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USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN 624)

USS WOODROW WILSON was the seventh LAFAYETTE - class nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine and the first ship in the Navy to bear the name.

Deactivated while still in commission on January 11, 1993, the WOODROW WILSON was both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on September 1, 1994. She entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, Washington on September 26, 1997, and finished it on October 27, 1998. When she emerged from the program, the former ballistic missile submarine no longer existed as a complete ship and was classed as scrapped.

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Crew List:

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

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Accidents aboard USS WOODROW WILSON:

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About the Ship's Name:

Thomas Woodrow Wilson - born on 28 December 1856 at Staunton, Va. - graduated from Princeton University in 1879 before attending University of Virginia Law School. He subsequently earned a doctorate at Johns Hopkins and then taught at Bryn Mawr and Wesleyan before accepting a teaching post at Princeton, his alma mater. He became president of Princeton in 1902 and brought the university to national prominence. In 1910, Wilson was elected governor of New Jersey and served a two-year term in which he effected several key progressive reforms.

After becoming the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in the 1912 elections, Wilson defeated a badly split Republican Party and was inaugurated president on 4 March 1913. Wilson’s first term in the White House was marked by liberal reforms which were popularized under the label, the “New Freedom.” Upon the outbreak of World War I in Europe, Wilson tried to keep the United States neutral. While patiently insisting on American rights as a neutral, he successfully guided the country through the liner LUSITANIA crisis in the spring of 1915.

While abstaining from intervention in Europe’s affairs for a time, the United States, under Wilson’s leadership, moved decisively in Latin America and the Caribbean when it saw American rights threatened. American naval or military units landed in Mexico, Santo Domingo, Haiti, and Nicaragua to restore order and to establish benevolent American protection for its own nationals as well as for the nationals of the troubled countries.

Eventually, pressures to enter the war - despite the 1916 campaign slogan “He kept us out of war” - proved too great. In April 1917, the United States joined the Allied and Associated Powers in the war against the Central Powers. Exercising his powers as Commander in Chief, Wilson was well aware of the Navy’s role in the “war to end all wars” an “to make the world safe for democracy.” In a speech to the officers of the Atlantic Fleet on 11 August 1917, the President said: “...the officers of this Navy...have the distinction of saying how this war is going to be won.”

With the Navy guarding the sea lanes to Europe, the United States eventually sent substantial numbers of troops “over there”, to join the battle on the Western Front. On 11 November 1918, the armistice was signed, ending World War I.

Between 1914 and 1917, Wilson had based his appeals for peach upon the formula, “peace without victory.” After the United States entered the conflict, the President continued to strive for the ideal of a peace where in there would be no victor - none vanquished. Instead, he urged the recognition of the rights of smaller nations and freedom of the seas. His “Fourteen Points” attempted to apply these broad ideals to specific problem areas of the peaceful postwar settlement. Incorporating these fourteen points of international ethics into a comprehensive plan, Wilson broke precedent by leading the American delegation to the Peace Conference at Paris. Once there, however, he found to his dismay that European leaders were not as ready as he to make high ideals the foundation of a postwar settlement that would be fair and just for all. As a result, negotiations were weakened by many compromises with Wilson’s ideals, and the treaty, with its provision for a League of Nations, was rejected by the Republican-controlled Senate. Taking his fight to the people, Wilson embarked upon a strenuous speaking tour, valiantly fighting to convince the American people that only collective security could keep the United States out of future wars. In September 1919, worn out by the struggle for his League of Nations, Wilson broke physically, and remained ill throughout the remainder of his second term. Never fully recovered, he lived quietly in Washington after Warren G. Harding won the 1920 elections and brought “normalcy” to the United States; Wilson died in Washington on 3 February 1924.

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USS WOODROW WILSON History:

USS WOODROW WILSON was one of the "Forty-One for Freedom" fleet ballistic missile submarines that formed a central pillar of the United States strategic deterrent during the Cold War. She was ordered on February 9, 1961, from Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, California, laid down there on September 13, 1961, launched on February 22, 1963, and commissioned on December 27, 1963. Her sponsor at the launching was Eleanor Axson Sayre, granddaughter of President Woodrow Wilson, and at commissioning she received the traditional two-crew manning: Commander Cleo N. Mitchell took command of the Blue Crew and Commander Walter N. Dietzen the Gold Crew.

Following post-commissioning preparations on the U.S. West Coast, USS WOODROW WILSON departed Mare Island Naval Shipyard on January 9, 1964, bound for her first operational homeport on the U.S. East Coast. After a brief stop at San Diego, she continued south toward the Panama Canal, arriving at its Pacific entrance on January 19, 1964. At that moment, the Canal Zone was in a tense state following violent anti-American riots triggered by a dispute over the display of U.S. and Panamanian flags. As a result, the submarine conducted a heavily guarded, expedited transit of the canal - completing the passage in a reported seven hours and ten minutes while U.S. Marines and Army soldiers secured the locks.

