN-607), John Adams (SSBN-620), Abraham Lincoln (SSBN-602), Barb (SSN-596), Ethan Allen (SSBN-608), Thomas A. Edison (SSBN-610), Pollack (SSN-603), Glenard P. Lipscomb (SSN-685), James Monroe (SSBN-622), Skipjack (SS-585), Nathan Hale (SSBN-623), Plunger (SSN-595), Shark (SSN-591), Lafayette (SSBN-616), Sam Houston (SSBN-609), Jack (SSN-605), Haddo (SSN-604), Tinosa (SSN-606), Guardfish (SSN-612), Permit (SSN-594), Queenfish (SSN-651), Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631), John Marshall (SSBN-611), George C. Marshall (SSBN-654), Flasher (SSN-613), Guitarro (SSN-665), Alexander Hamilton (SSBN-617), George Washington Carver (SSBN-656), Tecumseh (SSBN-628), Halibut (SSGN-587), Will Rogers (SSBN-659), Henry L. Stimson (SSBN-655), Daniel Boone (SSBN-629), Greenling (SSN-614), John C. Calhoun (SSBN-630), Casimir Pulaski (SSBN-633), Skate (SSN-578), Sargo (SSN-583), Francis Scott Key (SSBN-657), Sturgeon (SSN-637), Benjamin Franklin (SSBN-640), Swordfish (SSN-579), Seadragon (SSN-584), Stonewall Jackson (SSBN-634), Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641), Hammerhead (SSN-663), Mariano G. Vallejo (SSBN-658), Tullibee (SSN-597), Lewis & Clark (SSBN-644), Pargo (SSN-650), Seahorse (SSN-669), Gurnard (SSN-662), Flying Fish (SSN-673), Gato (SSN-615), Puffer (SSN-652), Seawolf (SSN-575), Baton Rouge (SSN-689), Bergall (SSN-667), Whale (SSN-638), Henry Clay (SSBN-625), James Madison (SSBN-627), Finback (SSN-670), Spadefish (SSN-668), Sunfish (SSN-649), George Bancroft (SSBN-643), Grayling (SSN-646), Pintado (SSN-672), Tunny (SSN-682), Archerfish (SSN-678), & Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624). As time passes & more boats are retired from service and their reactors are brought here, so the numbers rise. In this photo dated November 2009, 98 nuclear submarines and six nuclear cruisers have been recycled. For an up to date view, click here | USN photo submitted by Jack Treutle (of blessed memory). Insert link courtesy of wikimedia.org |
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| Commanding Officers | |||
| 01 | CDR. Wolff Jr., William Martin, USN | 12.10.1968 - 24.01.1970 First Date in Commission | |
| 02 | CDR. Mayberry Jr., Thomas Alfred, USN (USNA 1953) | 24.01.1970 - 22.07.1972 | |
| 03 | CDR. Curtis III, Guy Haldane, USN (USNA 1959) :RADM | 22.07.1972 - 11.07.1975 | |
| 04 | CDR. Brooks, Linton Forrestal, USN | 11.07.1975 - 10.10.1978 | |
| 05 | CDR. Morse, Clayton Kavanagh, USN (USNA 1963) | 10.10.1978 - 22.02.1981 | |
| 06 | CDR. Morrow, Emil David, USN (USNA 1964) | 22.02.1981 - 24.03.1983 | |
| 07 | CDR. Welsch, James Edward, USN (USNA 1967) | 24.03.1983 - 18.10.1985 | |
| 08 | CDR. Francis, John Willi (Jack), USN | 18.10.1985 - 26.06.1989 | |
| 09 | CDR. Deering, Ronald Dean, USN | 26.06.1989 - 23.11.1991 | |
| 10 | CDR. Harris Jr., Andrew Vanvleet, USN | 23.11.1991 - 21.01.1994 | |
| 11 | CDR. Pugh, Kenneth Scott, USN (USNA 1976) | 21.01.1994 - 01.07.1996 Last Date in Commission | |
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