USS James Monroe SSBN 622 – Watchful Waiting

The James Monroe was built in the early days of the Polaris program and typified the boats that were launched during that time. With each successive weapons upgrade, she would be retrofitted with more powerful weapons and equipment to support her primary mission: deterrence. A little over ten years after she was commissioned, Admiral Rickover […]

Polaris A3 Deploys in Atlantic and Pacific (ALL HANDS 1965)

I have to be honest and admit that I never looked inside the missile tubes on either of my FBM submarines. I know there was something inside all of the tubes because of the great deal of work required to keep them ready for use if the President called on us. But as an A-Ganger, […]

“BE BRAVE, STAND FIRM, SHOOT STRAIGHT” USS TECUMSEH (SSBN 628)

“Be brave, stand ﬁrm, shoot straight” USS TECUMSEH (SSBN 628) The founding of America was not a straightforward journey. Many of the people who were already settled in the lands across the rivers were understandably not anxious for the arrival of the white man. One of the harshest of the critics was the Warrior Tecumseh. […]

Freedom’s Defender – USS John Marshall SSBN 611 (SSN 611)

My history is a little rusty sometimes and I will readily admit that I was not as familiar with John Marshall as I should have been before I started this installment of the 41 for Freedom series. Yet, of all the men a boat of this class could have been named for, this one is […]

“Ocean in view! Oh Joy!” USS LEWIS AND CLARK (SSBN 644)

I can almost hear the conversation on that morning when President Thomas Jefferson called Merriweather Lewis into his office and explained to him what he needed done. “I need you to make your way from St. Louis to Oregon in the shortest possible time and distance.” “What’s an “Oregon”, Thomas?” “I’m not sure but I […]

“The Happiest Among Mortals” – USS Daniel Boone SSBN 629

Did you have a hero growing up? I had quite a few but one of my favorites was certainly Daniel Boone. Living in Western Pennsylvania, we still had a lot of “woods” near where I lived and as kids we would spend a lot of time hiking and exploring. This was in the days before […]

Fidelity, Industry and Courage – The USS Von Steuben SSBN 632

Thirty years is a long time for a ship to remain active. The Von Steuben is an excellent example of a submarine that was built to last and flexible enough to transition through a number of weapons systems as technology improved. She represented a system in flux. The earlier missiles which were pushed into production […]

The second shot heard round the world – Polaris A1

By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world. − Emerson, “Concord Hymn” (A poem about the events on April 19, 1775 that are credited with being the first shots of the Revolution that changed […]

United States Guided Missiles 1963

Well, it actually was rocket science. While researching about the next 41 for Freedom boat in the series (USS Ethan Allen), I stumbled across this report on guided missiles that was printed by the US Government. It is an unclassified document but included all of the various types of guided missiles that were in use […]

The Hero of the Two Worlds (Le Héros des Deux Mondes) USS Lafayette SSBN 616

When the Polaris program was first conceived, the technology to make it all work did not exist. Neither did the submarine platforms that would need to carry the new weapons. In fact, the George Washington was a strange creature that evolved from the world of Fast Attacks that in and of themselves were revolutionary. Gone […]