Upon reaching the Atlantic, USS WOODROW WILSON proceeded to Charleston, South Carolina, where she arrived on February 5, 1964. From Charleston, she conducted her shakedown cruise off the lower U.S. East Coast through March, testing propulsion, navigation, weapons systems, and the complex arrangements required for submerged ballistic missile operations. She then underwent post-shakedown repairs and alterations into April 1964, addressing deficiencies found during trials and refining the ship for sustained deterrent patrol duty. At the end of May 1964, she again put to sea, and in June 1964, she embarked on her first strategic deterrent patrol out of Charleston, entering the operational pattern that would define much of her service life.

From mid-1964 through the autumn of 1968, USS WOODROW WILSON patrolled in the Atlantic under the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, operating within the broader Polaris deterrent concept in which ballistic missile submarines remained continuously at sea on pre-planned patrol stations. She conducted these patrols while cycling through forward operating bases at Rota, Spain, and Holy Loch, Scotland, both of which hosted submarine tenders that provided refit, resupply, and crew turnover facilities. Charleston functioned as her principal U.S. East Coast support and refit port during this period. These operations unfolded against the backdrop of an intensifying Cold War, as the United States and the Soviet Union expanded their nuclear arsenals and refined their sea-based deterrent forces in parallel with developments such as the Cuban Missile Crisis aftershock, the Vietnam War, and the strategic arms discussions that would soon produce the first Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I).

In the late 1960s, the boat entered a major overhaul and missile-system upgrade. After several years of patrols with POLARIS A2 missiles, she underwent a 13-month availability at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia, during which her missile system was converted to the POLARIS A3 variant, with its longer range and improved coverage of Soviet targets. Upon completion of this work, she was reassigned from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Transiting again via Charleston and the Panama Canal, she arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on November 19, 1969.

Following her brief time at Pearl Harbor, USS WOODROW WILSON continued west to Guam, then a key forward base for U.S. ballistic missile submarines covering the Soviet Far East and Asian portions of the Soviet Union. Operating from Apra Harbor, she conducted deterrent patrols in the western Pacific through 1972. These patrols took place during the latter years of the Vietnam War and in the period surrounding the 1972 SALT I agreement, which codified limits on certain categories of strategic offensive arms even as the United States improved the survivability and flexibility of its submarine-launched missile forces.

In 1972, the boat was transferred back to the Atlantic for a second major modernization, this time to adopt the new POSEIDON C3 missile. After returning from the Pacific, she again went to Newport News Shipbuilding. According to the POSEIDON missile program chronology, USS WOODROW WILSON formally entered yard availability there on October 1, 1973, becoming the twenty-seventh ship in the C-3 conversion program. The work package included conversion of her missile tubes and associated systems for POSEIDON, along with broader modernization and maintenance associated with an extended overhaul. Although an initial duration of roughly eighteen months was planned, the actual availability extended to 25 months, concluding on October 23, 1975.

After yard work, the submarine entered the Demonstration and Shakedown Operations (DASO) phase to prove the ship-missile-crew system in its new configuration. On February 14, 1976, her Gold Crew successfully launched a POSEIDON C3 missile during DASO, marking the transition from shipyard conversion to operational readiness. By August 4, 1976, USS WOODROW WILSON, now one of the POSEIDON-equipped boats, deployed on an operational patrol. During pre-deployment activities leading into this patrol, the submarine again successfully launched a POSEIDON missile, confirming the new weapons system's readiness for deterrent service.

Soon after her POSEIDON conversion, USS WOODROW WILSON settled into a renewed pattern of Atlantic deterrent patrols, with Charleston serving as her homeport. She continued to make extensive use of forward facilities such as Holy Loch, Scotland, where U.S. submarine tenders supported routine refit periods between patrols. In the mid-1980s, veterans recall her operating regularly from the Holy Loch anchorage, mooring alongside the submarine tender USS HOLLAND (AS 32), which provided maintenance and logistics support. These operations coincided with the later stages of the Cold War, when NATO and Warsaw Pact navies increasingly refined their anti-submarine and strategic deterrent postures in the North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea regions.

Throughout the late 1970s, USS WOODROW WILSON also participated in periodic test launches to verify the reliability of the POSEIDON system. On March 24, 1977, she successfully fired two POSEIDON C3 missiles in a Follow-on Operational Test, part of a series of firings designed to demonstrate long-term performance of the missile and fire-control system under operational conditions. She later repeated such follow-on tests. For example, on January 10, 1983, her Gold Crew launched two more POSEIDON C3 missiles as part of another Follow-on Operational Test cycle, contributing to the statistical confidence in the system's reliability.

