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U.S.S. TAUTOG
(SSN-639)SILENT VIGILENCE
Click to view crew list
USS TAUTOG (SSN-639) - a Sturgeon-class attack submarine
In Commission 1968 to 1997SSN-639 Deployments - Major Events
Add a SSN-639 Shellback Initiation | Add a SSN-639 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
JAN | 1964 | - | Keel Date: 27 JAN 1964 at Ingalls Shipbuilding Pascagoula MS | ||
APR | 1967 | - | Launch Date: 15 APR 1967 | ||
AUG | 1968 | - | Commissioned: 17 AUG 1968 | ||
JAN | 1969 | - | JAN | 1970 | West Pac |
FEB | 1972 | - | AUG | 1972 | West Pac |
FEB | 1972 | - | AUG | 1972 | West Pac |
JAN | 1975 | - | JUL | 1975 | West Pac |
JAN | 1977 | - | JUL | 1977 | West Pac-Indian Ocean |
FEB | 1977 | - | Shellback Initiation - 10 FEB 1977 - Indian Ocean | ||
FEB | 1980 | - | AUG | 1980 | West Pac |
NOV | 1981 | - | MAY | 1982 | West Pac-Indian Ocean |
OCT | 1982 | - | DEC | 1982 | North Pole |
APR | 1983 | - | JUN | 1983 | Blue Nose - Arctic Circle |
MAY | 1984 | - | NOV | 1984 | West Pac-Indian Ocean |
NOV | 1985 | - | MAY | 1986 | West Pac-Indian Ocean |
MAR | 1997 | - | Decommissioned: 31 MAR 1997 |
SSN-639 General Specifications
Class: Sturgeon-class attack submarine
Named for: The tautog
Complement: 14 officers and 95 Enlisted
Displacement: 4010 tons
Length: 89 m
Beam: 32 feet
Final Disposition: Scrapping via Ship and Submarine Recycling Program begun 1 April 1998 completed 30 August 1999
USS TAUTOG (SSN-639)
The second Tautog (SSN-639)
was laid down on 27 January 1964 at Pascagoula, Miss., by the Ingalls
Shipbuilding Division of Litton Systems,
Inc.; launched on 15 March 1967;
sponsored by Mrs. Albert Gore; and commissioned
on 17 August 1968, Comdr. Buele G. Balderston in command.
On 30 August, the
nuclear-powered attack submarine departed
Pascagoula on her way to join the Pacific Fleet. She transited the Panama Canal on 8 September and arrived in Pearl Harbor on the 23d. There, she
joined Submarine Division (SubDiv)
12 as its flagship. During the next
12 months, Tautog completed her round of post-commissioning tests
and trials as well as her shakedown
training. She conducted the majority of these operations in Hawaiian waters although, in January and February
1969, the submarine returned to the mainland
for trials and repairs at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. She completed
her shakedown training in September and, on
the 15th, began post-shakedown availability
which was protracted by the necessity of replacing her entire diesel generator. Tautog's repairs were
finally completed on 19 February 1970, and she began normal operations out of Pearl Harbor-mostly torpedo and
sonar tracking exercises.
That routine lasted
throuh the summer and into the fall. On 9 October, the ship exited Pearl
Harbor for her first Far Eastern deployment.
She reached Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on
the 23d and joined the 7th Fleet. During her stay in the western
Pacific, the nuclear attack submarine spent all of her sea time engaged in antisubmarine warfare (ASW) training-usually with units of the 7th Fleet but, on one occasion, with
the British cruiser HMS Aurora. When
not at sea, she made port calls for
liberty and repairs at such places as
Subic Bay in the Philippines; Hong Kong; Yokosuka, Japan; and the South
Korean port of Pusan. The nuclear-powered
attack submarine concluded her first tour of duty in the western Pacific on 28
March 1971 when she sailed out of
Yokosuka bound for Hawaii. Tautog arrived in Pearl Harbor on 5
April and resumed her routine of upkeep in
port alternated with periods at sea
engaged in ASW training.
The warship pursued that
schedule of activities through the
remainder of 1971 and during the first three
months of 1972. On 21 March 1972, she put to sea for a special operation. During that mission, she called briefly
at Guam and at Subic Bay. At the conclusion of the assignment, Tautog made a liberty visit to Hong Kong
before returning via Guam to Oahu. The submarine
arrived back at Pearl Harbor on 31 August and conducted operations in
the Hawaiian Islands for the remainder of
the year.
On 15 January 1973, the
warship entered the Pearl Harbor Naval
Shipyard for her first regular overhaul which was not completed until 15 April 1974. On that day, she
resumed local operations out of Pearl Harbor which-except
for a voyage to the Pacific Northwest which lasted from late July to
early September-occupied her time throujgh the first four months of 1975. On 3 May 1975, she exited Pearl Harbor for another
series of special operations in the
Central and western Pacific. That voyage included a period in drydock at Guam
during the first week in June as well as exercises in the Philippines near Subic Bay. Ports of call once
again included Subic Bay and Hong
Kong but no Korean or Japanese ports.
Tautog returned to Pearl Harbor on 18 October and resumed her schedule of training and upkeep.
Type training, independent ship's exercises, inspections, and evaluations-all conducted in the
Hawaiian Islands operating
area-consumed the submarine's energies
for the next 15 months. She did not deploy overseas until the beginning of 1977
when she got underway for a goodwill
visit to Mombasa, Kenya. Departing Oahu on 3 January, she reached her
destination on the 24th and remained there
for a month while her crew saw the
sights and she received visitors on board. Tautog returned to sea on 24
February and started east. On the way
home, she received orders to join a hastily organized task force built
around Enterprise (CVN-65) and to return to the East African coast. In Uganda, President Idi Amin had precipitated a
crisis by rounding up all Americans resident in his country in response to President Carter's condemnation of
the murders of two of Amin's Ugandan
opponents. While the United States and
the world waited for Amin to make his
mind up with regard to the hostages, Tautog cruised the Kenyan coast-Kenya stands between
landlocked Uganda and the Indian
Ocean-with the Enterprise group both as a show of American resolve to protect her citizens and as a scratch force to try
for a rescue had it become
necessary. As he had done many times before, Amin eventually relaxed the
pressure and freed the foreign
hostages. Tautog was released from the special task force and resumed
her voyage east, arriving at Guam on
19 March. Tautog visited Chinhae, South Korea, in April and, on the 20th, arrived in Subic Bay for a series of special operations in
the Philippines.
Early in May, Tautog made
a liberty call at Hong Kong and then
returned to Subic Bay on the 18th. Special
operations occupied her time in late May and in June. On 3 July the submarine arrived back at Oahu to resume local operations.
Following completion of
post-deployment standdown on 8 August, Tautog conducted local operations
in the Hawaiian area until she
departed Pearl Harbor on 2 December to proceed to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard,
Vallejo, California, for overhaul. This overhaul, which included the refueling of her nuclear core, took Tautog into 1980.
[Note: The above USS TAUTOG (SSN-639) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS TAUTOG (SSN-639), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]