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NAVIGATION |
SHIP’S HISTORY In 1958 Congress authorized the construction of Fleet Ballistic Missile
Submarines. These Polaris missile launching platforms were the result of
extensive and imaginative development in such fields as environmental control,
nuclear engineering, inertial navigation, and solid propellant rocketry. HENRY L. STIMSON is the
thirty-seventh member of the Polaris/Poseidon fleet of forty-one nuclear
powered Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarines. Her keep was laid on April 4, 1964,
at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut. She was
launched on November 13, 1965, after being christened HENRY L. STIMSON by Mrs. Thomas Dodd, the wife of Connecticut’s
senior senator, and commissioned August 20, 1966 with Captain Richard E.
Jortberg (commanding the Blue Crew) and Commander Robert H. Weeks (commanding
the Gold Crew). HENRY L. STIMSON is
the first ship of the fleet to be named in honor of the American attorney,
soldier, diplomat and statesman. The crossed swords in the insignia of the USS
HENRY L. STIMSON represent his belief that to keep peace you must be strong to
resist aggression. During shakedown, both crews successfully fired two A-3
Polaris missiles in the Atlantic Missile Test Range. After final sea trials and
torpedo fire control systems testing Henry L. Stimson was
assigned to Submarine Squadron 16 and began her first operational deterrent
patrol, departing Charleston, South Carolina, on 23 February 1967. STIMSON
received a Meritorious Unit Citation (MUC) for meritorious service during the
period from 19 August to 9 September 1970, while participating in an operation
of great importance to the United States. Through the operation the STIMSON demonstrated conclusively the
effectiveness and dependability of the Fleet Ballistic Missile System. In
November 1971, Henry L. Stimson commenced
her first major overhaul period, at Newport News Shipyard and Drydock. Here HENRY L. STIMSON was converted to the
more advanced and sophisticated Poseidon Weapons System. On completion of the
Conversion Overhaul period in March 1973, two crews were once more
reestablished on HENRY L. STIMSON. In
June 1973, both crews successfully completed their Demonstration and Shakedown
Operations (DASO). After Post Conversion Availability and final sea trials, HENRY L. STIMSON returned to perform as
a major force in the prevention of nuclear war. Starting
in June 1973, HENRY L. STIMSON made
24 Poseidon patrols out of Rota, Spain until Submarine Squadron SIXTEEN moved
to Kings Bay, Georgia in June 1979. Thereafter HENRY L. STIMSON made two patrols out of Charleston, South
Carolina. During
the period from November 1979 to March 1980, STIMSON’s weapon system was again upgraded to support the TRIDENT-1
missile. The conversion was accomplished pier side at Port Canaveral, Florida.
Successful Demonstration and Shakedown Operations (DASO) by both crews after
the ship conversion were climaxed by the launching of a TRIDENT C-4 missile. Following
that conversion, the boat changed homeports to Kings Bay, Georgia, where she
was based for the rest of her career. The ship deployed on her first TRIDENT-1
strategic deterrent patrol in May 1980. In
May 1982, HENRY L. STIMSON began its
second major overhaul at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company,
Newport News, Virginia. Two crews were reestablished on HENRY L. STIMSON on completion of the overhaul period in August
1984. Since completion of the pos-overhaul period, USS HENRY L. STIMSON has completed twenty-eight TRIDENT strategic
deterrent patrols. STIMSON
received her SECOND Meritorious Unit Citation (MUC) for meritorious service
during the period 25 April to 6 August 1988, for her participation in
LANTCOOPEX 1-88, the first SSBN remote-site, rapid re-deployment, continuity of
operations exercise. STIMSON
combined crews in May 1992 as a precursor to inactivation and was both
decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Registry at Puget Sound Naval
Shipyard on 5 May 1993. Henry L.
Stimson went through the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine
Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington, and ceased to exist on 12 August
1994. |