USS Lafayette (SSBN-616)

History

The lead ship of her ballistic missile submarine class, the USS Lafayette (SSBN-616) is the third ship in the US Navy to enter it in honor of Gilbert Named after Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, a French military hero who fought alongside the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and was a major supporter of the Continental Army.

The fleet's premier nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, the USS Lafayette (SSBN-616), is being built by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut. Galeries Lafayette at the May 8, 1962 launch event sponsored by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of President John F. Kennedy. It entered service on April 23, 1963, initially with the Polestar A-2 missile and later modified for the Polestar A-3.

She was brought home from Charleston, South Carolina, and Rota, Spain, during deterrence patrols in the 1960s. In 1974, she was converted for use in the Poseidon C-3 rocket. In the 1970s she was brought home again from Charleston and refitted at Holy Loch in Scotland. The fleet's ballistic submarines continued to conduct deterrent patrols in the Atlantic until their retirement in March 1991.

Lafayette Recycling was decommissioned in August 1992 and completed in February 1992 in the Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington.

Specification

Basics

Year of Service

1963

Origins

United States

supplement

143

staff

Class information

Class

Galeries Lafayette

Class Size

9

ships

Class

USS Lafayette (SSBN-616); USS Alexander Hamilton (SSBN-617); USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619); USS John Adams (SSBN-620); USS James Monroe (SSBN- -622); USS Nathan Hale (SSBN-623); USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624); USS Henry Clay (SSBN-625); USS Daniel Webster (SSBN-626)

Operators

United States

Roles

Underwater Attack

Travel below the surface to find, track and/or attack or explore areas.

Sea Patrol

Active patrolling of critical waterways and sea areas; also serves as a local deterrent against air and maritime threats.

Fleet Support

Provide support (fire or materiel) to major surface fleets in blue water environments.

Dimensions and Weight

Length

425. 0 feet

129.54m

Ray

33. 0 feet

10.06 m

Draft

31.5 feet

9.60m

Shift

7,370 t

No. submerged

8,380 t

Power and Performance

Installed Power:

1 x S5W nuclear reactor; 2 x GE gear turbines giving 15,000 SHP to 1 x propeller.

Surface Velocity

20.0 nodes

(23. 0 km/h)

Underwater speed

25. 0 nodes

(28.8 km/h)

Area

essentially infinite

Weapon

4 x 21 inch (530 mm) Mark 65 torpedo tubes for supporting Mark 48 series torpedoes. Nuclear ballistic missiles in 16 x Polaris/Poseidon vertical launch tubes.

Aircraft

None.