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USS Tullibee (SSN-597)

1960 COLD WAR

History of the USS Tulipy (SSN-597)

USS Tulibi (SSN-597), then of a "modern" design in the early 1960s, is the smallest class of nuclear-powered attack submarines ever built by the United States Navy (USN) and one of the most unique equipment in the this industry. The Tullibee contract was awarded to General Dynamics' electric boat division in November 1957 and entered service on November 9, 1960.

In terms of design, the Tullibee is 273 feet long and maintains a surface displacement of 2,300 tons. By comparison, other like-minded nuclear submarines, such as the first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus, were 320 feet long and displaced 3,520 tons. Likewise, the newest Hyundai-class submarinethe Virginiais 377 feet long and displaces 7,900 tons.

The small size of the SSN-577 requires similar crew sizes, ranging from 7 officers and 60 soldiers to 13 officers and more than 100 soldiers. The name Tullibee itself comes from a French word meaning the freshwater whitefish found in central and northern North America.

Classified as a "Hunter Killer," the ship's primary mission is to detect, engage, and destroy enemy submarines in her path.

Tullibee is a class of submarine developed as a testbed for new technologies. Project Nobuska was a research program commissioned in 1956 by Admiral Arleigh Burke, Chief of Naval Operations. The final report of the Underwater Warfare Commission concluded that the current U.S. Navy's submarine hunt technology requires significant improvements to effectively accomplish the mission.

Boats need to have hull capabilities that can dive deeper and rely on stealth, so developing new technologies to enhance new "ultra-quiet" designs has become imperative. Equally important is the need to develop and improve tactics to take full advantage of the new long-range sonargiving the U.S.

Navy's fighter-killers a chance to "see" the enemy first and kill them before they can fire.

Based on the conclusions of the Nobska project, the Tullibee is equipped with a new design system upgrade for testing possible uses for future submarines. Currently, the S5W reactor is an electric propulsion system used in most of the U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered submarines. The new reactor developed for SSN-597 is the S2C prototype built in Windsor Lock, Connecticut.

The S2C is an advanced design similar to the S5W but smaller and evolved into a very quiet system. The main difference in the new S2C design is its power, which comes from the two steam turbines that drive the turbine power plant. The S5W turbine drives a set of reduction gears that are not so quiet underwater. Another proposed design change is the production and testing of the prototype AN/BQQ sonar system, a bow-mounted spherical sonar array - a first of its kind.

This new long-range sonar system occupied most of the interior design of the bow of the submarine, and proved to be a groundbreaking design that spurred another new development - angled torpedo tubes mounted along the port and starboard sides of the hull Midship.

Tullibee's most important "reshuffled" cruise began in mid-January 1961, including all normal tests such as diving and surfacing, checking for those most important leaks, and checking all major and auxiliary operations such as dishwashing on board Machine kitchen (seriously). After all systems were properly tested, Tullibee was assigned to Submarine Development Group 2 to further test their new prototype system. She tested her sonar, and her crew was trained on all her new systems during tactical exercises with nuclear submarines.

The tests were conducted in and around Puerto Rico and Bermuda waters, visiting the islands during port calls. By the end of 1963, SSN-597 continued to be tested and operated at the Naval Submarine Base in New London, Connecticut.

During her scheduled duties, Tulibi also participated in fleet anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercises with NATO members until 1965. In October of the same year, she was taken to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittry, Maine, for an overhaul. There are several reasons for this overhaul: first, it requires a normal review of all its systems and subsystems, and second, it requires some modifications to its prototype AN/BQQ sonar system and S2C reactor. The overhaul was completed in dry dock and took approximately 754 days. After finding everything right, she returned to active duty on January 2, 1968.

Now she's starting to train with her new crew so her new sailors can get used to the nuances of the small but mighty USS Tullibee.

Once again, her port of call was New London, where she continued her prototype system training and testing missions. In the mid-1970s, she continued to conduct systematic analysis tests in Caribbean waters. Tulibe then left New London for the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean - her first naval deployment - during which time she was no longer a test bed but a full-fledged attack submarine .

SSN-597 participated in Sixth Fleet exercises with NATO forces and visited ports in Spain, Italy and Greece with the fleet. In early December, she was transferred to New London. Before she returned, she traveled about 20,000 nautical miles (30,000 km) in 135 days at an average speed of 6 knots.

Tulibi received the Merit Unit Award for fulfilling his mission in the Mediterranean from September 9 to October 31, 1970.

In early 1971, Tulliee was back on the training ground, working on advancing hunt-and-kill tactics. In December of the same year, she participated in another NATO exercise and was awarded the Arleigh Burke Fleet Trophy for greatly improving the ship's readiness. This efficiency trophy requires the crew to dive and travel to a fully operational combat station within a specified time period.

In addition, the sonar readiness report played an important role in the award.

She continued to patrol the Caribbean until the spring of 1975, when she left New London for a second mission with the Sixth Fleet. Tulliee continued ESP operations until the fall of 1976. The mission was interrupted when propulsion problems required a two-month dock repair in Rota, Spain.

With the reactor problem resolved, Tulibi returned to New London and operated at her home port until 1979. In July 1979, she needed another overhaul, which turned out to be longer than initially expected, lasting about 39 months in total. Her crew was reassigned while her ship was in dock.

After the overhaul was completed, she was rescheduled and new staff were trained for the remainder of 1982. Another setback in the propulsion system in 1983 forced the ship to return to the New London Dockyard again.

She saw her final deployment in 1985, joining the Sixth Fleet for additional anti-submarine exercises. It was the first deployment of her new crew, and the tasks assigned to Tullibee went smoothly.

Tullibee was awarded the Naval Expeditionary Medal along with her first Naval Unit Commendation for outstanding mission compliance.

Essentially designed as a test vessel, the SSN-597 helped advance the development of the U.S. Navy's ultra-quiet reactor system, while also helping to develop the most important long-range sonar used on today's anti-submarine ships. She is an honor of the U.S. Navy, and so is her crew.

The vessel was assigned to the New London Docks side in September 1987. USS Tullibee (SSN-597) was then towed to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to begin a ten-month decommissioning and decommissioning phase.

Tullibee was officially removed from the Navy's ship register on June 25, 1988, and entered the Navy's nuclear-powered ship and submarine recovery program in January 1995. The submarine's reactor is dismantled and recycled along with as many useful parts as possible.