USS Whale (SSN-638)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Whale.

USS Whale (SSN-638) USS Whale (SSN-638) and her ship's insignia.
Career
Name:	USS Whale (SSN-638)
Namesake:	The whale family of aquatic mammals
Builder:	General Dynamics Quincy Shipbuilding Division, Quincy, Massachusetts
Laid down:	27 May 1964
Launched:	14 October 1966
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Russell B. Long
Commissioned:	12 October 1968
Decommissioned:	25 June 1996
Struck:	25 June 1996
Honors and awards:	Battle Efficiency Award (Battle "E") 1991
Fate:	Scrapping via Ship and Submarine Recycling Program completed 1 July 1996
General characteristics
Class and type:	Sturgeon-class attack submarine
Displacement:	3,860 long tons (3,922 t) surfaced 4,640 long tons (4,714 t) submerged
Length:	292 ft 3 in (89.08 m)
Beam:	31 ft 8 in (9.65 m)
Draft:	28 ft 8 in (8.74 m)
Propulsion:	1 × S5W nuclear reactor 2 × steam turbines 1 shaft 15,000 shp (11.2 MW)
Speed:	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) surfaced 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) submerged
Test depth:	1,300 ft (396 m)
Complement:	107
Armament:	4 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes • Mark 48 torpedoes • UUM-44A SUBROC missiles • UGM-84A/C Harpoon missiles • Tomahawk cruise missiles

USS Whale (SSN-638) was a Sturgeon-class submarine nuclear-powered attack submarine of the United States Navy. She was the second ship of that name, after the whale family of aquatic mammals.

Construction and commissioning

Whale's keel was laid down on 27 May 1964 at the General Dynamics Quincy Shipbuilding Division shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 14 October 1966, sponsored by Mrs. Russell B. Long, the wife of United States Senator Russell B. Long (1918-2003) of Louisiana, and commissioned on 12 October 1968, with Commander William M. Wolff, Jr. in command.

Service history

1968

Whale arrived in her first home port, Charleston, South Carolina, on 2 November 1968 and, after a week in port, put to sea on 9 November 1968 for shakedown training, which she completed in November and December 1968 along with a series of post-commissioning tests, trials, and qualifications. In January 1969, she began normal operations out of Charleston with attack submarine training along the southeastern coast of the United States.

1969

File:Whale1969.jpg

Whale at the North Pole in April 1969.

On 18 March 1969, Whale stood out of Charleston on her way north to operations above the Arctic Circle. She reached the North Pole on 6 April 1969 and surfaced there in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary's 1909 arrival there. Following that event, she completed her mission under the polar ice cap and then headed south. After a visit to Faslane, Scotland, she voyaged home to Charleston, where she arrived on 9 May 1969.

Following two months of local operations out of Charleston, Whale sailed for Groton, Connecticut, and her post-shakedown repair period. After three months in the shipyard of the Electric Boat Division of the General Dynamics Corporation at Groton, she started back to Charleston on 16 October 1969. She arrived at Charleston on 20 October and conducted local operations for the remainder of 1969.

1970

During the first half of 1970, Whale continued operations out of Charleston. In late January, she participated in tests with a Navy Underwater Demolition Team and, in February and March, took part in three major fleet exercises. In April, she headed north for a brief tour of duty as training ship for the Prospective Commanding Officers' School at New London, Connecticut. She returned to Charleston at the end of the first week in May and spent the remainder of the month conducting acoustic trials.

Whale departed Charleston on 27 July 1970 for an overseas deployment which she concluded in mid-September with visits to Faslane and Holy Loch in Scotland. While Whale visited Scotland, the Jordanian crisis —precipitated by civil war between the governmnent of Jordan and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and aggravated by an incursion into northern Jordan by Syrian tanks — resulted a show of American strength in the eastern Mediterranean. Thus, Whale received orders to join the United States Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean and did so near the end of September 1970. She remained in the Mediterranean Sea through October and into November 1970. When the crisis abated, she headed for Charleston, arriving home on 18 November 1970 and remaining there for the remainder of the year.

