USS Growler (SSG-577)
Regulus I missile aboard USS Growler at Pier 86 in New York, its museum ship home.
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Name: | Growler |
| Namesake: | Growler, Fish |
| Ordered: | 31 July 1954 |
| Builder: | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard |
| Laid down: | 15 February 1955 |
| Launched: | 15 April 1958 |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs. Robert K. Byerts, widow of Commander Thomas B. Oakley, Jr. |
| Commissioned: | 30 August 1958 |
| Decommissioned: | 25 May 1964 |
| Struck: | 1 August 1980 |
| Status: | Museum ship at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum |
| Badge: | |
| General characteristics USS Growler SSG-557 | |
| Class and type: | Grayback class submarine |
| Displacement: | 2,110 tons light, 3,550 tons full, 1,440 tons dead |
| Length: | 96.9 m (318 ft) overall, 96.3 m (316 ft) waterline |
| Beam: | 8.2 m (27 ft) extreme, 7.9 m (26 ft) waterline |
| Draught: | 5.7 m (19 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 3 Fairbanks-Morse Diesel engines, 2 Elliott electric motors |
| Speed: | 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) surfaced, 12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h) submerged |
| Complement: | 9 officers, 78 men |
| Armament: |
|
The USS Growler (SSG-577) was an early attempt by the U.S. Navy to field a cruise missile submarine which would provide a nuclear deterrent using its second series of cruise missiles. Built to deliver the Regulus I Cruise missile, an extension and adaptation of the German V-1 vengeance weapons technologies, the navy soon switched its strategic weapons development efforts into nuclear powered subs carrying ballistic missiles leaving only a handful of diesel powered cruise missile submarines ever placed into service.
The Growler was the second and final submarine of the Grayback class, it was the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named after the Growler type of Largemouth bass—the practice in the day to name submarines after carnivorous fish. Since Regulus I, and Regulus II programs had their problems, Growler and Grayback were the only two submarines built in this class as instead, the U.S. Navy veered its nuclear deterrence efforts into submarine launched ballistic missiles (SSBMs) — the Polaris missile program.
What makes Growler and her sister unusual was her nuclear armament, deployed on a conventional (non-nuclear powered) diesel-electric submarine. Her mission was to provide nuclear deterrent capability off the Pacific Coast of the Soviet Union during peak years of the Cold War, from 1958 to 1964. She became obsolete with the deployment of nuclear-powered submarines equipped with ballistic missiles.
Growler was laid down on 15 February 1955 by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard of Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 5 April 1958 sponsored by Mrs. Robert K. Byerts, widow of Commander Thomas B. Oakley, Jr., who commanded the third Growler on her 9th, 10th, and fatal 11th war patrols. Growler commissioned at Portsmouth on 30 August 1958 with Lieutenant Commander Charles Priest, Jr., in command.
...
Wikipedia