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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive


Patches contributed by Mike Smolinski
Radio Call Sign: November - Oscar - India - Delta

Tautog (SSN-639)

Sturgeon Class Attack Submarine: Laid down, 27 January 1964, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Co., Pascagoula, MS.; Launched, 15 March 1967; Commissioned, USS Tautog (SSN-639), 17 August 1968; Decommissioned and simultaneously struck from the Naval Register, 31 March 1997; Final Disposition, to be disposed of through NPSSRP (Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA. 8 October 2002. Her sail is on permanent display at Seawolf Park, Galveston, TX.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 3,640 t., Submerged: 4,640 t.; Length 292' 3"; Beam 31' 8"; Draft 28' 8"; Speed, Surfaced 15 kts, Submerged 25 kts; Depth limit 1,300'; Complement 108; Armament, four 21" torpedo tubes amidships aft of bow, MK 48 Torpedoes, UUM-44A SUBROC, UGM-84A/C Harpoon, MK 57 deep water mines, MK 60 CAPTOR mines; Combat Sensors, Radar, BPS-14/15 surface search, Sonars, BQQ-5 multi-function bow mounted, BQR-7 passive in submarines with BQQ-2, BQS-12 active 7, TB-16 or TB-23 towed array, EW Systems, WLQ-4(V), WLR-4(V), WLR-9; Propulsion System, one S5W nuclear reactor, two steam turbines, one propeller, 15,000 shp.
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For Full Size		SizeImage DescriptionContributed By
Tautog608kKeel laying of the Tautog (SSN-639), 27 January 1964 Photo courtesy of Dale Hargrave.
Tautog184k Mrs. Albert Gore, wife of the senator from Tennessee (and mother/sponsor of future Vice President Al Gore, Jr,) christens the Tautog (SSN-639) 15 March 1967. Senator Gore is on the far right, next to him is Representative L. Mendel Rivers of South Carolina. Photo courtesy of Dale Hargrave.
Tautog505kLaunching of the Tautog (SSN-639), 15 March 1967. Photo courtesy of Dale Hargrave.
Commemorative19kCommemorative postal cover marking the Tautog's (SSN-639) launching at Ingalls Shipbuilding Co., Pascagoula, MS., 15 March 1967. Courtesy of Jack Treutle (of blessed memory).
Submerged submarines520kTautog (SSN-639) goes Hawaiian, 23 September 1968.USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
Submerged submarines596kTautog (SSN-639) sails on February 1969.USN photo # NPC K-69214 courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
Submerged submarines469kCDR Corbin A. McNeill, CO of Tautog (SSN-639), 13 December 1977.Photo from the files of the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum via Darryl L. Baker.
Submerged submarines388k Tautog (SSN-639) meets Alcatraz.USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
Submerged submarines463kSailors scenic sites.USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
Aspro26kThe sail of the Aspro (SSN-648) at the North Pole on 20 November 1982 during a winter rendezvous with Tautog (SSN-639), visible in the background. This meeting was detailed in the December 1983 All Hands article on page 20 Rendezvous at the North Pole in 1982.USN photo courtesy of Arctic Submarine Laboratory & csp.navy.mil.
Link courtesy of Ken Olsen.
Tautog645k A view of the replenishment oiler Roanoke (AOR-7) and the nuclear-powered attack submarine Tautog (SSN-639) tied up side by side 2 August 1982 at NAS Alameda California. Photo # DN-ST-82-10436 by PHAN Kathy Moss, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil, Defense Visual Information Center.
Sturgeon Class43kOil 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.
Submerged submarines145kSubmerged submarines in tandem.USN photo courtesy of Robert Hall.
Submerged submarines1.16k10 page Welcome Aboard the Tautog (SSN-639), circa 1984.USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
Tautog462k A bow view of the nuclear-powered attack submarine Tautog (SSN-639) underway off the Virginia Capes on 1 February 1991.Photo # DN-ST-91-05695 by PHAN Kathy Moss, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil, Defense Visual Information Center.
Tautog25kDarter (SS-576) in the foreground about to be sunk as a target by the Tautog (SSN-639), 7 January 1992.USN photo courtesy of diodon349.com.
Tautog65kTautog (SSN-639), underway off the Hawaiian Islands, date unknown.USN photo courtesy of ComSubGruNine Website.
Tautog64kUndated photo of the Tautog (SSN-639), passing under the Golden Gate bridge.Official USN photo courtesy of Wendell Royce McLaughlin Jr.
Tautog90kUndated photo of the Tautog (SSN-639), leaving Pearl Harbor.USN photo courtesy of diodon349.com.
Tautog118kPortside view of the Tautog (SSN-639), underway.USN photo courtesy of ComSubGruNine Website.
Commemorative33kCommemorative postal cover marking the completion of scrapping of the Tautog (SSN-639) & Lapon (SSN-661) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA. 31 August 2002.Courtesy of Jack Treutle (of blessed memory).
Hurricane Ike359kThe aftermath on Seawolf Park [location of Stewart (DE-238) and Cavalla (SS-244)] from Hurricane Ike during her September 2008 visit. The Stewart was partially refloated from her dry berth by the storm surge and was left in her current, listing position. It also appears that Cavalla was partially refloated out of her dry berth as well (since the waterline is far more exposed than before), and the sail from Tautog (SSN-639) was tipped over.USN photo # N-6575H-603 by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Chris Hoffpauir & submitted by Douglas Brown.
Hurricane Ike26kBow on view of Hurricane Ike's visit.Courtesy of images.chron.com.
Seawolf Park891kNight view of the Cavalla (SS-244) & Tautog (SSN-639). Photo courtesy of Kelley Crooks, Executive Director of the American Undersea Warfare Center, Cavalla Historical Foundation, at Seawolf Park, in Galveston TX.
Spent Fuel569kSealed 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
Commanding Officers
01CDR. Balderston, Buele Gene, USN (USNA 1951)17.08.1968 - 12.10.1970 First Date in Commission
02CDR. Trevors, George Aloysius, USN (USNA 1954)12.10.1970 - 09.07.1974
03CDR. Grise, James Edward, USN (USNA 1959)09.07.1974 - 23.10.1977
04CDR. McNeill Jr., Corbin Asahel, USN (USNA 1962)23.10.1977 - 22.06.1981
05CDR. Klintworth, Philip George, USN22.06.1981 - 01.07.1983
06CDR. Kent, Thomas Richard, USN (USNA 1967)01.07.1983 - 06.06.1986
07CDR. Stuermann, Walter Peter, USN06.06.1986 - 02.06.1989
08CDR. Talbot Jr., Gerald Lloyd, USN :RADM02.06.1989 - 16.01.1992
09CDR. Virgilio, Richard Louis, USN (USNA 1973)16.01.1992 - 07.05.1993
10CDR. Byus, Fred, USN (USNA 1976) :RADM07.05.1993 - 30.11.1995
11CDR. Sauls, Mitchell Keith, USN30.11.1995 - 10.04.1997 Last Date in Commission
Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler
View the Tautog (SSN-639)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
FAS--SSN-637 Sturgeon class
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