USS Nathan Hale (SSBN-623), at the AUTEC test range around 1981. |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Nathan Hale |
| Namesake: | Nathan Hale (1755-1776), a hero of the American Revolutionary War |
| Ordered: | 3 February 1961 |
| Builder: | General Dynamics Electric Boat |
| Laid down: | 2 October 1962 |
| Launched: | 12 January 1963 |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs. George Whelan Anderson, Jr. |
| Commissioned: | 23 November 1963 |
| Decommissioned: | 31 January 1987 |
| Fate: | Entered Ship-Submarine Recycling Program 2 October 1991; recycling completed 5 April 1994 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Lafayette-class submarine |
| Type: | Ballistic missile submarine (hull design SCB-216)[1] |
| Displacement: | 7,250 long tons (7,370 t) surfaced 8,250 long tons (8,380 t) submerged |
| Length: | 425 ft (130 m) |
| Beam: | 33 ft (10 m) |
| Draft: | 31 ft 6 in (9.60 m) |
| Propulsion: | •1 × S5W reactor •1xDeLaval turbine=15,000 shp (11,000 kW)[1] |
| Speed: | 20 knots (37 km/h) surfaced 25 knots (46 km/h) submerged |
| Complement: | Two crews (Blue Crew and Gold), 13 officers and 130 enlisted men each |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
BQS-4 sonar[1] |
| Armament: | • 4 × 21 in (530 mm) Mark 65 torpedo tubes with Mark 113 firecontrol system,[1] for Mark 48 torpedoes • 16 × vertical tubes for Polaris or Poseidon ballistic missiles |
USS Nathan Hale (SSBN 623) was the sixth Lafayette class nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine produced. She was named for Captain Nathan Hale (1755-1776) who served most famously as a spy during the American Revolutionary War.
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The contract for Nathan Hale's construction was awarded on 3 February 1961. Construction began on 2 October 1962 by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 12 January 1963, sponsored by the wife of Admiral George Whelan Anderson, Jr., and commissioned on 23 November 1963 in a subdued ceremony due to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy the day before.
Nathan Hale entered service on 21 May 1964 with her home port at Charleston, South Carolina, and performed deterrent patrols as a member of the United States Atlantic Fleet. She was originally outfitted with the Polaris missile system and in the 1970s underwent conversion to the Poseidon missile system. By April 1986 she had completed 69 deterrent patrols in the Atlantic.
Nathan Hale was decommissioned on 3 November 1986 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 31 January 1987. She entered the Navy's Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, Washington on 2 October 1991, being classed as scrapped on 5 April 1994.
Nathan Hale's hull number, "623", was used on the submarine portraying the fictional U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS Sawfish in the 1959 film On the Beach. However, the U.S. Navy did not cooperate in the making of On the Beach, and the submarine portraying USS Sawfish was in reality the British Royal Navy diesel-electric submarine HMS Andrew (P423), which bore no connection to USS Nathan Hale.
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