USS Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

USS Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600), a , was the second ship of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

to be named for President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

(1858–1919). Initially unnamed and assigned hull classification symbol

Hull classification symbol

The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use hull classification symbols to identify their ship types and each individual ship within each type...

SSGN-600 as a guided missile submarine, her keel was laid down on 20 May 1958 by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard

Mare Island Naval Shipyard

The Mare Island Naval Shipyard was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located 25 miles northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates the peninsula shipyard from the main portion of the...

using components initially assembled for the nuclear

Nuclear marine propulsion

Nuclear marine propulsion is propulsion of a ship by a nuclear reactor. Naval nuclear propulsion is propulsion that specifically refers to naval warships...

attack submarine . She was named Theodore Roosevelt and redesignated fleet ballistic missile submarine SSBN-600 on 6 November 1958, launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

on 3 October 1959 sponsored by Mrs. Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth was the oldest child of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. She was the only child of Roosevelt and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee....

(1884–1980), daughter of the ship's namesake, and commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

on 13 February 1961 with Commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

William E. Sims commanding the Blue Crew and Commander Oliver H. Perry, Jr. commanding the Gold Crew.

1960s

On 18 February 1961, Theodore Roosevelt departed Mare Island, California, bound for the United States East Coast. On 7 March, she became the first FBM submarine to transit the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

. On 11 March 1961, she arrived at Cape Canaveral, Florida

Cape Canaveral, Florida

Cape Canaveral is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 8,829 at the 2000 census. As of 2008, the estimated population according to the U.S. Census Bureau was 10,147...

. After successfully firing her first Polaris A1 missile on 20 March 1961 and completing her shakedown training, she arrived in Groton, Connecticut

Groton, Connecticut

Groton is a town located on the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 39,907 at the 2000 census....

, on 1 May for post-shakedown

Shakedown (testing)

A shakedown is a period of testing or a trial journey undergone by a ship, aircraft or other craft and its crew before being declared operational. Statistically, a proportion of the components will fail after a relatively short period of use, and those that survive this period can be expected to...

repairs at the Electric Boat

Electric boat

While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail power and gasoline engines also remaining popular, boats powered by electricity have been used for over 120 years. Electric boats were very popular from the 1880s until the 1920s, when the internal combustion...

Company shipyard

Shipyard

Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...

. She completed those repairs on 24 June 1961 and departed Groton, bound for Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

. Theodore Roosevelt stopped at Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, along the way and arrived at Charleston on 7 July 1961. Between 7 July and 19 July 1961, she loaded Polaris missiles at the Naval Ammunition Depot, Charleston, and made all other preparations for her first deployment. On 19 July 1961, she stood out of Charleston on her first deterrent

Deterrence theory

Deterrence theory gained increased prominence as a military strategy during the Cold War with regard to the use of nuclear weapons, and features prominently in current United States foreign policy regarding the development of nuclear technology in North Korea and Iran. Deterrence theory however was...

patrol. She concluded that patrol on 23 September 1961 at the FBM submarine base at Holy Loch

Holy Loch

The Holy Loch is a sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.Robertson's Yard at Sandbank, a village on the loch, was a major wooden boat building company in the late 19th and early 20th centuries....

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

.

Over the next three and one-half years, Theodore Roosevelt made 15 more deterrent patrols from the Holy Loch. Late in the spring of 1965, she departed Holy Loch on her 17th and final patrol of the deployment to Holy Loch. She concluded that patrol and the deployment when she arrived in Charleston on 15 June 1965. She unloaded her 16 Polaris missiles and then departed Charleston for New London, Connecticut

New London, Connecticut

New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....

, where she arrived on 26 June 1965.

At New London, Theodore Roosevelt entered the shipyard of the Electric Boat Division for an extensive overhaul. Between July 1965 and January 1967, her nuclear reactor was refueled and her Polaris weapon system was modified to accept the more advanced Polaris A3 missile. She completed overhaul on 14 January 1967 and began sea trials and refresher training, all of which culminated in the successful firing of a Polaris A3 missile at the Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is an installation of the United States Air Force Space Command's 45th Space Wing, headquartered at nearby Patrick Air Force Base. Located on Cape Canaveral in the state of Florida, CCAFS is the primary launch head of America's Eastern Range with four launch pads...

missile range late in April 1967. At the end of the training period, she returned to Charleston to load missiles and to prepare for another series of deterrent patrols out of Holy Loch. She embarked upon her 18th patrol on 1 June 1967 and completed that cruise at the Holy Loch base.

