USS Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641)
 USS Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641) on 1 February 1991 | |
| History | |
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| Name: | USS Simon Bolivar |
| Namesake: | Simón Bolívar (1783–1830), a hero of South American independence movements |
| Awarded: | 1 November 1962 |
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia |
| Laid down: | 17 April 1963 |
| Launched: | 22 August 1964 |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs. Thomas C. Mann |
| Commissioned: | 29 October 1965 |
| Decommissioned: | 8 February 1995 |
| Struck: | 8 February 1995 |
| Honors and awards: |
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| Fate: | Scrapping via Ship and Submarine Recycling Program begun 1 October 1994; completed 1 December 1995 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Benjamin Franklin class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine |
| Displacement: | 6,494 tons |
| Length: | 425 feet (130 m) |
| Beam: | 33 feet (10 m) |
| Draft: | 32 feet (9.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | S5W reactor |
| Speed: |
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| Test depth: | 1,300 feet (400 m) |
| Complement: | Two crews (Blue Crew and Gold Crew) of 14 officers and 126 enlisted men each |
| Armament: |
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USS Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641), a Benjamin Franklin class fleet ballistic missile submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Simón Bolívar (1783–1830), a hero of the independence movements of the former Spanish colonies in South America.
Construction and commissioning
Simon Bolivar's keel was laid down on 17 April 1963 by the Newport News Shipbuilding of Newport News, Virginia. She was launched on 22 August 1964, sponsored by Mrs. Thomas C. Mann, and commissioned on 29 October 1965 with Commander Charles H. Griffiths commanding the Blue Crew and Commander Charles A. Orem commanding the Gold Crew.
Service history
During late December 1965 and most of January 1966, Simon Bolivar underwent demonstration and shakedown operations. The Gold Crew successfully fired a Polaris A-3 ballistic missile off the coast of Cape Kennedy, Florida, on 17 January 1966, and the Blue Crew completed a successful Polaris missile firing on 31 January.
In February 1966, the Gold Crew continued shakedown operations in the Caribbean Sea. By March 1966, Simon Bolivar's home port was changed to Charleston, South Carolina, where she was assigned to Submarine Squadron 18, and minor deficiencies were corrected during a shipyard availability period.
The strategic deterrent patrol cycle of on-crew / off-crew for the Gold and Blue crews was initiated in the first half of 1966. Beginning in April 1966, the Blue Crew prepared for and conducted the First deterrent patrol, while the Gold Crew entered a training period. The Gold Crew then transitioned from off-crew to on-crew to conduct the Second deterrent patrol.
Simon Bolivar like all U.S. ballistic missile submarines had two crews, the Blue and Gold in order to maximize the at-sea time of the ship itself. During the approximately ten weeks of a patrol, crew members worked every day standing watches then performing their in-rate duties. Watches were 6 hours in length resulting in most watch standers being “1 in 3", or 6 hours on watch, 12 hours off watch. Key watch stations were torpedo room, sonar, radio, Control Room (Officer of the Deck; ship control), navigation center, missile control center, missile compartment/launcher, auxiliary machinery rooms, Maneuvering Room (Engineering Officer of the Watch; propulsion, electrical, reactor controls), engine room. All were continuously manned when the ship was underway.
Each crew completed a strategic patrol cycle and then turned the ship over to the other crew. The patrol cycle consisted of the inport maintenance and re-supply period of several weeks at the SSBN refit site followed by a submerged patrol of approximately 2 1/2 months.
During Simon Bolivar's commissioned period she operated in the Atlantic and Mediterranean from three sites: Holy Loch, Scotland; Rota, Spain; and the continental United States, mainly Charleston, South Carolina. Refit sites consisted of a submarine tender, floating dry dock and complexes of piers and warehouses. At the Scotland site, the entire refit site was anchored out in Holy Loch.
The refit between patrols was a period of high intensity in order for the ship to meet its scheduled deployment date, approximately 4 weeks after one patrol ended and the next began. In close concert with the supporting submarine tender, a myriad of work orders and replenishment actions were accomplished.
