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USS Lafayette (SSBN 616)

USS LAFAYETTE was the lead ship of the Navy's LAFAYETTE - class of nuclear fleet ballistic missile submarines and the second ship in the Navy to bear the name. LAFAYETTE's sponsor was Mrs. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr., wife of the 35th President of the United States.

Deactivated while still in commission on March 1, 1991, LAFAYETTE was decommissioned on August 12, 1991, and stricken from the Naval list on February 25, 1992. She began the Navy’s Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, Washington the day she was deactivated and finished it the day she was stricken. On the latter date, the ship no longer existed as an entity and was classed as scrapped.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS LAFAYETTE. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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About the Ship's Name:

Marie Joseph du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was born at Chateau Chavaniac, Auvergne, France, 6 September 1757. He entered the French Army at the age of 14 and 6 years later left France to assist the American colonists in their fight for freedom. His brilliant military contributions to the victory of the Americans were climaxed by the final campaign in which his skillful maneuvering played a major part in the defeat of the British at Yorktown.

Taking the gratitude of the American people with him, he returned to France in 1781 and later aided his own people in the disturbed days of the French Revolution. As commander of France’s eastern Army, Lafayette was captured by the Austrians in August 1792. He was imprisoned for 5 years, and released after Napoleon’s rise to power. For the rest of his life he actively participated in movements for liberty and freedom in France and the world. He died in Paris 20 May 1834.

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USS LAFAYETTE History:

USS LAFAYETTE was ordered on July 22, 1960, at the height of the early Cold War build-up of the United States' sea-based nuclear deterrent. Conceived as the lead unit of a new generation of fleet ballistic missile submarines, she was named for Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat and soldier who had fought alongside the American colonies in the Revolutionary War. Her keel was laid on January 17, 1961, at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut, where she embodied the transition from the earlier GEORGE WASHINGTON- and ETHAN ALLEN-classes to a quieter, more capable ballistic missile submarine design.

Electric Boat launched the new submarine on May 8, 1962. The launching was politically and symbolically prominent: the sponsor was First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who christened USS LAFAYETTE in a ceremony that linked the names of Lafayette, Kennedy, and the emerging Polaris deterrent force. After fitting-out, she carried a single nuclear propulsion plant with an S5W reactor driving twin geared turbines, and she was armed with four bow torpedo tubes and sixteen vertical missile tubes designed for the Polaris system. She displaced over 7,000 tons submerged and carried two alternating crews, Blue and Gold, each with about 13 officers and 130 enlisted men.

USS LAFAYETTE was commissioned on April 23, 1963, at Groton. Commander P. J. Hannifin took command of the Blue Crew and Commander James T. Strong of the Gold Crew, inaugurating the dual-crew system that would allow the submarine to spend the majority of her career at sea on strategic patrol.

Soon after commissioning, she proceeded to the Caribbean for shakedown operations, testing propulsion, sensors, and ship control in warm-water conditions and working up two new crews in the demanding routines of submerged operations and nuclear safety. On completion of shakedown USS LAFAYETTE moved to Charleston, South Carolina, one of the principal Fleet Ballistic Missile support bases on the U.S. East Coast, where she loaded Polaris A-2 ballistic missiles. In June 1963, she shifted to Cape Canaveral, Florida, to carry out her first ballistic-missile test program on the Atlantic Missile Range. During that month, she fired four Polaris missiles, two with each crew, validating the new boat's integration of navigation, fire-control, and missile systems. Range records show that her first Cape Canaveral launch took place on June 13, 1963, marking the beginning of a long series of Cape-based test firings that would extend into the 1980s.

After completing these launches she returned to Groton, arriving there on August 2, 1963, for post-shakedown work and further exercises with both crews as they refined procedures for extended submerged patrols. By the end of 1963, USS LAFAYETTE was ready to join the growing Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine force. On January 4, 1964, she departed Charleston on her first deterrent patrol in the Atlantic, fully loaded with sixteen Polaris A-2 missiles.

That patrol marked the start of her front-line contribution to the United States' strategic nuclear posture: remaining hidden at sea for extended periods, maintaining constant communications links, and staying prepared to launch her missiles on presidential order.

Later in 1964 she entered a new phase of operations that would define the next several years. Forward basing for Polaris submarines was being established at Rota, Spain, to shorten transit times and increase on-station presence close to the Soviet Union and its allies. To support this, Submarine Squadron 16 was deployed to Rota, turning the Spanish base into a key node in NATO's deterrent posture. USS LAFAYETTE became the first Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine assigned to the new facility: sources record her arrival at Rota on May 25, 1964, where she inaugurated the forward refit and replenishment system that allowed Polaris boats to cycle rapidly between patrols and maintenance.

