A short history of the first ballistic missile submarine.

USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (SSBN 598)

THIS SHIP has been given the most illustrious name in America. Rarely does history confirm contemporary judgment in pronouncing a man “indispensable” to his country. But there is general agreement that on three occasions, when the fate of our Nation hung in balance, one man was decisive in resolving the crisis. This man was George Washington (1732—99), affectionately known in life as the “Father of his Country,” eulogized after death (by Henry Lee) as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, Father of the Nuclear Navy

A Global Cold War Warrior

USS George Washington (SSBN-598) was the United States’ first operational ballistic missile submarine. It was the lead ship of her class of nuclear ballistic missile submarines, was the third United States Navy ship of the…