Theodore Roosevelts second tour of duty operating from the Scotland base proved to be very brief in comparison to her first. Between mid-June 1967 and February 1968, she completed her 18th through 21st patrols. On 20 March 1968 while returning to Holy Loch from her 21st patrol, she ran aground off the western coast of Scotland. After drydocking for temporary correction of the damage, she departed Holy Loch on 5 April 1968 to return to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

for permanent repairs. Between 18 April and 20 April 1968 she unloaded her missiles at Charleston and headed north to New London. On 23 April 1968, she arrived in the shipyard of the Electric Boat Division and commenced an extended repair period. Labor disputes caused delays, and Theodore Roosevelt did not complete her repairs until mid-October 1968. She spent the latter part of that month in sea trials and then departed New London on 2 November 1968 on her post-repair shakedown cruise. She visited Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

, and St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands

United States Virgin Islands

The Virgin Islands of the United States are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.The U.S...

before concluding the cruise at Charleston on 27 November 1968. She conducted training operations out of Charleston before deploying to Holy Loch again early in 1969.

1970s

That tour of duty lasted until May 1971. During the interim, Theodore Roosevelt conducted nine more deterrent patrols, returning to Holy Loch for refit after each. On 12 May 1971, she stood out of Holy Loch on the 31st patrol of her career. On 20 July 1971, she arrived in New London completing both the patrol and the Holy Loch deployment. She remained in New London for three weeks, during which time members of her Blue crew and her Gold crew were brought together into a single overhaul crew while other members of both crews moved on to other assignments. On 10 August 1971, she headed south to Charleston where she arrived on 13 August 1971. Over the next month, she underwent refit and then departed Charleston on 11 September 1971 for special operations. Theodore Roosevelt returned to Charleston on 30 September 1971 and remained there a week and a day before returning to sea for another three weeks of special operations. She reentered Charleston on 1 November 1971 and began preoverhaul restricted repairs. Three weeks later, she officially began her refueling overhaul, which lasted for more than two years.

Theodore Roosevelt completed her overhaul in January 1974. During the following two months, she conducted sea trials out of Charleston. In April and May shakedown training and nuclear weapons certification preparations occupied her time. In June, she conducted a one-week United States Naval Academy

United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...

midshipman familiarization cruise out of New London, then underwent nuclear propulsion safety training before deperming at Norfolk. In mid-June, she received word of her reassignment to the United States Pacific Fleet

United States Pacific Fleet

The United States Pacific Fleet is a Pacific Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources under the operational control of the United States Pacific Command. Its home port is at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii. It is commanded by Admiral Patrick M...

with her new home port to be Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

. Between July and September 1974, Theodore Roosevelt conducted another midshipman training cruise; then settled into predeployment training and preparations. She departed Charleston on 20 September 1974, transited the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

on 5 October, and, after a nine-day stop for missile loadout at Strategic Weapons Facility, Pacific

Naval Base Kitsap

Naval Base Kitsap is a U.S. Navy base located on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state. It was created in 2004 by merging the former Naval Station Bremerton with Naval Submarine Base Bangor...

in Bangor, Washington, continued on to Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

, where she arrived on 4 November 1974. On 10 November, she departed Pearl Harbor, bound for the Mariana Islands

Mariana Islands

The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...

. She entered port at Guam

Guam

Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

on 24 November, underwent refit at her new advanced base there, and began her first deterrent patrol in the Pacific Ocean on 31 December 1974.

Theodore Roosevelt conducted patrols out of Guam until 16 December 1977 at which time she departed on her 43rd deterrent patrol.

History from 1978 to 1982 needed.

Decommissioning and disposal

On 1 December 1982, Theodore Roosevelt was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register

Naval Vessel Register

The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

and her hulk was stored in Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...

, until its turn came to enter the Nuclear Power Ship and Submarine Recycling Program. On 24 March 1995, ex-Theodore Roosevelt ceased to exist.

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