The of
United States Navy submarine were the first ballistic missile submarines in the world. Together with
the
''Ethan Allen'' ,
the
''Lafayette'' ,
the
''James Madison'' , and
the
''Benjamin Franklin'' classes, they comprised the "41 for Freedom." The December
1959 Commissioning of
''George Washington'' (SSBN-598) , the class's lead ship, gave the
United States a stealth platform with enormous nuclear firepower, a powerful deterrent and weapon in the
Cold War .
The
United States Navy ordered a class of nuclear-powered submarines armed with long-range strategic missiles on
31 December 1957 , and tasked
Electric Boat with converting two existing attack submarine hulls to ballistic missile-carrying boats to quickly create the deterrent force. To accomplish this conversion,
Electric Boat persuaded the Navy in January
1958 to slip the launch dates for two
''Skipjack''-class Fast Attack Submarines , the just-begun
''Scorpion'' (SSN-589) and the not-yet-started
''Sculpin'' (SSN-590) . On
12 February 1958 ,
President Of The United States Dwight D. Eisenhower signed funding for three ballistic missile submarines.
The ''George Washington''s were essentially
''Skipjack'' s with a
130 foot (40 m) missile compartment ("Sherwood Forest"), inserted between the ship's control navigation areas and the nuclear reactor compartment. In the case of the lead ship, at
Groton, Connecticut for ''Scorpion'' was cut apart and extended to become the
keel for ''George Washington''. Then
Electric Boat and
Mare Island Naval Shipyard began construction of one other boat each from extended plans.
President Eisenhower authorized construction of two more submarines on
29 July 1958 .
Newport News Naval Shipyard and
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard began work immediately.
USS ''George Washington'' (SSBN-598) began the first strategic deterrent patrol on
15 November 1960 , and
USS ''Patrick Henry'' (SSBN-599) departed for patrol on
31 January 1961 . ''George Washington'' returned from patrol on
21 January 1961 , coming alongside the tender
USS ''Proteus'' (AS-19)
at
New London, Connecticut . ''Patrick Henry'' returned from patrol on
8 March 1961 , also
tying up alongside ''Proteus'', which was now in
Holy Loch ,
Scotland , beginning the use of Holy Loch as a refit and upkeep anchorage.
The ''George Washington''s carried the
Polaris A1 Missile on their patrols until
2 June 1964 , when ''George Washington'' changed out her missiles for Polaris A3s. The last of the class,
USS ''Abraham Lincoln'' (SSBN-602) swapped out her A1s for A3s on
14 October 1965 .
In the early
1980s , to make room within the limitations imposed by
SALT II for the
''Ohio''-class ballistic missile submarines,
''George Washington'' ,
''Patrick Henry'' , and
''Robert E. Lee'' had their missiles removed and were reclassified as attack submarines, a role in which they served for several years prior to decommissioning.
- Length: 381.6 feet (116.3 m)
- Beam: 33 feet (10 m)
- Displacement: 5400 tons light, 6000 tons surfaced, 6800 tons submerged
- Power Plant: S5W Reactor , two geared turbines at 15,000 shp (11 MW) to one shaft
- Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h) surfaced, 25 knots (46 km/h) submerged
- Depth: 700 feet (210 m)
- Armament: 16 tubes for Polaris Missile s, six torpedo tubes