1971–1972

Three fleet exercises and local operations out of Charleston occupied Whale during the first half of 1971. Late in July, she deployed once more for special operations in the Atlantic Ocean, concluding that cruise late in September 1971 at Bremerhaven, West Germany. She returned to Charleston on 12 October 1971 and resumed local operations upon arrival. That routine continued until 20 March 1972, when she departed once again for another special operations cruise in the Atlantic. At the end of that voyage, she made a brief call at Holy Loch before returning to Charleston on 9 June 1972.

Almost two months after her return to the United States, Whale left Charleston and headed north to Naval Submarine Base New London, Connecticut, her new home port. She entered the shipyard at the Electric Boat Division in Groton on 7 August 1972 for a 46-week overhaul and remained there undergoing repairs until 27 October 1973.

1973–1974

Whake completed post-overhaul shakedown and refresher training in November and December 1973 and began preparations for another deployment to the Mediterranean in response to the Middle Eastern crisis brought about by the Arab-Israeli War in October 1973. Late in January 1974, however, she received notification that her deployment had been delayed until May 1974. During the interim, she conducted normal operations out of Groton, including submarine anti-submarine warfare exercises, attack submarine training, and a major fleet exercise, Operation Safe Passage. On 3 May 1974, she departed Groton en route the Mediterranean Sea. On 12 May 1974, she changed operational control from the United States Second Fleet to the Sixth Fleet.

While in the Mediterranean, Whale participated in two North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercises, "International Week" and "Dale Falcon", with units of the Greek and Italian navies as well as several antisubmarine warfare exercises with other units of the Sixth Fleet. She passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and changed operational control back to the Commander, Submarines, United States Atlantic Fleet, on 18 October 1974. During the voyage back to Groton, Whale participated in a fleet antisubmarine warfare exercise which she completed on 28 October 1974. On 30 October 1974, she arrived at Groton.

1975–1976

Whale spent the next 11 months engaged in operations out of Groton. Various tests and evaluations occupied January and the first half of February 1975. Between then and June 19075, she provided training services for various units of the Atlantic Fleet and for prospective commanding officers. Whale also served as a training platform for midshipmen during indoctrination cruises held late in the summer. On 29 September 1975, she stood out of Groton for another deployment with the Sixth Fleet. During that cruise, she took part in a major Second Fleet exercise, "Ocean Safari", and, after joining the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, took part in a succession of unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral exercises with units of the navies of Greece, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. She completed her tour of duty with the Sixth Fleet during the second week in March 1976 and arrived at Groton on 25 March 1976.

1976–1978

Whale resumed normal United States East Coast operations until 9 September 1976 when she entered the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, for a refueling overhaul. That overhaul concluded on 7 July 1978. Whale then spent the remainder of 1978 in refresher training for the purpose of obtaining certification throughout the full range of her weapons system.

1988–1995

January 1988 found Whale in Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington, undergoing a refit. She went through sea trials and left Washington sometime around June 1988 for her to return to her home port at Groton. Under the command of Commander J. W. Francis, Whale crossed the equator on 17 June 1988 and transited the Panama Canal on 19 June 1988.

Whale's next major deployment was to the Mediterranean from February through July 1989, during which she made stops in Scotland, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. In 1990 Whale was sent on a North Atlantic deployment under the command of Commander Ronald Deering. Whale was awarded the last Battle Efficiency Award (Battle "E") from Submarine Squadron 10. She then was assigned to Submarine Squadron 2 and conducted a second "Northern Run" (i.e., North Atlantic deployment) in 1991.

In 1992, Whale participated in UNITAS XXXIII, an expedition around South America while under the command of Commander Andrew V. Harris, Jr., During UNITAS XXXIII she made port calls in Puerto Rico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Panama, and Colombia. The port visit in Panama was a somber one due to the sudden loss of the ship's chief yeoman due to a heart attack.

In 1993 Whale visited Bermuda and conducted a scientific exercise under the ice cap at the North Pole.

Following a circumnavigation of the world, the Whale was deactivated while still in commission on 28 April 1995. Whale was placed in reserve, in commission, on 1 October 1995.

Decommissioning and disposal

Whale's scrapping via the U.S. Navy's Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington, began on 20 October 1995. She was officially decommissioned on 25 June 1996 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. Her scrapping was completed on 1 July 1996 and she was officially listed as scrapped on 29 September 1997.

References

• This article includes 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 Whale (SSN-638)

External links

• hazegray.org: USS Whale (SSN-638)