From 1964 through 1967, USS LAFAYETTE operated almost continuously in the Atlantic and Mediterranean as part of this Rota-based deterrent force. Blue and Gold crews alternated in taking the submarine to sea on successive Polaris patrols. Over roughly four years, she completed sixteen deterrent patrols from Rota, conducting submerged operations in assigned patrol areas while Soviet strategic and naval forces expanded and NATO sought to maintain a credible second-strike capability. Her fifteenth patrol, completed during this period, was officially recognized as the 400th Polaris Fleet Ballistic Missile patrol by the U.S. Navy. For this achievement, the submarine received a special commendation from Secretary of the Navy Paul Nitze, underlining both the maturity of the Polaris program and LAFAYETTE's role within it.

After completing her sixteenth patrol, USS LAFAYETTE returned from Rota to Charleston on August 23, 1967. One week later she arrived at Newport News, Virginia, for her first major overhaul at Newport News Shipbuilding. This yard period reflected normal mid-life requirements for a nuclear submarine: refueling of the reactor, major maintenance and modernization work, and thorough inspection of hull, machinery, and combat systems. The overhaul also took place as the strategic balance was changing, with the Soviet Union deploying more capable submarines and ballistic missiles and the United States preparing follow-on missile systems and arms-control positions that would lead toward the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.

The overhaul formally ended on December 28, 1968. In January 1969, USS LAFAYETTE rejoined the operational fleet, again assigned to the Atlantic-based ballistic-missile force. On May 18, 1969, she left Charleston for her seventeenth Polaris patrol, and before the end of that year she completed two more, bringing her patrol count to nineteen. In 1970, she made four additional Polaris patrols, numbered 20 through 23, maintaining the established pattern of alternation between extended submerged patrols and short refit periods in port.

At the start of 1971, the submarine remained deeply embedded in Atlantic deterrent operations. With the Gold Crew embarked she departed on Patrol 24 in January 1971, returning in March to Rota. The Blue Crew then prepared and executed Patrol 25 from April to June; the Gold Crew followed with Patrol 26 from July to September, again operating from the Spanish base. On September 1, 1971, during this cycle of patrols, USS LAFAYETTE launched five Polaris A-2 missiles in an operation described in official accounts as "of great importance to the United States Government", conducted between September 1 and September 30, 1971. The performance of the ship and her Gold Crew in maintaining readiness throughout this period was recognized with a Meritorious Unit Commendation awarded on May 11, 1973.

The Blue Crew subsequently conducted Patrol 27, and after LAFAYETTE's return in October the Gold Crew made ready for Patrol 28, which began in December 1971. Early in 1972, USS LAFAYETTE completed three more Polaris patrols and then shifted focus briefly from deterrent operations to training. Transiting from Rota to New London, Connecticut, she spent much of the summer of 1972 conducting weekly underway periods in support of the Submarine Force Atlantic's Second-Class Midshipmen Summer Indoctrination. During these operations, she provided at-sea training for more than a thousand midshipmen, introducing future officers to life aboard a modern nuclear submarine. The period also brought numerous distinguished visitors on board, including officials from the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, foreign diplomats, Navy supply and logistics leaders, and a civilian author researching nuclear ships. All received briefings and tours that used USS LAFAYETTE as a representative example of the Fleet Ballistic Missile force.

By late 1972, the Navy was executing a major transition from Polaris to the more capable Poseidon C-3 missile system. To join this upgrade program, USS LAFAYETTE conducted sound trials and off-loaded her Polaris missiles, then prepared for a lengthy overhaul and conversion. On October 6, 1972, the Blue and Gold crews were combined into a single overhaul crew, and on October 13 she entered the Electric Boat yard at Groton for what was planned as an eighteen-month refueling overhaul and Poseidon conversion.

Program documentation records the formal start of her Poseidon conversion as October 15, 1972. The work proved complex and extended: missile tube liners were replaced to accommodate the larger C-3 missile, new fire-control equipment was installed, and a wide range of ship systems were refurbished. USS LAFAYETTE remained in the yard through the rest of 1972 and all of 1973, re-emerging on November 7, 1974, as the twenty-third Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine converted to Poseidon C-3 capability.

Post-conversion trials and tests followed quickly. In late November 1974, Vice Admiral Joe Williams Jr., Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, embarked to observe post-overhaul shakedown training.

