Search the Site with

General Characteristics

Crew List

Memorabilia

About the Ship's Namesake

Accidents aboard the Ship

History

Image Gallery

to end of page

USS James K. Polk (SSBN 645)

Commissioned as a ballistic missile submarine in April 1966, the USS JAMES K. POLK was converted to a special purpose, brown water attack submarine between 1992 and 1993. This conversion installed modifications including a deck shelter to support the surfaced and submerged deployment of Special Operations Forces. After the conversion the JAMES K. POLK was redesignated SSN 645. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on July 8, 1999, the JAMES K. POLK subsequently entered the Navy’s Nuclear Powered Ship and Recycling Program at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash. Recycling was completed on April 26, 2000.

back to top

go to the end of the page

back to top

go to the end of the page

Crew List:

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

• Click here to view the list.

back to top

go to the end of the page

• Click here to see which USS JAMES K. POLK memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

back to top

go to the end of the page

About the Submarine's Name:

James K. Polk, 11th President of the United States, was born 2 November 1795, in Mecklenburg County, N.C. A leading Jacksonian Democrat in the Tennessee State Legislature, he was not yet 50 years old when inaugurated President of the United States 4 March 1845. He ably conducted the Mexican War following the annexation of Texas. The "Four Great Measures" he announced for his administration were all achieved: the reduction of tariff; the reestablishment of the Independent Treasury System; the settlement of the Oregon dispute with Great Britain; and the acquisition of California. More territory was added to the United States under Polk than any other President except Jefferson. Few presidents worked harder. His arduous and conscientious labor during his term so undermined his health that he died 15 June 1894, some 3 months after he left the White House..

back to top

go to the end of the page

Accidents aboard USS JAMES K. POLK:

back to top

go to the end of the page

USS JAMES K. POLK History:

USS JAMES K. POLK was a BENJAMIN FRANKLIN-class nuclear-powered submarine that spent the first twenty-five years of her life as a fleet ballistic missile submarine and the last five as a special-operations attack submarine. Named for the eleventh president of the United States, she was one of the "41 for Freedom" boats that formed a central pillar of the American nuclear deterrent during the Cold War. Over a 33-year career she completed 66 strategic deterrent patrols, first with Polaris and later with Poseidon ballistic missiles, before being converted into a platform for special operations forces and eventually decommissioned at the end of the 1990s.

The contract to build JAMES K. POLK was awarded on November 1, 1962, to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics at Groton, Connecticut, as part of the follow-on BENJAMIN FRANKLIN-class that refined earlier Polaris submarine designs with improved quieting and habitability. Her keel was laid at Electric Boat on November 23, 1963. She was launched on May 22, 1965, sponsored by Hazel Rivero, wife of Admiral Horacio Rivero Jr., then serving as Vice Chief of Naval Operations. After fitting out alongside the builder's yard, the submarine began her trials program. Her "Welcome Aboard" booklet and later histories record that she went to sea for initial trials in March 1966, joining the growing force of U.S. nuclear-powered submarines that underpinned the sea-based leg of the strategic triad.

JAMES K. POLK was commissioned on April 16, 1966, with Commander F. D. McMullen Jr. in command of the Blue Crew and Commander R. M. Douglass commanding the Gold Crew, reflecting the dual-crew manning system used on ballistic-missile submarines to maximize patrol tempo. She was the Navy's 57th nuclear-powered submarine and among the later units of the Polaris force, designed from the keel up to carry sixteen ballistic missiles and operate for long periods submerged. Following shakedown operations in the western Atlantic and post-shakedown availability, she sailed to Charleston, South Carolina, in September 1966 to load a full complement of Polaris missiles in preparation for her initial deterrent patrol. After that loadout she joined Submarine Squadron 18, based at Charleston, which coordinated her early patrols and maintenance.

Between September 1966 and May 1971, JAMES K. POLK conducted 19 Polaris strategic deterrent patrols in the Atlantic. Operating under the strict secrecy that surrounded the ballistic-missile submarine force, she spent most of these patrols submerged in assigned patrol areas while either the Blue or Gold crew stood watch around the clock. Patrols typically began with a departure from Charleston or a forward support site, followed by an extended period at sea and a return to a submarine tender at an overseas base for refit and crew turnover.

Contemporary accounts and squadron histories indicate that during this period, she operated primarily from the Atlantic FBM support bases at Holy Loch, Scotland, and Rota, Spain, with refits alongside tenders such as USS CANOPUS (AS 34). This pattern allowed POLK and her sister ships to maintain a near-continuous at-sea deterrent presence during periods of heightened Cold War tension, including the late 1960s confrontations over Vietnam and continuing NATO-Warsaw Pact rivalry in Europe.

