Skipjack-class submarine

USS Skipjack
USS Skipjack
USS Skipjack
Class overview
Builders
Operators United States Navy
Preceded bySkate class
Succeeded by
Built1956–1961
In commission1959–1990
Completed6
Lost1
Retired5
General characteristics
TypeNuclear-powered fast attack submarine
Displacement
  • Surfaced: 3,075 long tons (3,124 t)
  • Submerged: 3,513 long tons (3,569 t)[1]
Length251 ft 8 in (76.71 m)
Beam31 ft 7.75 in (9.6457 m)
Propulsion1 S5W reactor, geared steam turbines (15,000 shp (11,000 kW)), 1 shaft[1]
Speed
  • 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) surfaced
  • 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph) submerged[2]
Rangeunlimited except by food.
Test depth700 ft (210 m)[1]
Complement93
Armament

The Skipjack class was a class of United States Navy nuclear submarines (SSNs) that entered service from 1959 to 1961. This class was named after its lead boat, USS Skipjack. The new class introduced the teardrop hull and the S5W reactor to U.S. nuclear submarines.[1][2] The Skipjacks were the fastest U.S. nuclear submarines until the Los Angeles-class submarines, the first of which entered service in 1974.

  1. ^ a b c d Friedman, Norman (1994). U.S. Submarines Since 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 128–133, 243. ISBN 1-55750-260-9.
  2. ^ a b Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 286. ISBN 0-313-26202-0.