Hundreds of repairs and alterations were scheduled for completion. Included were ship and ordnance alterations (Shipalt, Ordalts) that removed equipment and brought upgraded replacements aboard. The ship submitted over a thousand supply requisitions to top off its onboard repair parts. Included were a wide range of spares for hull, mechanical, electrical, electronics, reactor plant and ordnance systems, as well as the mundane items for general admin and housekeeping. Onboard food provisions had to be brought up to a 90 day load level for a capability to serve 38,000 meals without resupply. All material and provisions were hand loaded aboard through 30” diameter hatches. Once aboard all repair parts, consumables and provisions were stored in lockers dispersed throughout the ship.
When the ship departed the refit site for its next patrol, an extraordinary range of repair and resupply had been completed. The up tempo activities with the noise and congestion from work crews, off line machinery and opened electronic cabinets was dramatically changed when the ship completed its first, and only, dive of the patrol. With the setting of the first watch of the patrol, quiet and calm diligence became the new routine.
During patrols, operations were focused on three main objectives: remain undetected, maintain continuous incoming communications and maintain capability to launch fleet ballistic missiles within fifteen minutes. Ship's crew were constantly trained to meet these objectives under a wartime environment.
Throughout the patrol period, mission readiness was tested by emergency action messages being sent to the ship. Many of these "EAM's" would result in full crew participation with sounding of the General Alarm followed by "Man Battle Stations, Missile. Spin up All Missiles. Set Condition 1SQ". Once all battle stations were manned, the crew waited for the announcement "This is the Captain, this is an Exercise".
Ship's sonar operators continually searched for contacts, all of which were classified for possible threat to the ship's mission. Should a contact be classified as a Soviet warship, the General Alarm would be sounded with "Man Battle Stations, Torpedo". The full suite of the torpedo fire control system would be manned and readied for weapons launch until intent of the threat was determined.
A continual series of damage control drills were conducted during patrols to mitigate ship casualties due to flooding, fire, collision, reactor shutdown ("scram"), missile emergency, radiation, toxic gas, and loss of ship control.
For self-defense, warshot weapons, normally MK 48 torpedo designed to sink deep-diving nuclear-powered submarines and high-performance surface ships, were always loaded in two of the four torpedo tubes. Proficiency in target tracking and fire control solution - target course, speed and range - was periodically tested at the Navy's AUTEC instrumented underwater firing range at Andros Island in the Bahamas. Exercise versions of the Mk 48 torpedo were fired at targets that simulated aggressor submarines and surface warships. Both crews of Simon Bolivar regularly demonstrated this tactical proficiency during its operations at AUTEC
During the off-crew period, critical skills were practiced and enhanced at the Fleet Ballistic Missile Training Center at the naval base where off-crews were located (Naval Base Charleston for Simon Bolivar). Specialized facilities were used for sonar, weapons and engineering training. Included was a control room simulator in which watchstanders (Officer of the Deck, Diving Officer, Chief of the Watch and planesmen) could practice realistic casualty responses that could not be simulated on board the submarine. One critical scenario was a high speed transit at deep submergence with stern plane malfunction leading to exceeding test depth and approaching crush depth. The control room watchstanders could, through repeated trials, master the necessary timing and actions to ensure recovery from this type of casualty. Though most control room teams initial ship recovery actions did not prevent an excursion past crush depth, the scenario was re-run until a return to safe depth was the outcome. Teams emerged confident of mastery of the skills for a successful recovery in the event of a real casualty, and for the integrity of the basic submarine equation (1 Dive = 1 Surfacing)
Simon Bolivar's routine of deterrent patrols out of Charleston by her two crews continued until 7 February 1971, when she returned to Newport News for overhaul and conversion of her ballistic missile system to support Poseidon missiles.
Simon Bolivar departed Newport News on 12 May 1972 for post-overhaul shakedown operations and refresher training for her two crews, which lasted until 16 September 1972. By the end of 1972, she had resumed deterrent patrols while operating from the SBBN refit site in Rota, Spain serviced by submarine tender USS Simon Lake (AS-33) as part of Submarine Squadron 16.
