USS Silversides (SSN-679)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Silversides.

USS Silversides (SSN-679), possibly during her sea trials off New England in 1972.
History
United States
Name	USS Silversides
Namesake	The silverside
Ordered	25 June 1968
Builder	Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down	13 October 1969
Launched	4 June 1971
Sponsored by	Mrs. John H. Chafee
Commissioned	5 May 1972
Decommissioned	21 July 1994
Stricken	21 July 1994
Motto	Veni Vidi Vici ("I Came, I Saw, I Conquered")
Fate	Scrapping via Ship and Submarine Recycling Program begun 1 October 2000, completed 1 October 2001
General characteristics
Class and type	Sturgeon-class attack submarine
Displacement	3,978 long tons (4,042 t) light 4,270 long tons (4,339 t) full 292 long tons (297 t) dead
Length	302 ft 3 in (92.13 m)
Beam	31 ft 8 in (9.65 m)
Draft	28 ft 8 in (8.74 m)
Installed power	15,000 shaft horsepower (11.2 megawatts)
Propulsion	One S5W nuclear reactor, two steam turbines, one screw
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) surfaced 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) submerged
Test depth	1,300 feet (396 meters)
Complement	109 (14 officers, 95 enlisted men)
Armament	4 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes

USS Silversides (SSN-679), a Sturgeon-class attack submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the silverside, a small fish marked with a silvery stripe along each side of its body.

Construction and commissioning

Silversides being launched at Groton, Connecticut, on 4 June 1971.

The contract to build Silversides was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, on 25 June 1968 and her keel was laid down on 13 October 1969. She was launched on 4 June 1971, sponsored by Mrs. John H. Chafee, wife of then-Secretary of the Navy John H. Chafee (1922–1999), and commissioned on 5 May 1972.

Service history

Following shakedown in the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean, Silversides began operations in the Atlantic with her home port at Naval Station Charleston at Charleston, South Carolina.

Silversides went into drydock at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, in January 1977, at which time her home port was changed from Charleston to Naval Station Norfolk at Norfolk, Virginia.

On 11 October 1981, "Silversides" surfaced at the North Pole for the first time.

In the autumn of 1984, Silversides left Norfolk for a scheduled refueling overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, entering drydock there in late November 1984. The refueling overhaul was completed in August 1986, and later in 1986 she returned to Norfolk.

In the autumn of 1989, Silversides departed Norfolk and voyaged north into the Arctic, surfaced at the North Pole for the second time, proceeded out of the Arctic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean, participated in United States Pacific Fleet exercises, made port calls in Hawaii and California, and returned to Norfolk via the Panama Canal, becoming only the second submarine to circumnavigate North America.

In Jan 1994, Silversides' home port was changed from Norfolk to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in anticipation of her decommissioning there.

Decommissioning and disposal

Silversides was decommissioned at Pearl Harbor on 21 July 1994 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. Her scrapping via the Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard began on 1 October 2000 and was completed on 1 October 2001.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.
• NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive Silversides (SSN-679)