On December 16, 1974, while operating from Port Canaveral, the Blue Crew conducted a successful launch of a Poseidon C-3 missile as part of the Demonstration and Shakedown Operations program, making USS LAFAYETTE the first of her class to fire that missile. Senior officers from the Strategic Systems Project Office, Submarine Group 6, and the Air Force's Eastern Test Range witnessed the event, underscoring the importance of the Poseidon upgrade to the U.S. strategic posture.

The Blue Crew completed its post-overhaul shakedown on January 21, 1975, after operations that included visits to Charleston, Port Canaveral, and Exuma Sound in the Bahamas. The Gold Crew then took the submarine to sea for its own shakedown period, conducting weapons system accuracy trials near St. Croix in the Virgin Islands and Mark 48 torpedo certification in Exuma Sound. After another crew exchange at Charleston, the Blue Crew executed additional Mark 48 torpedo work and brought USS LAFAYETTE back to Groton for an eight-month post-conversion availability, before returning to Charleston and completing two Poseidon deterrent patrols, numbered 31 and 32, by the end of 1975.

During the first half of 1976, the submarine operated from Holy Loch, Scotland, one of the principal overseas support sites for Atlantic Fleet ballistic-missile submarines. With the Gold Crew embarked she conducted Patrol 33; the Blue Crew followed with Patrol 34. The Gold Crew then took USS LAFAYETTE to sea for Patrol 35, which included operations in the eastern Atlantic and a Mark 48 torpedo proficiency firing in the Tongue of the Ocean in the Bahamas. Subsequent refit work was carried out at Charleston, after which she completed further torpedo proficiency firings and local exercises off the U.S. East Coast before conducting Patrol 36.

In January 1977, the Gold Crew relieved the Blue Crew at Holy Loch, and for the next several years USS LAFAYETTE served as a fully Poseidon-capable deterrent platform operating primarily from that Scottish base. The two crews alternated on Patrols 37 through 40, maintaining a predictable but demanding cycle of patrol, refit, and pre-deployment training. In June 1977, she conducted a two-missile Poseidon operational test launch to demonstrate the continuing effectiveness of the Fleet Ballistic Missile system.

Throughout 1978, the boat completed Patrols 41 and 42, again combining eastern Atlantic patrol periods with torpedo proficiency firings at the AUTEC range near Bermuda. The Blue Crew then brought her to Charleston for refit and further Mark 48 firings and midshipman training from New London and Charleston. The Gold Crew relieved them at Holy Loch, completed refit there, and executed Patrol 43, after which the Blue Crew returned in December. In 1979, USS LAFAYETTE's crews added Patrols 44 and 45, followed later that year by Patrols 46 and 47. Patrol 46 once more combined eastern Atlantic operations with torpedo firings at AUTEC. Its refit brought the submarine to the growing ballistic-missile base at Kings Bay, Georgia, which was being developed as a long-term refit site. After that refit, the Gold Crew conducted another torpedo proficiency period at AUTEC and enjoyed a port call at Port Canaveral, Florida.

In the first eleven months of 1980, USS LAFAYETTE carried out Patrols 48, 49, and 50, with refits again centered on Holy Loch, continuing her contribution to the Atlantic deterrent as NATO and Warsaw Pact naval forces probed one another's boundaries at sea. In December 1980, the two crews combined for a refit at Groton, and in early January 1981 the submarine conducted a dependents' cruise from New London to Norfolk, Virginia, giving families a rare glimpse of life on board a Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine. Soon afterwards she commenced Patrol 51.

Refueling and modernization needs brought a second major yard period. In February 1981, after returning from patrol and off-loading missiles at Charleston, USS LAFAYETTE arrived at Newport News on March 2 and entered the newly constructed dry dock there on March 6 for an extended refueling overhaul. She remained at Newport News throughout the rest of 1981 and 1982, receiving a new reactor core, updated electronics and combat systems, and further structural work to prepare her for continued service into the late Cold War.

On April 23, 1983, the submarine celebrated the twentieth anniversary of her commissioning. By that time, she had already completed Alpha and Bravo sea trials following refueling, and on May 20, 1983, a change-of-command ceremony formally marked her return to the operational fleet. Both crews then undertook a comprehensive shakedown program that included an Operational Reactor Safeguards Examination, Mark 48 torpedo certification, a demonstration and shakedown operation, and a nuclear weapons acceptance inspection.