Life aboard a Polaris boat was demanding even in peacetime, and JAMES K. POLK's early years were marked by both routine and tragedy. On February 20, 1970, Yeoman Second Class Issac V. Algaze, a crewman assigned to the submarine, died by suicide while ashore at Point o' Woods, New York, an event later recorded among the "lost submariners" of the postwar era. The incident did not involve the ship herself but illustrates the personal strain of repeated deterrent patrols. Later that same year, around Thanksgiving in November 1970, POLK was involved in one of the more serious nuclear-related shipboard accidents of the era when a fire broke out on board the tender USS CANOPUS at the Holy Loch submarine base in Scotland. At the time, CANOPUS had two ballistic-missile submarines berthed alongside: USS FRANCIS SCOTT KEY (SSBN 657) and JAMES K. POLK. When the fire intensified, FRANCIS SCOTT KEY cast off, but JAMES K. POLK remained moored to the burning tender as the blaze burned out of control for several hours and claimed three lives. Subsequent analysis emphasized that although CANOPUS and the submarines had nuclear weapons on board, the fire did not lead to a nuclear accident.

By mid-1971, technological and strategic developments were driving the transition from Polaris to the more capable Poseidon C-3 missile. In July 1971, JAMES K. POLK left the forward patrol cycle and began her first major overhaul at Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia. During this extended yard period, her nuclear reactor was refueled and her missile compartment was modified to handle Poseidon C-3 missiles, which carried more warheads and offered improved accuracy compared to Polaris. The Poseidon conversion of JAMES K. POLK was completed at Newport News on November 17, 1972, making her the sixteenth SSBN to receive C-3 capability. After the yard work, she entered a period of sea trials and exercises intended to test the new systems and train both crews. On January 18, 1973, the Blue Crew conducted a Demonstration and Shakedown Operation, successfully launching a Poseidon C-3 missile from the submarine as part of the formal acceptance process for her new strategic weapon system.

With conversion and DASO complete, JAMES K. POLK rejoined the operational FBM force. On May 29, 1973, she deployed again, this time as the fifteenth Poseidon-equipped submarine to take up deterrent patrol duties. From mid-1973 onward, she conducted a succession of Atlantic deterrent patrols with Poseidon missiles, again generally operating from forward bases such as Holy Loch and Rota, while the United States adapted its nuclear posture to the evolving arms-control environment shaped by agreements like SALT I and the initiation of discussions that would lead to SALT II. Her patrols in this period fitted into a broader NATO strategy that relied on continuous at-sea deterrence to complicate Soviet planning and reassure allied governments.

The mid-1970s also saw JAMES K. POLK participate in a series of missile test programs that helped validate and refine the Poseidon system. On April 18, 1975, the submarine successfully launched two Poseidon C-3 missiles in support of the C-3 operational test program. Later that year, on August 29, 1975, her Blue Crew launched two more Poseidon missiles during another operational test series. These firings, conducted from designated test areas under carefully controlled conditions, were part of a continuing effort to demonstrate reliability and accuracy to U.S. strategic planners and to collect data that would feed back into weapons and fire control improvements. During these years, the submarine maintained her alternating-crew pattern of deterrent patrols and refits.

Operational testing continued into the later 1970s. On April 24, 1978, JAMES K. POLK successfully launched four Poseidon C-3 missiles during a follow-on operational test, and on February 19, 1979, she again fired four C-3 missiles for another follow-on test event. These multi-missile salvos were designed to exercise the launch systems under conditions closer to wartime loads and to verify long-term missile storage and firing performance. At the same time she kept up her regular deterrent patrol schedule in the Atlantic, transitioning over time to refits at Kings Bay as that base assumed a growing share of the Poseidon force. Her performance in this period was recognized with a Battle Efficiency "E" award in 1980 from her Atlantic submarine squadron, indicating that she ranked among the best-performing boats in operational readiness and inspections during that fiscal year.

By 1981, JAMES K. POLK had become one of the most heavily worked ballistic-missile submarines in the fleet. On June 27, 1981, she completed her 49th deterrent patrol, and on that return to port the patrol was recognized as the 2,000th fleet ballistic-missile deterrent patrol completed by the U.S. submarine force since the Polaris program began in 1960. Shortly after this milestone, and after completing her 50th patrol, she left the patrol cycle and entered Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, for a second major overhaul. This non-refueling overhaul at Portsmouth concluded on April 21, 1983, restoring the ship's material condition and updating combat systems and electronics while preserving her Poseidon missile capability. Following sea trials, she resumed operations. On July 23, 1983, her Gold Crew launched a Poseidon C-3 missile during another Demonstration and Shakedown Operation, and on October 12, 1983, she deployed for patrol following the yard period, returning fully to the Poseidon deterrent cycle.

Operational testing and patrols continued into the mid-1980s. On April 9, 1984, after the Portsmouth overhaul, JAMES K. POLK successfully launched two Poseidon C-3 missiles during a follow-on operational test, once more demonstrating the reliability of both missiles and launch systems. At this point, the original Polaris/Poseidon force was approaching three decades of service, and long-range planning within the Navy envisioned replacing it with the larger OHIO-class Trident submarines while selectively extending the careers of some BENJAMIN FRANKLIN-class boats. For JAMES K. POLK this meant one more major refit. On January 15, 1986, she again entered Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for a refueling overhaul, undertaken after she had completed her 58th deterrent patrol. This third overhaul extended her reactor life and modernized various ship systems to allow continued deterrent operations into the late 1980s.