An operational incident occurred on June 4, 1979, when USS WOODROW WILSON ran aground in heavy fog at Race Rock while en route to New London, Connecticut. The grounding took place near the entrance to Long Island Sound, a constricted and navigationally demanding area in poor visibility. The submarine managed to free herself and continue to New London under her own power, where she underwent inspection and any necessary repair work to confirm that she remained structurally sound and safe for further operations.

Over the decades that followed her first patrol in 1964, USS WOODROW WILSON accumulated a substantial record of continuous deterrent operations. By the late 1980s, she had completed a total of 71 strategic deterrent patrols, a figure associated with her operational career up to about 1987 and cited in contemporary historical summaries.

In the late 1980s, as arms-control negotiations and evolving strategic requirements began to reshape the U.S. ballistic missile submarine force, USS WOODROW WILSON entered what would be her final major overhaul. On July 30, 1987, she commenced a refueling overhaul at Charleston Naval Shipyard in South Carolina, a comprehensive availability that included reactor refueling, extensive maintenance, and preparations for a change in mission. This yard period extended through 1988 and 1989. During this time, leadership rotated and the crew spent long stretches in the shipyard environment, as reflected in later crew reminiscences about the intensity of yard work at Charleston in those years.

In September 1989, while USS WOODROW WILSON remained at Charleston Naval Shipyard, Hurricane Hugo struck the South Carolina coast on September 21. The storm caused significant damage in the Charleston area and disrupted shipyard operations. Members of the submarine's crew took part in local recovery and assistance efforts, and the ship's participation in the response was recognized with the award of the Humanitarian Service Medal. The yard period continued into 1990. On April 29, 1990, the refueling overhaul was formally completed, and the submarine emerged from Charleston with a new designation and a new role.

In line with broader late-Cold-War and post-Cold-War force adjustments, USS WOODROW WILSON's ballistic missile system was deactivated, her missile tubes were taken out of strategic service, and she subsequently operated as an attack submarine from 1990 on. According to missile-program records, her refueling overhaul completion on April 29, 1990, marked the beginning of her life as a fast attack submarine operating with a single crew rather than the previous Blue and Gold dual-crew system. The missile compartment was progressively reconfigured to support Naval Special Warfare and other special operations missions, reflecting a shift from strategic nuclear deterrence toward conventional and special operations support in the final phase of her career.

After conversion, USS WOODROW WILSON conducted a series of trials and exercises to validate her new configuration and role. She carried out post-overhaul sea trials, including "Alfa" trials to verify propulsion and maneuvering performance. She then participated in exercises at the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC), weapons system accuracy tests (often referred to as WSAT), and open-ocean operations to demonstrate her readiness as an attack submarine. A Tactical Readiness Evaluation followed, covering the full range of fast-attack mission areas including anti-submarine warfare and support to special operations. During this period, she was assigned to Submarine Squadron 4 at Charleston and earned the White "A" award, indicating a high standard of performance in anti-submarine warfare.

In her new role, USS WOODROW WILSON took part in various Atlantic Fleet and NATO exercises as the U.S. Navy adapted to a rapidly changing security environment following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union in 1991. In September 1991, she participated in "Phantom Shadow", described as a major U.S. Navy special warfare exercise conducted across the western Atlantic and Caribbean, where she supported Naval Special Warfare elements in training that reflected an increased emphasis on regional contingencies and special operations.

In the spring of 1992, USS WOODROW WILSON carried out a live-warhead torpedo exercise (commonly referred to as a warshot exercise or SINKEX) involving the firing of a Mk 48 torpedo against a decommissioned target ship, demonstrating the effectiveness of the submarine's torpedo and fire-control system in a realistic sinking exercise. In the period between 1990 and 1993, she conducted several "special operations" patrols as an SSN, a term that in U.S. Navy usage generally denotes sensitive assignments that are not described in detail in public sources but typically involve intelligence collection, support to special operations forces, or other mission areas requiring covert submarine operations.

As post-Cold-War force reductions took effect, the Navy began to retire older nuclear-powered submarines. USS WOODROW WILSON was deactivated in September 1993. She was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on September 1, 1994, at the end of roughly three decades of service that had taken her from early POLARIS deterrent patrols through POSEIDON operations and finally into the fast-attack and special operations role.

After decommissioning, the submarine joined the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, Washington. Towed by the salvage ship USS SALVOR (ARS 52) via Admiralty Inlet to Bremerton, the former USS WOODROW WILSON entered the recycling queue on September 26, 1997. The process, which involved safely removing nuclear fuel, dismantling the reactor compartment, and scrapping the remaining hull in accordance with environmental and safety regulations, was completed on October 27, 1998. Her sail was preserved and installed as part of the Deterrent Park monument at Naval Base Kitsap, Bangor, Washington, where it stands as a physical reminder of the "Forty-One for Freedom" era and of the many deterrent patrols conducted by the boat and her crews.

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