USS Grayback сүңгі қайығының тарихы

Lead ship of US Navy submarine class

USS Grayback (SS/SSG/APSS/LPSS 574), the lead ship of her class of submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the grayback.

Grayback′s keel was laid down on 1 July 1954 by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard of Vallejo, California. She was launched on 2 July 1957, sponsored by Mrs. John A. Moore, widow of the last commanding officer of the previous Grayback, and commissioned at Mare Island on 7 March 1958. Grayback was initially designated as an attack submarine, but was converted in 1958 into a guided missile submarine (SSG 574) armed with the Regulus nuclear cruise missile.

Grayback represented a new class of SSG guided missile submarines, and was to be the first to carry the Regulus II sea to surface missile. In 1958, Grayback conducted tests and shakedown along the West Coast. While operating out of Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, California, in September 1958 she conducted the first successful launching of a Regulus II missile from a submarine, whose predecessor, Regulus I, had led to the capability of navies to attack land bases since its deployment in 1957. Regulus II was cancelled in December 1958 except for test firing of missiles already built, so Grayback operationally deployed with four Regulus I missiles. Departing San Diego, California, on 30 October, Grayback arrived at Pearl Harbor on 8 November for a month of exercises and maneuvers before returning to Mare Island for her "10,000 mile checkup." On 9 February 1959, Grayback departed Mare Island to make Pearl Harbor her permanent home base, reaching Hawaii on 7 March via Port Hueneme, California, Long Beach, California, and Mazatlan, Mexico. After a series of exercises there, she cruised to Dutch Harbor, Umak Island, Sequam Island, and Kodiak, Alaska, for further missile exercises from 3–31 July. This was followed by the first of her nine deterrent missile strike missions, from 21 September to 12 November. Graybacks first patrol terminated at Yokosuka, Japan, as did two others. She returned to Pearl Harbor 8 December. On 22 February 1960, Grayback modified her missile launching system and simplified her complex electrical circuits. After this, she again took up deterrent missile strike missions. Over the next 2½ years she completed seven missions for a total of nearly 18 months at sea, much of this time submerged. In addition to Yokosuka, both Adak, Alaska, and Pearl Harbor also served as termination points for these patrols. On her nine patrols she spent more than 20 months at sea and logged over 130,000 miles (209,000 km) on deterrent missile strike missions. That schedule took its toll. On 27 August 1963, while snorkeling to recharge batteries, Grayback was buffeted by particularly strong seas. The buffeting caused the After Main Battery breaker to short, starting a fire in the berthing compartment. One seaman failed to evacuate the compartment and was overcome by smoke and fumes. Main propulsion was lost for a short time, was restored, and Grayback returned to Pearl Harbor under her own power. Repairs took two weeks. According to the documentary "Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines" the primary target for Grayback in the event of a nuclear exchange would be to eliminate the Soviet naval base at Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky. The patrols made by Grayback and its sister Regulus firing submarines represented the first ever deterrent patrols in the history of the submarine Navy, preceding those made by the Polaris missile firing submarines. Grayback was decommissioned for the second time on 15 January 1984 at Subic Bay Naval Station in the Republic of the Philippines. After decommissioning, Grayback was sunk as a target on 13 April 1986 in the South China Sea.