USS Triton (SSRN-586)

USS Triton (SSRN-586)

USS Triton (SSRN-586)
History
United States
Name	Triton
Namesake	Triton
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	1959: New London, Connecticut 1964: Norfolk, Virginia 1967: New London, Connecticut
Identification	November – Delta – Bravo – Romeo (Radio Call Sign)
Motto	Nulli Secundus (Second to None)
Nickname(s)	The Big T Steel Raider Building 586
Honors and awards	Presidential Unit Citation (1960) Navy Unit Commendation (1966) Navy Unit Commendation (1967)
Fate	Recycled (sail was preserved and placed on display in a park in Richland, Washington)
General characteristics
Type	1959: Nuclear-powered Radar Picket Submarine (SSRN) 1961: Nuclear-powered Attack Submarine (SSN)
Displacement	5,963 long tons (6,059 t) surfaced 7,773 long tons (7,898 t) submerged
Length	447 ft 6 in (136.40 m) overall[1]
Beam	37 ft (11 m)
Draft	23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Decks	3 plus conning tower
Installed power	45,000 shp (34,000 kW)
Propulsion	Two S4G pressurized-water nuclear reactors (PWR) Two steam turbines Two five-blade propellers
Speed	+30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) surfaced +27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph) submerged
Endurance	Essentially unlimited
Test depth	700 ft (210 m) operational 1,050 ft (320 m) crush
Complement	172 officers and enlisted men (radar picket role) 159 officers and enlisted men (attack role)
Sensors and processing systems	Air search radar: AN/SPS-26 (1959) AN/BPS-2 (1962) Sonar systems: AN/BQS-4 (active) AN/BQR-2 (passive) Fire control system: MK-101
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^[2]) 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.