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Class overview | |
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Builders | Electric Boat division of General Dynamics Corporation, Groton, Connecticut |
Operators | ![]() |
Preceded by | USS Nautilus |
Succeeded by | |
Built | 1953 |
In commission | 1957–1987 |
History | |
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Awarded | 21 July 1952 |
Builder | Electric Boat division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut |
Laid down | 7 September 1953 |
Launched | 21 July 1955 |
Sponsored by | Mrs. W. Sterling Cole |
Commissioned | 30 March 1957 |
Decommissioned | 30 March 1987 |
Stricken | 10 July 1987 |
Fate | Disposed of by submarine recycling 30 September 1997 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Submarine |
Displacement |
|
Length |
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Beam | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
Draft | 23 ft (7.0 m) |
Propulsion | S2G, replaced by S2Wa in 1960, geared steam turbines, two shafts, approx. 15,000 shp (11,000 kW)[1] |
Speed |
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Complement | 101 officers and enlisted |
Armament | 6 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes |
USS Seawolf (SSN-575) was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seawolf, the second nuclear submarine, and the only US submarine built with a liquid metal cooled (sodium), beryllium-moderated[2][3] nuclear reactor, the S2G.[4] Her overall design (known as SCB 64A) was a variant of Nautilus, but with numerous detail changes, such as a conning tower, stepped sail, and the BQR-4 passive sonar mounted in the top portion of the bow instead of further below. This sonar arrangement resulted in an unusual bow shape above the water for a U.S. submarine. Originally laid down in 1953, her distinctive reactor was later replaced with a standard pressurized water reactor, the replacement process lasting from 12 December 1958 to 30 September 1960.[5]