USS John Adams (SSBN-620)

USS John Adams in April 1964
History
United States
Name:	USS John Adams
Namesake:	John Adams (1735-1826), second President of the United States (1797-1801), and John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), sixth President of the United States (1825-1829)
Ordered:	23 July 1960
Builder:	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down:	19 May 1961
Launched:	12 January 1963
Sponsored by:	Mrs. James C. Manny
Commissioned:	12 May 1964
Decommissioned:	24 March 1989
Struck:	24 March 1989
Fate:	Scrapping via Ship-Submarine Recycling Program completed 12 February 1996
Status:	Recycled
General characteristics
Class and type:	Lafayette-class submarine
Type:	Ballistic missile submarine (hull design SCB-216)
Displacement:	7,250 long tons (7,370 t) surfaced 8,250 long tons (8,380 t) submerged
Length:	425 ft (130 m)
Beam:	33 ft (10 m)
Draft:	31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)
Propulsion:	1 × S5W reactor 2 × General Electric geared turbines=15,000 shp (11,000 kW)
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h) surfaced 25 knots (46 km/h) submerged
Complement:	Two crews (Blue and Gold), 13 officers and 130 enlisted men each
Sensors and processing systems:	BQS-4 sonar
Armament:	4 × 21 in (530 mm) Mark 65 torpedo tubes with Mark 113 firecontrol system, for Mark 48 torpedoes 16 × vertical tubes for Polaris or Poseidon ballistic missiles

USS John Adams (SSBN-620), a Lafayette-class ballistic missile submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for John Adams (1735-1826), the second President of the United States (1797-1801), and his son John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), the sixth President of the United States (1825-1829). Both names were used with the captains of the Blue and Gold crews alternately using the names John Adams and John Quincy Adams.

The contract to build John Adams was awarded to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, on 23 July 1960 and her keel was laid down there on 19 May 1961. She was launched on 12 January 1963 sponsored by Mrs. James C. Manny, and commissioned on 12 May 1964, with Commander Lando W. Zech, Jr. in command of the Blue Crew and Commander Paul J. Early in command of the Gold Crew.

Following her commissioning, John Adams completed sixteen deterrent patrols while assigned to the United States Atlantic Fleet After her sixteenth patrol, she entered Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington for overhaul and modernization in August 1968. She completed overhaul on 10 August 1969 and returned to sea as a unit of the United States Pacific Fleet. Both the Blue Crew and the Gold Crew shot two Polaris ballistic missiles during a Demonstration and Shakedown Operation (DASO) following the overhaul. She conducted sixteen more deterrent patrols as a unit of the Pacific Fleet.