During the summer of 1974, Simon Bolivar completed what was to be her final refit at the Rota SSBN site. Departing the site then diving, the ship headed southeasterly for passage through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. She then went to alert status for her 24th deterrent patrol. Following completion of the patrol, the ship traveled westward across the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the Atlantic. Seventy four days after departing Rota and submerging, Bolivar surfaced off the US east coast in October 1974. Simon Bolivar had now been assigned to the Charleston refit site and was again part of Submarine Squadron 18. Submarine tender USS Hunley (AS-31) provided refit and re-supply services. Patrol areas were normally in the North Atlantic.
In 1974 Simon Bolivar was awarded both a Battle Effectiveness Award (Battle "E") and the Providence Plantation Award for most outstanding fleet ballistic missile submarine in the United States Atlantic Fleet. She also was awarded consecutive Battle "E"'s in 1975 and 1976.
During a 1976 strategic patrol, a crew member experienced a life-threatening medical emergency. The ship aborted its alert patrol status, and charted an easterly course for a high speed transit to a medevac point off the UK coast. Upon reaching shallow water of 100 fathoms, the ship surfaced into a raging winter storm with waves breaking repeatedly over the ship, its sail and the harnassed watchstanders in the cockpit of the sail. Bolivar continued a high speed surface run until the evacuation point was reached enabling a transfer of the seriously ill crewman. The Simon Bolivar then returned to open ocean and resumed alert patrol status ending with a return to the Charleston SSBN site. The evacuated crew member survived though he never returned to the Bolivar.
As part of a "warm - cold water" refit exchange program, in 1977 the ship conducted one "cold water" refit from the Holy Loch SSBN site in Scotland with maintenance and supply services provided by submarine tender USS Holland (AS-32). Departing Holy Loch for her assigned operating areas the ship then completed its 34th deterrent patrol. Following a trans-Atlantic transit, Simon Bolivar returned to the "warm water" Charleston SSBN site to continue its normal refit-patrol operating cycle from the continental US.
In February 1979, following her 40th deterrent patrol, Simon Bolivar entered Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, for overhaul and conversion of her ballistic missile system to support Trident C-4 ballistic missiles. Upon completion of overhaul she returned to her home port of Charleston in January 1981.
Simon Bolivar continued to make deterrent patrols, undergoing occasional refits at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay Georgia, and was awarded her 4th and 5th Battle "E"'s in 1982 and 1990. She successfully launched a Trident test missile in the summer of 1983.
The ship completed 73 deterrent patrols, equivalent to thirteen years of submerged strategic operations.
The Submarine Warfare Insignia ("Dolphins") was worn by Bolivar crew members who successfully completed Qualification in Submarines, a rigorous program for naval personnel assigned to a submarine. Once an enlisted sailor has earned the right to wear the Silver "Dolphins", (SS) is added after his rate denoting "submarine specialist".
A crewman who completed a strategic deterrent patrol was authorized to wear the SSBN Deterrent Patrol insignia. After completion of twenty successful patrols, the SSBN pin is upgraded to a gold design.
Master Chief Hospital Corpsman (HMCM (SS)) William R. Charette served as an Independent Duty Corpsman onboard Simon Bolivar. He was a recipient of the U.S. military's highest decoration for valor, the Medal of Honor. Known as "Doc" to his shipmates, he was held in the highest regard during his tour of duty aboard Bolivar.
Deactivation, decommissioning, and disposal
Deactivated while still in commission in September 1994, Simon Bolivar was both decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 8 February 1995. She was one of the last SSBN's of the original 41 for Freedom.
Her scrapping via the U.S. Navy's Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, Washington was completed on 1 December 1995.
References
- 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.
- NavSource Online Submarine Photo Archive: USS Simon Bolivar (SSBN 641), retrieved 25 September 2011
- hazegray.org: USS Simon Bolivar (text), retrieved 25 September 2011
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