USS Grayling (SSN-646) |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Grayling (SSN-646) |
| Namesake: | The grayling, a fresh water game fish closely related to the trout |
| Awarded: | 5 September 1962 |
| Builder: | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine |
| Laid down: | 12 May 1964 |
| Launched: | 22 June 1967 |
| Sponsored by: | Miss Lori Brinker |
| Commissioned: | 11 October 1969 |
| Decommissioned: | 18 July 1997 |
| Struck: | 18 July 1997 |
| Fate: | Scrapping via Ship and Submarine Recycling Program completed 31 March 1998 |
| Badge: | |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Sturgeon-class attack submarine |
| Displacement: | 3,956 long tons (4,019 t) light 4,252 long tons (4,320 t) full 296 long tons (301 t) dead |
| Length: | 289 ft (88 m) |
| Beam: | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Draft: | 29 ft (8.8 m) |
| Installed power: | 15,000 shaft horsepower (11.2 megawatts) |
| Propulsion: | One S5W nuclear reactor, two steam turbines, one screw |
| Speed: | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) standard |
| Test depth: | 1,300 feet (396 meters) |
| Complement: | 109 (14 officers, 95 enlisted men) |
| Armament: | 4 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes |
USS Grayling (SSN-646), a Sturgeon-class attack submarine, was the fifth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the grayling, a fresh-water game fish closely related to the trout.
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The contract to build Grayling was awarded on 5 September 1962 and her keel was laid down at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, on 12 May 1964. She was launched on 22 June 1967, sponsored by Miss Lori Brinker, the daughter of Lieutenant Commander Robert Brinker, who was commanding officer of the previous USS Grayling (SS-209) when she was lost with all hands in September 1943 during World War II. Grayling (SSN-646) was commissioned on 11 October 1969 with Charles R. Baron in command.
The colorful Grayling "Badge" logo was designed by Nuclear Trained Machinist Mate Second Class, Gary Helmink, shortly after reporting on board in late 1979. This badge was used thereafter. Gary is a native of Raleigh, NC.
On 20 March 1993, Grayling collided with the Russian Navy submarine Novomoskovsk (K-407),[1][2] a Delfin-class (NATO reporting name Delta IV-class) ballistic missile submarine commanded by Captain First Rank Andrei Bulgarkov.[3]
Novomoskovsk was performing combat training tasks at a site 100 nautical miles (190 km) north of the area of the collision. Having reached the northern border of the designated area, she turned back, making only 4 knots (7.4 km/h). Twenty-five minutes later Novomoskovsk felt an impact followed by screeching noises. Immediately afterwards, her sonar reported noises of a foreign submarine close by. The intruder increased its speed to 23 knots (43 km/h) to clear the area. An investigation revealed that Grayling had been tracking Novomoskovsk from a position between 155 and 165 degrees to port and from distances of between 11–13 kilometres (5.9–7.0 nmi). Grayling lost contact with Novomoskovsk when Novomoskovsk changed course. To reacquire the target, Grayling sped to the location of contact loss at 8–15 knots (15–28 km/h).
In the 30- to 40-degree sector aft of a submarine, the noises made by the screws, turbines, circulation pumps, and autonomous generators of nearby submarines are screened by the hull, which creates a sort of "acoustic channel"; from above, the noise diagram of a submarine resembles a squirrel in form, so that when two submarines approach one another head-on, each detects the other when the distance is dangerously small. Grayling's passive sonar detected Novomoskovsk at a distance of about a kilometer (0.54 nautical mile) by using noise triangulation, the major method of submarine detection in all navies because it provides stealth. With the distance closing and Grayling's Combat Information Center still trying to decide on the best way of avoiding a collision, Grayling's commanding officer tried to change course and to surface, but the attempts were thwarted by Grayling's momentum. Fortunately, Grayling collided with the upper structure of Novomoskovsk, which did not sustain any serious damage.
In June 1996, Grayling took part in Exercise TAPON 96, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercise held in the Alboran Sea, Gulf of Cadiz, and eastern Atlantic Ocean, along with the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Conolly (DD-979), the Spanish aircraft carrier Principe de Asturias, the Spanish frigates Baleares (F71), SPS Santa María (F81), and SPS Numancia (F83), the Spanish submarine SPS Delfin (S61), and the Greek destroyer HS Formion (D220).
Grayling was deactivated on 1 March 1997, placed in commission in reserve a week later as she entered the Ship and Submarine Recycling Program, then decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 18 July 1997. Her scrapping via the U.S. Navy's Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington, was completed on 31 March 1998.
Grayling's sail is now a memorial on the grounds of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, and her anchor and chain are on display as a memorial in downtown Grayling, Michigan.
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