USS Puffer (SSN-652)

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Career

Ordered:	26 March 1963
Laid down:	8 February 1965
Launched:	30 March 1968
Commissioned:	9 August 1969
Decommissioned:	12 July 1996
Fate:	submarine recycling
Stricken:	12 July 1996
General characteristics
Displacement:	3978 tons light, 4272 tons full, 294 tons dead
Length:	89 meters (292 feet)
Beam:	9.7 meters (32 feet)
Draft:	8.8 meters (29 feet)
Propulsion:	S5W reactor
Complement:	14 officers, 95 men
Armament:	Mk 48 Torpedo, Mk 48 ADCAP Torpedo, Tomahawk Missile (Nuclear, Anti-Ship, Land-Attack, Bomblet), Harpoon Missile, Mk 60/61/67 Mines,
Motto:	"Pride in Perfection"

USS Puffer (SSN-652), a Sturgeon-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the puffer, a fish which inflates its body with air. The contract to build her was awarded to Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi on 26 March 1963 and her keel was laid down on 8 February 1965. She was launched on 30 March 1968 sponsored by Mrs. John B. Colwell, and commissioned on 9 August 1969, with Commander John M. Will, Jr., in command.

Puffer was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 July 1996. Ex-Puffer entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington, on 20 October 1995 and on 12 July 1996 ceased to exist.

Puffer trivia:

- USS Puffer's radio call sign was NBCM.
- Her 5 1/4" Fairbanks-Morse diesel generator was painted a reddish color called "Chrysler Auto Maple".
- The ship's Hi-Pacs (High Pressure Air Compressors) in Aux Machinery Room #1 were named "Huff" and "Puff".
- On the forward wall of the wardroom, there was a double sided painting. The "politically correct" side showed a tranquil harbor scene, with moored sailboats. The other side featured a racy painting called 'Red Right Reclining'. It was a nude redheaded lady, caressing the ship's emblem. The painting was done by the grandfather of the ship's first CO's wife. His name was Hans Walleen. "Red Right" was only displayed while the ship was underway.

- The oldest piece of equipment on the ship was a brass porthole, salvaged from an early 20th century merchant ship and built into the wardroom's after bulkhead, which led to the pantry. Movies shown in the wardroom were projected through the open porthole; it was kept closed at all other times.

- The "Phrog Log", maintained in a standard green bound notebook by Engine Room Lower Level watchstanders, officially never existed.

See USS Puffer for other ships of the same name.