USS Lafayette (SSBN-616)
USS Lafayette (SSBN-616)
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Lafayette |
| Namesake: | Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834), a French hero of the American Revolutionary War |
| Ordered: | 22 July 1960 |
| Builder: | General Dynamics Electric Boat |
| Laid down: | 17 January 1961 |
| Launched: | 8 May 1962 |
| Sponsored by: | Jacqueline Kennedy (1929-1994) |
| Commissioned: | 23 April 1963 |
| Decommissioned: | 12 August 1991 |
| Struck: | 12 August 1991 |
| Fate: | Entered Ship-Submarine Recycling Program 12 August 1991; recycling completed 25 February 1992 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Lafayette-class submarine |
| Type: | Ballistic missile submarine (hull design SCB-216) |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 425 ft (130 m) |
| Beam: | 33 ft (10 m) |
| Draft: | 31 ft 6 in (9.60 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: |
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| Complement: | Two crews (Blue Crew and Gold), 13 officers and 130 enlisted men each |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
BQS-4 sonar |
| Armament: |
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USS Lafayette (SSBN-616), the lead ship of her class of ballistic missile submarine, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named to honor Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, a French military hero who fought alongside and significantly aided the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
Lafayette's keel was laid down on 17 January 1961 by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched 8 May 1962, sponsored by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, and commissioned 23 April 1963 at Groton, Connecticut, with Commander P. J. Hannifin in command of the Blue Crew and Commander James T. Strong in command of the Gold Crew.
After a shakedown in the Caribbean Sea, Lafayette loaded Polaris ballistic missiles at Charleston, South Carolina, and during June 1963 sailed to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for ballistic missile maneuvers. She fired four missiles, two by each crew, after which she proceeded to Groton, arriving there on 2 August 1963. For the rest of the year her two crews alternately took her through a series of exercises before she took her place in the Navy's expanding fleet ballistic missile submarine fleet.
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Wikipedia