&sq=&lang=&file=File:USS_Triton_SSRN-586_Anaconda_ad.JPG) USS Triton (SSRN-586)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Triton |
| Namesake | Triton[1] |
| Ordered | October 1955 (SCB 132) |
| Builder | General Dynamics Electric Boat |
| Cost | US$109 million in 1959 (equivalent to $1.14 billion in 2023) |
| Laid down | 29 May 1956 |
| Launched | 19 August 1958 |
| Sponsored by | Willis A. Lent |
| Commissioned | 10 November 1959 |
| Decommissioned | 3 May 1969 |
| Maiden voyage | 16 February 1960 to 11 May 1960 |
| Reclassified | 1 March 1961 (SSN-586) |
| Refit | September 1962 to January 1964 |
| Stricken | 30 April 1986 |
| Homeport |
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| Identification | November – Delta – Bravo – Romeo (Radio Call Sign) |
| Motto |
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| Nickname(s) |
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| Honors and awards |
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| Fate | Recycled (sail was preserved and placed on display in a park in Richland, Washington) |
| General characteristics | |
| Type |
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| Displacement |
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| Length | 447 ft 6 in (136.40 m) overall[2] |
| Beam | 37 ft (11 m) |
| Draft | 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m) |
| Decks | 3 plus conning tower |
| Installed power | 34,000 shp (25,000 kW) |
| Propulsion |
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| Speed |
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| Endurance | Essentially unlimited |
| Test depth |
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| Complement |
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| Sensors and processing systems |
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| Armament | 6 × 21 in (533 mm) Mk 60 torpedo tubes (four bow, two stern) |
USS Triton (SSRN/SSN-586), the only member of her class, was a nuclear powered radar picket submarine in the United States Navy. She had the distinction of being the only Western submarine powered by two nuclear reactors. Triton was the second submarine and the fourth vessel of the United States Navy to be named for the Greek god Triton (the nomenclature being unusual at the time in that U.S. Navy submarines were usually named for various species of fish). At the time of her commissioning in 1959, Triton was the largest, most powerful, and most expensive submarine ever built at $109 million (equivalent to $1.14 billion in 2023[3]) excluding the cost of nuclear fuel and reactors.
In early 1960, the boat became the first vessel to execute a submerged circumnavigation of the Earth in Operation Sandblast. Triton accomplished this objective during her shakedown cruise while under the command of Captain Edward L. "Ned" Beach Jr. Triton's mission as a radar picket submarine was made obsolete after two years by the introduction of the carrier-based Grumman WF-2 Tracer airborne early warning aircraft. She was converted to an attack submarine in 1962 and became the flagship for the Commander, Submarine Forces, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (COMSUBLANT) in 1964. She was decommissioned in 1969, the first U.S. nuclear submarine to be taken out of service.
Triton's hull was moored at the St. Julien's Creek Annex of Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia as part of the reserve fleet until 1993, though she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 1986. In 1993, she was towed to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to await the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program. Triton landed on the keel resting blocks in the drydock basin on 1 October 2007 to begin this recycling process, which was completed effective 30 November 2009. Triton's sail superstructure was saved from the recycling process and is now part of the USS Triton Submarine Memorial Park located on Port of Benton Boulevard in Richland, Washington.
- ^ Alden, John D.; Wright, Christopher C. (2005). "Nomenclature and Classification of Early United States Submarines". Warship International. 42 (3): 283–301.
- ^ Fitzsimons, Bernard, editor. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare (London: Phoebus, 1978), Volume 23, p. 2523, "Triton".
- ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved 29 February 2024.