After departing Portsmouth in late 1988, JAMES K. POLK conducted post-overhaul trials and in March 1989 her Blue Crew launched a Poseidon C-3 missile in support of another Demonstration and Shakedown Operation. In May 1989, she began what would become her final series of Poseidon strategic deterrent patrols. During these years, she operated in an environment of rapid geopolitical change: the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Warsaw Pact altered the strategic landscape even as arms-control negotiations continued and new OHIO-class submarines assumed an ever larger share of the U.S. sea-based deterrent. In April 1991, the submarine marked her 25th anniversary in commission, and a few months later she completed her 66th and final strategic deterrent patrol in August 1991, closing out a quarter-century of continuous Polaris and Poseidon patrols. Her record over that span totaled 19 Polaris patrols followed by 47 Poseidon patrols, reflecting the broader shift in the U.S. FBM force from the original missile system to its more advanced successor.

As arms-control agreements and force structure reviews shaped the post-Cold War Navy, the decision was taken to remove several BENJAMIN FRANKLIN-class boats from the ballistic-missile role while retaining a subset of hulls for specialized missions. JAMES K. POLK and her sister ship USS KAMEHAMEHA (SSBN 642) were selected for conversion into special-operations attack submarines. In August 1992, JAMES K. POLK entered a 19-month conversion period at Newport News Shipbuilding. During this yard work, her sixteen missile tubes were permanently deactivated and ballistic-missile equipment was removed or reconfigured, while the forward part of the ship was modified to support an attack-submarine role. Most visible was the installation of two large Dry Deck Shelters on her deck, giving her the ability to carry and deploy swimmer delivery vehicles and to embark substantial numbers of special operations forces. Upon completion of the conversion in March 1994, her hull classification symbol was formally changed from SSBN 645 to SSN 645, reflecting her new status as an attack submarine optimized for special warfare.

After conversion, JAMES K. POLK shifted homeport to Norfolk, Virginia, and joined Submarine Squadron Six, becoming the only dual-Dry-Deck-Shelter special-operations submarine based in the Atlantic. In the mid-1990s, she made three extended deployments to the Mediterranean Sea. On these cruises, she embarked and supported U.S. Navy special warfare units, including SEAL teams and special boat operators, and took part in numerous exercises that tested the ability of submarines to insert and recover special operations forces covertly in littoral waters. She also participated in combined NATO exercises, where she worked alongside allied submarines, surface ships, and maritime patrol aircraft in complex antisubmarine warfare scenarios and special warfare training events. Official Navy summaries of her service highlight major NATO exercises in 1996 and 1998 in which she played a prominent role, reflecting the increasing emphasis on coalition operations in the post-Cold War Mediterranean.

These Mediterranean deployments came against the backdrop of broader changes in U.S. naval nuclear policy. By the early 1990s, the United States had removed all non-strategic nuclear weapons from surface ships and attack submarines, and only the ballistic-missile submarine force continued to go to sea with nuclear weapons. JAMES K. POLK, now an attack submarine, operated without strategic missiles and focused instead on conventional missions - intelligence collection, surveillance of potential crisis areas, and the covert delivery of special operations forces. Her conversion from a ballistic-missile platform to a special-operations attack submarine thus embodied the shift from Cold War nuclear confrontation to more flexible regional and unconventional missions in the years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

By 1998, JAMES K. POLK had completed her third and final overseas deployment in the special-operations role and was approaching the end of her extended service life. On January 8, 1999, the Navy held a deactivation ceremony for the submarine at Naval Station Norfolk, recognizing more than three decades of service. She was formally deactivated while still in commission on January 9, 1999. A few days later, on January 12, she and her crew departed Norfolk for the last time, bound for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, where she would be decommissioned and dismantled under the Navy's Ship-Submarine Recycling Program.

JAMES K. POLK was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on July 8, 1999, at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. There, she entered the formal Ship-Submarine Recycling Program as "ex-JAMES K. POLK", a controlled dismantling process that handles reactor compartment defueling and hull segmentation for nuclear-powered ships. Official program records list the recycling start date for ex-JAMES K. POLK as February 16, 1999, with the project completed on July 15, 2000, marking the end of the submarine's physical existence as an operational hull. Her decommissioning and disposal occurred in parallel with the retirement of other long-serving Cold War submarines as the Navy modernized its undersea force around newer classes.

Although the hull was recycled, a prominent part of JAMES K. POLK survives as a museum artifact. Her sail, standing roughly 30 feet high and weighing tens of tons, was removed and transported inland to the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There, it was refurbished under an "Operation Preservation" project and installed in the museum's outdoor Heritage Park, where visitors can see the distinctive profile and fairwater planes of the former ballistic-missile submarine. The sail serves as a physical reminder of the decades in which submarines like JAMES K. POLK patrolled the oceans with nuclear ballistic missiles and later adapted to new roles in special operations as strategic requirements changed.

back to top

go to the end of the page

USS JAMES K. POLK Image Gallery:

As SSN 645:

back to top

Back to Ballistic Submarines list.

Back to ships list.

Back to selection page.

Back to 1^st page.