HMS/M Dreadnought SSN101

25 Feb 1966 - USS Queenfish (SSN 651) is launched

USS Queenfish (SSN-651), a Sturgeon-class attack submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the queenfish, a small food fish found off the Pacific coast of North America.

The contract to build Queenfish was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia, on 26 March 1963 and her keel was laid down there on 11 May 1964. She was launched on 25 February 1966, sponsored by the Honorable Julia Butler Hansen (1907–1988), U.S. Representative from Washington's 3rd Congressional District (1960–1974), and commissioned on 6 December 1966 with Commander Jackson B. Richard in command.

Queenfish was launched one day ahead of the lead ship of her class, the Sturgeon, despite being laid down 18 months later, and as a result of a multi-million dollar bonus offered by the Navy to the Newport News shipyard.

Queenfish was deactivated on 21 September 1990, decommissioned on 8 November 1991 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 14 April 1992. Her scrapping via the Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington, began on 1 May 1992 and was completed on 7 April 1993.

Thanks to Stephen Hallquirst

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France denies nuclear sub axe plan

Claims that the French government is planning to scrap one of its four nuclear submarines and make other swingeing cuts to its military capabilities, have been dismissed as "fanciful" by defence officials.

The country's Le Parisien newspaper claims the threat to axe a nuclear sub – leaving France without the ability to maintain a continuous nuclear presence at sea – is among a series of shock proposals in the French defence white paper for 2015-19, due for publication in January next year.

The newspaper claims one proposal is to save an estimated 2.6bn euros (£1.6bn) by no longer carrying airborne nuclear warheads on Mirage 2000 and Rafale jets.

And on the plans to the French nuclear submarine fleet from four to three vessels Le Parisien said: "Given maintenance needs, France would no longer be able to be present at sea 365 days a year."

Other cost-cutting proposals cited by the newspaper include cutting the number of military bases in France from 60 to 20, and radically reducing the number of new recruits to the French Army.

But a French defence ministry spokesman slammed the reported proposals as "fanciful".

"These appear to come from very partial military sources discussing working scenarios for the future rather than documents from the defence ministry, and have nothing to do with the white paper," he told The Daily Telegraph.

"The paper outlines political and military strategy for the coming years, not military restructuring. Questions about allocating means will only come afterwards in a military programmatic law sometime next June," he said.

The spokesman also insisted that the two pillars of France's nuclear deterrent – seaborne and airborne – were non-negotiable and would be "maintained during President François Hollande's entire (five-year) mandate."

Opps ! - Cruiser collides with nuclear submarine during US Navy drills

A US Navy cruiser collided with a nuclear-powered submarine as both took part in exercises off the US East Coast. The cruiser's sonar dome was damaged in the crash, but the incident resulted in no injuries.

The Aegis-class cruiser USS San Jacinto hit the Los Angeles-class submarine USS Montpelier during naval exercises on Saturday, the Navy said in a statement.

Both vessels are part of a strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. The military did not disclose the location or nature of the exercises.

The watch team aboard the cruiser saw a periscope rise from water some 100 to 200 meters ahead of the vessel, an unnamed Navy official told Reuters. The ship attempted to slow and reverse, but still collided with the submarine.

The impact crushed the rubber sonar dome on the cruiser’s bow, an underwater device housing electronic navigation, detection and ranging equipment.

No personnel were injured, and there was no damage to the submarine’s nuclear reactor, the Navy said. The scope of the damage is currently being assessed.

6 Subs Stationed at Guam; Highest Number Since 2002

Guam - Six submarines and one submarine tender dotted Guam's Apra Harbor for the first time since 2002.

Los Angeles-class fast attack submarines USS Topeka (SSN 754), USS Tucson (SSN 770), USS Buffalo (SSN 715), USS Chicago (SSN 721), USS Columbus (SSN 762) and Ohio-class guided missile submarine USS Michigan (SSGN 727) all simultaneously converged in Guam.

Buffalo and Chicago are homeported here, and the others are on Western Pacific deployments. In port the submarines received repairs and maintenance by submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39). Land is currently in Guam on extended deployment from her home port of Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory.

While this volume of submarine traffic is unusual, Guam has been a popular destination for fleet maintenance and repairs for years.

"Guam is conveniently and strategically located in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility, so the subs are always a short transit from Guam no matter where they are in the Western Pacific," said Capt. Scott Minium, commodore of Submarine Squadron 15 and former commanding officer of past Guam homeported submarine USS City of Corpus Christi. He also cited the submarine tender's unique afloat maintenance and repair capabilities is another reason submarines stop here.

Guam is also home to the Navy's second submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40). Diego Garcia-based Land has been in Guam since November while Cable undergoes a scheduled dry-docking maintenance period in Portland, Oregon.

For Land, handling the needs of six submarines simultaneously is a task that makes full use of all the tender's capabilities and services. Both Land and Cable's repair departments handle the influx of work from ship and shore facilities. This encompasses the tender's full range of repair capabilities, from manufacturing new pipe fittings and special tools, rewind motors, and the tender's Navy divers'ability to fix underwater equipment. In addition to the maintenance and supply mission, the submarine Sailors have been taking advantage of the tender's ship services such as the barber shop, ship's store, laundry, internet café, galley, and berthing.

"Due to the unique expeditionary manning of Land, we could never have accomplished this level of maintenance without the repair and supply support from over 500 Sailors that are temporarily assigned to us from Cable," said Capt. Paul Savage, Land's commanding officer. "As a former submarine captain, I've benefited from the services provided by our forward deployed submarine tenders on many occasions and fully appreciate the capabilities we have to offer. Even if the tender was not at the port I was visiting, I knew that I could count on the highly skilled tender Sailors to meet me with the parts and tools at nearly any port to conduct repairs."

The wide variety of jobs accomplished on both the home ported and deployed submarines demonstrates the value of a forward deployed submarine tender in maintaining the U.S. Submarine Force in a high state of readiness. While Sailors on board a tender are capable of performing most repairs, for those occasional jobs that require shipyard level maintenance, shipyard workers may embark the tender to utilize craftsmen and machinery equipment to complete repairs.

"Keeping submarines in the U.S. 7th Fleet theater and in top readiness condition demonstrates our nation's commitment to this region of the world and is vitally important to our national security," said Savage. "I'm extremely proud of my crew's outstanding and dedicated performance in completing all repair jobs safely and on schedule."