A key event in this period came on September 2, 1983, when the Gold Crew launched a Poseidon C-3 missile from USS LAFAYETTE during a test at the Eastern Test Range, a launch preserved in official Navy photography and noted as her final Cape Canaveral missile firing. Later that year, on November 29, 1983, she deployed for operational patrol following completion of refueling overhaul, returning once again to the regular ballistic-missile patrol cycle.

By 1984, USS LAFAYETTE was assigned to Submarine Squadron 14, operating once more from Holy Loch. Through the mid-1980s she continued alternating patrols and refits, with her crews regularly undergoing inspections such as Operational Reactor Safeguards Examinations, Tactical Readiness Evaluations, Nuclear Surety Inspections, and Navy Technical Proficiency Inspections, all of which reflected the intense safety and readiness standards applied to ballistic-missile submarines in the later Cold War period.

On January 30, 1986, while moored alongside the large auxiliary floating dry dock LOS ALAMOS (ARDM 2), USS LAFAYETTE suffered significant damage when high winds struck the area. The submarine subsequently entered LOS ALAMOS for repairs between February 1 and February 25, 1986, work that delayed the start of her next patrol but did not prevent her from returning to service.

After repairs, the Gold Crew conducted Patrol 60 and successfully passed another Operational Reactor Safeguards Examination. The Blue Crew next completed a refit and Patrol 61, finishing with a Tactical Readiness Evaluation and Navy Technical Proficiency Inspection. By mid-1986, the Gold Crew had again relieved the Blue Crew to execute Patrol 62, including an unscheduled Operational Reactor Safeguards Examination and Tactical Readiness Evaluation, while the Blue Crew later returned to prepare for Patrol 63 at the end of the year.

Following Patrol 63, USS LAFAYETTE called at the Charleston Weapons Station on February 20, 1987, off-loaded her missiles, and underwent shipyard maintenance. Departing again on Patrol 64, she experienced a minor navigation incident while egressing Charleston when she went slightly off course and dragged her rudder through the mud, technically amounting to a grounding. Ordered back to Charleston Naval Base pending a Board of Inquiry, she remained only briefly. Three days later she sailed again and completed Patrols 64, 65, and 66 between February 20 and December 15, 1987, each patrol beginning and ending at Holy Loch for refit.

On December 16, 1987, the submarine departed on Patrol 67. During that patrol she made a port visit to Lisbon, Portugal, from February 24 to February 29, 1988, an event that also carried diplomatic weight by underlining American commitment to a NATO ally.

On March 25, 1988, she got underway for Patrol 68, returning to Holy Loch on July 1, then immediately departing the next day on Patrol 69, which ended with her return for refit on October 11. On October 12, 1988, she sailed again to begin Patrol 70, completing it on January 19, 1989.

The final phase of USS LAFAYETTE's sea-going career unfolded as the global strategic environment began to change rapidly with the easing of Cold War tensions. On January 20, 1989, she departed on Patrol 71, returning on April 28. The very next day, April 29, she put to sea again for Patrol 72. During this patrol, she made the first port visit by an American submarine to Brest, France, and took part in Bastille Day celebrations, a high-visibility demonstration of Franco-American naval cooperation at a time when the French port was one of the principal bases for French strategic forces. USS LAFAYETTE returned to Holy Loch on August 6, 1989, and left the next day for Patrol 73, which concluded on November 8. Patrol 74 ended on February 22, 1990, after which she underwent a warm-water refit at Kings Bay, Georgia, before departing on Patrol 75. During this patrol, she marked the twenty-seventh anniversary of her commissioning. Having completed Patrol 75 on May 12, 1990, she departed once more and finished her seventy-sixth and final strategic deterrent patrol on September 20, 1990.

On October 5, 1990, during a change-of-command ceremony at Groton, USS LAFAYETTE's long-standing Blue and Gold crews were combined into a single crew, reflecting the fact that her operational career as a ballistic-missile platform was drawing to a close. Even in this final period, she continued to demonstrate tactical capability. She carried out exercises with the attack submarine USS BOSTON (SSN 703) and remained an exceptionally quiet and capable platform by contemporary standards.

On December 19, 1990, she returned to Groton to prepare for an interfleet transfer to Bremerton, Washington, where she would enter the Ship-Submarine Recycling Program under the administrative control of Commander, Submarine Group 9 and the operational authority of the Pacific Fleet. USS LAFAYETTE was deactivated while still in commission on March 1, 1991. On August 12, 1991, she was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Vessel Register. On the same day, she officially entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton. Recycling of the former ballistic-missile submarine was completed on February 25, 1992, ending the physical existence of the lead ship of her class.

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