USS Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600)
The launching of USS Theodore Roosevelt on 1959-10-03.
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Theodore Roosevelt |
Namesake | President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) |
Builder | Mare Island Naval Shipyard |
Laid down | 20 May 1958 |
Launched | 3 October 1959 |
Sponsored by | Alice Roosevelt Longworth |
Commissioned | 13 February 1961 |
Decommissioned | 28 February 1981 |
Renamed |
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Stricken | 1 December 1982 |
Homeport | Pearl Harbor, Hawaii |
Fate | Recycling via Ship-Submarine Recycling Program completed 24 March 1995 |
Badge | |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | George Washington-class submarine |
Displacement | |
Length | 381.6 ft (116.3 m)[1] |
Beam | 33 ft (10 m)[1] |
Draft | 29 ft (8.8 m)[1] |
Propulsion | |
Speed | |
Range | unlimited except by food supplies |
Test depth | 700 ft (210 m)[1] |
Complement | Two crews (Blue/Gold) each consisting of 12 officers, 100 enlisted |
Armament |
USS Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600), a
1960s
On 18 February 1961, Theodore Roosevelt departed
Over the next three and one-half years, Theodore Roosevelt made 15 more deterrent patrols from the Holy Loch. Late in the spring of 1965, she departed Holy Loch on her 17th and final patrol of the deployment to Holy Loch. She concluded that patrol and the deployment when she arrived in Charleston on 15 June 1965. She unloaded her 16 Polaris missiles and then departed Charleston for New London, Connecticut, where she arrived on 26 June 1965.
At New London, Theodore Roosevelt entered the shipyard of the
Theodore Roosevelt's second tour of duty operating from the Scotland base proved to be very brief in comparison to her first. Between mid-June 1967 and February 1968, she completed her 18th through 21st patrols. On 20 March 1968 while returning to Holy Loch from her 21st patrol, she ran aground off the western coast of Scotland. After
1970s
That tour of duty lasted until May 1971. During the interim, Theodore Roosevelt conducted nine more deterrent patrols, returning to Holy Loch for refit after each. On 12 May 1971, she stood out of Holy Loch on the 31st patrol of her career. On 20 July 1971, she arrived in New London completing both the patrol and the Holy Loch deployment. She remained in New London for three weeks, during which time members of her Blue crew and her Gold crew were brought together into a single overhaul crew while other members of both crews moved on to other assignments. On 10 August 1971, she headed south to Charleston where she arrived on 13 August 1971. Over the next month, she underwent refit and then departed Charleston on 11 September 1971 for special operations. Theodore Roosevelt returned to Charleston on 30 September 1971 and remained there a week and a day before returning to sea for another three weeks of special operations. She reentered Charleston on 1 November 1971 and began preoverhaul restricted repairs. Three weeks later, she officially began her
Theodore Roosevelt completed her overhaul in January 1974. During the following two months, she conducted sea trials out of Charleston. In April and May shakedown training and nuclear weapons certification preparations occupied her time. In June, she conducted a one-week
Theodore Roosevelt conducted patrols out of Apra Harbor, Guam, with support from the USS Proteus (AS-19) until beginning her last patrol (Patrol 46) on 9 October 1978, which ended in Pearl Harbor. Upon arrival in Pearl Harbor, a new crew was formed from members of the former Blue and Gold crews. From November 1978 until October 1979, Theodore Roosevelt served as a "target of opportunity" for various ASW forces including ships, aircraft and submarines. During this period she made several port calls to Lahaina, Maui, Kona, Hawaii, and Nawiliwili, Kauai. On 16 October 1979, the ship got underway from Pearl Harbor for San Diego, California, arriving on 25 October. She transited from San Diego to Alameda from 29 to 31 October. On 7 November, Theodore Roosevelt transited from Alameda to Esquimalt, British Columbia, arriving on 10 November. On 14 November, the ship left Esquimalt and arrived at Carr Inlet, Washington for acoustic testing while suspended on cables. On 19 November, she transited to Bangor, Washington, and submitted the first official work request (2-Kilo) to the newly established Trident Refit Facility. On 1 December 1979, she became the first Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine to offload her A-3 Missiles at the newly built Explosives Handling Wharf. She was the "first to do it last". Theodore Roosevelt was then officially taken out of service. The crew was reduced to 12 officers and 111 enlisted men, who were designated as the Deactivation Crew.[citation needed]
Decommissioning and disposal
Theodore Roosevelt commenced the Deactivation Availability process on 3 January 1980 at Submarine Base Bangor. In mid-year she was moved to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) for drydocking alongside Abraham Lincoln, where the reactor fuel was removed and the missile compartment dismantled to comply with SALT requirements. The forward and aft ends of the hull were then re-joined at the aft bulkhead of the Operations compartment, and the forward bulkhead of the reactor compartment. The ship undocked and moved pier-side where a formal decommissioning ceremony occurred on 28 February 1981. The deactivation crew then detached and transferred to other Navy assignments. PSNS continued deactivation work pier-side, completing Deactivation Availability on 1 December 1982. The hull was placed in afloat storage at PSNS, and the ship stricken from the Naval Registry of Ships on that date. The hull remained in afloat storage in two configurations for almost 13 years, pending government decisions for the methods to dispose of de-fueled nuclear reactor compartments and the remaining hulls.
In 1988, the hull of Theodore Roosevelt was drydocked at PSNS for removal and disposal of the reactor compartment. An environmental impact study was approved in 1984 for the disposal of de-fueled submarine reactor compartments via permanent storage at the federal government reservation at Hanford, Washington. The reactor compartment was separated from the hull, placed on a barge in the drydock, and prepared for waterborne shipment to Hanford. The hull was re-joined at the aft bulkhead of the operations compartment, and the forward bulkhead of Auxiliary Machinery Space-2. Both hull and barge were undocked, with the hull returning to afloat storage and the reactor compartment transported to Hanford. The Hanford Burial Trench 94 numbering system indicates that the SSBN-600 RC was the seventh placed in that facility on 1 November 1989.
The remaining hull of Theodore Roosevelt was drydocked for the final time at PSNS in 1993, to enter the Nuclear Power Ship and Submarine Recycling Program. Final dismantling and recycling were accomplished based on a 1990 environmental impact study approving this method. On 24 March 1995, the disposal work was completed.
References
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (April 2009) |
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.