USS George Washington (SSBN-598)

George Washington was originally Scorpion (SSN-589). During construction, she was lengthened by the insertion of a 130-foot missile section and renamed (while another hull under construction at the time became the ill-fated USS Scorpion), but inside the forward escape hatch remained a plaque bearing the name USS Scorpion. Because the missile compartment design would be reused in later ship classes, the section that was inserted into George Washington was designed with a deeper test depth rating than the rest of the boat.

The first of a new class, George Washington sailed from Groton 28 June 1960 for Cape Canaveral, Florida, where she loaded two Polaris missiles. Standing out into the Atlantic Missile Test Range with Rear Admiral W.F. Raborn, head of the Polaris Submarine development program, on board as an observer, she successfully launched the first Polaris missile from a submerged submarine on 20 July 1960. At 1239 George Washington's commanding officer sent President Eisenhower the message: POLARIS - FROM OUT OF THE DEEP TO TARGET. PERFECT. Less than 2 hours later a second missile from the submarine also struck the impact area 1,100 miles down range.

George Washington then embarked her Gold crew, and 30 July 1960 launched two more missiles while submerged. Shakedown for the Gold crew ended at Groton on 30 August and the submarine got underway from that port 28 October for Charleston, South Carolina, to load her full complement of 16 Polaris missiles. There she was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation, after which her Blue crew took over and embarked on her first deterrent patrol.

The submarine completed her first patrol after 66 days of submerged running 21 January 1961 and put in at New London, Connecticut. The Gold crew took over and departed on her next patrol 14 February. After the patrol she entered Holy Loch, Scotland, 25 April 1961. Four years after her initial departure from Groton she put in to refuel, having cruised some 100,000 miles.

George Washington was shifted to the Pacific and was homeported in Pearl Harbor. On 9 April 1981, George Washington surfaced underneath Nissho Maru in the East China Sea about 110 miles south-southwest of Sasebo, Japan. The 2350-ton Japanese freighter sank in about 15 minutes. Two Japanese crewmen were lost; thirteen were rescued. The submarine suffered minor damage to its sail.

The accident strained U.S.-Japanese relations a month before a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki and President of the United States Ronald Reagan. Japan criticized the United States for taking over 24 hours to notify Japanese authorities, and demanded to know what the submarine was doing surfacing only about twenty miles outside Japan’s territorial waters. Neither the submarine nor a P-3 Orion circling overhead made any attempt to rescue the Japanese ship.

The United States Navy initially stated that George Washington executed a crash dive during the collision and then immediately surfaced, but could not see the Japanese ship due to fog and rain. A preliminary report released a few days later stated that they had detected a ship nearby, but neither the submarine nor the aircraft realized the ship was in distress.

On 11 April, President Reagan and other US officials formally expressed regret over the accident, made offers of compensation, and reassured the Japanese there was no cause for worry about radioactive contamination. As is its standard policy, the US Government refused to reveal what the submarine was doing close to Japan or whether it was armed with nuclear missiles. (The standard response all modern American submariners are taught to give to such questions is "I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons aboard this vessel.") The United States Navy accepted responsibility for the incident, and relieved and reprimanded George Washington’s commanding officer and officer of the deck.

On 31 August the Navy released its final report, concluding that the accident resulted from a set of coincidences, compounded by errors on the part of some members of the submarine crew.

In 1982, George Washington returned to Pearl Harbor from her last missile patrol. In 1983 her missiles were off-loaded in Bangor, Washington, and she left Pearl Harbor for the last time and transitted the Panama Canal back to New London.

On 24 January 1985, George Washington was decommissioned on 24 January 1985, was struck from the Naval Vessel Registry on 30 April 1986, and is scheduled for disposal through the Ship-Submarine recycling program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Her sail was removed prior to disposal and now resides at the Submarine Force Library and Museum, New London, Connecticut. The "Georgefish" made 55 deterrence patrols in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in her 25-year career.

See USS George Washington for other ships of the same name.

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