The USS George Washinton (SSBN-598) was commissioned in 1959 at Electric Boat Works in Groton, CT and was the first of the 'boomers', although she was originally laid down as the USS Scorpion. When the Polaris tests were successful and the program was authorized, the Scorpion hull was cut in the middle and the missile section, for the Polaris A-1 fleet ballistic missile, was added. The A-1 had a range of only 1500 miles, limiting the operating area of the Washington and her four sister ships, the USS Patrick Henry, USS Theodore Roosevelt, USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Thomas Jefferson. An odd feature was the fact that the missile section test depth was designed for much deeper operations than the original Scorpion hull sections. The Washington made the Navy's first Polaris patrol from SubBase, New London in 1960, but did not go immediately to the new base in Holy Loch, Scotland. That honor was given to the USS Abraham Lincoln after her first patrol. The Washington completed her second patrol by making port at Holy Loch. In 1962, the Washington was selected to attempt a 'ripple fire' of Polaris missiles and, after loading dummy warheads at Cape Canaveral, successfully rapid-fired three missiles downrange without losing depth, proving that the missile ballast system worked properly and missiles could be fired rapidly, one after the other. George Washington was ultimately converted to an SSN and then decommissioned at the Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, WA.
The USS George Washington was probably the first 'boomer' to go under the ice pack, which she did in1961. Operations from the base in Holy Loch were conducted in the North Sea and Barents Sea, much of the time in weather conditions that made it extremely difficult to maintain depth and trim to reset the ships inertial navigators. As with all the 'boomers', the only contact with home was incoming messages from family members, as the ship operated under complete radio silence.
Many hours on the Washington, and all the 'boomers' operating in the North Sea, were spent playing 'cat and mouse' with the Soviet Navy, a game we won.
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