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USS Will Rogers (SSBN 659)

USS WILL ROGERS was the 12^th and last BENJAMIN FRANKLIN - class nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine. Generally similar to the LAFAYETTE - class, the twelve BENJAMIN FRANKLIN - class submarines had a quieter machinery design, and were thus considered a separate class.

Deactivated while still in commission on November 2, 1992, the WILL ROGERS entered the Navy’s Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, Washington the same day. Formally decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on April 12, 1993, she finished the recycling program on August 12,1994. When she emerged, she 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 WILL ROGERS. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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Accidents aboard USS WILL ROGERS:

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About the Ship's Name:

Will Rogers - born on 4 November 1879 near the present town of Claremore, Okla. - received sporadic formal education between 1887 and 1898, when he left home to become a cowboy on the Eking Ranch in Lipscomb County, Tex., near the town of Highness. After managing his father’s ranch from 1899 to 1902, he sailed for South America, where he spent five months with the gauche of the Argentine pampas. Later in 1902, the still-restless Rogers sailed for South Africa, where he took a job breaking in horses for the British Army. While in South Africa, he began his show business career, where he joined "Texas Jack's Wild West Show", to be billed as "The Cherokee Kid".

Joining the Writhe Brothers' circus in 1903, he toured Australia and New Zealand before returning to the United States the following year to appear at the St. Louis Exposition and receive his first vaudeville bookings in Chicago. He made his first appearance in New York in 1905 and, over the next 10 years, made three trips to Europe and traveled extensively in Canada and his native United States. During this time, he also made his first airplane flight in Atlantic City, NJ, as a passenger.

From 1916 to 1925, Rogers appeared occasionally with the famed Ziegfield Follies; he made his first motion picture in 1918 - "Laughing Bill Hide" - and moved to California in 1919 to work in the Golden studios. The year 1922 proved a landmark one for the cowboy-humorist, as he began a weekly syndicated column which eventually reached a large readership through some 350 newspapers. He maintained this regularly featured column until his death in 1935.

From 1925 to 1928, Rogers traveled the length and breadth of the United States in a "lecture tour". During this time, he became the first civilian to fly from coast to coast with pilots flying the mail in early air mail flights. The National Press Club, Washington, DC, dubbed him "Ambassador at Large of the United States"; and, in 1927, he visited Mexico City with the transatlantic aviation pioneer Charles A. Lindbergh as a guest of Ambassador Dwight Morrow. In subsequent years, Rogers gave numerous after-dinner speeches; became a popular convention speaker; gave benefits for victims of floods, droughts, or earthquakes. After the Great Depression hit the United States, Rogers gave radio talks on "unemployment", with ex-President Collage, President Hoover, and former Presidential candidate Al Smith.

He made a trip to the Orient in 1931 and to Central and South America the following year. In 1934, he made a globe-girdling tour and returned to play the lead in Eugene O'Neill's stage play, "Ha Wilderness". Also during the period 1930 to 1935, he made movies for Fox studios and radio broadcasts for the Gulf Oil Company.

Through Rogers' continuing series of columns between 1922 and 1935, as well as in his personal appearances and radio broadcasts, he won the loving admiration of the American people, poking jibes in witty ways at the issues of the day and prominent people - often politicians. He wrote from a non-partisan point of view and became a friend of presidents and a confidant of the great. Loved for his cool mind and warm heart, he was often considered the successor to such greets as Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) and Artemus Ward.

An avid booster of aviation, Rogers undertook a polar flight with a fellow Oklahoman, Wiley Post, in the summer of 1935. It ended in tragedy. Post's plane crashed at Point Barrow, Alaska, on 15 August 1935, killing Post and his passenger - Will Rogers.

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USS WILL ROGERS History:

The nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarine USS WILL ROGERS was conceived as the last unit of the "41 for Freedom" force, closing a decade-long building program that had begun with the GEORGE WASHINGTON-class at the height of Cold War confrontation between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The construction contract was awarded on July 29, 1963, to General Dynamics Electric Boat at Groton, Connecticut, as part of the final BENJAMIN FRANKLIN-class increment of the United States' sea-based strategic deterrent.

Her keel was laid at Groton on March 20, 1965, at a time when the United States was escalating its involvement in the Vietnam War while simultaneously consolidating its nuclear triad of bombers, land-based missiles and ballistic-missile submarines. WILL ROGERS embodied the matured Polaris/Poseidon design philosophy: a length of 425 feet, a single-reactor propulsion plant derived from the S5W design, 16 missile tubes in an enlarged sail-aft "missile house", and a dual-crew system intended to keep her at sea for most of each year. As the final "41 for Freedom" hull, she represented the endpoint of this first generation of U.S. SSBNs before the transition to the larger OHIO-class.

WILL ROGERS was launched at Groton on July 21, 1966. Muriel Buck Humphrey, wife of Vice President Hubert Humphrey, served as sponsor, reflecting the political prominence attached to the ballistic-missile submarine program within U.S. national strategy. After fitting-out alongside at Electric Boat, she began sea trials in early 1967, exercising her propulsion, navigation, sonar and missile systems in the western Atlantic. These trials tested her ability to operate quietly at depth, to conduct extended submerged operations, and to integrate the complex fire-control systems that linked her sonar picture to both torpedoes and strategic missiles.

The submarine was commissioned on April 1, 1967, at Groton. The Navy established two full crews, as was standard for strategic ballistic-missile submarines: a Blue Crew under Captain R. Y. Kaufman and a Gold Crew under Commander W. J. Cowhill. The dual-crew concept allowed WILL ROGERS to alternate deployments, with one crew at sea while the other underwent rest, training and maintenance ashore, thereby maximizing her deterrent presence at sea during a period when U.S.-Soviet nuclear rivalry and the war in Southeast Asia framed much of American defense planning.

Following the commissioning, WILL ROGERS conducted an extended shakedown and work-up phase in the Atlantic. She operated from New London and off the U.S. East Coast, conducting acoustic trials, weapons-system checks, and crew training. This period culminated on July 31, 1967, when the Gold Crew carried out a successful submerged launch of a Polaris A-3 ballistic missile on the Atlantic Missile Range off Cape Kennedy, Florida. The test confirmed the integration of the missile, fire-control and navigation systems and was one of the later shots in the Polaris A-3 program, at a time when attention was already shifting toward the newer Poseidon system.

After completing shakedown and any post-shakedown corrections, WILL ROGERS prepared for her first operational deployment. On September 22, 1967, she departed New London, Connecticut, for Charleston, South Carolina, to load her full complement of Polaris A-3 missiles and complete final preparations for front-line duty. From Charleston, she put to sea in October 1967 on her first strategic deterrent patrol, joining the Atlantic Fleet SSBN force that maintained continuous patrol coverage in designated patrol areas in the North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea. The patrol pattern, though not detailed in open sources for security reasons, followed the standard model of roughly two-month submerged deployments, during which the boat remained hidden while maintaining readiness to fire on authenticated orders.

Through the late 1960s and into the early 1970s, WILL ROGERS alternated Blue and Gold crews on a cycle of Polaris deterrent patrols. She operated under the broader umbrella of the Atlantic Fleet's forward-basing concept, in which SSBNs used facilities such as Holy Loch in Scotland and Rota in Spain, supported by submarine tenders, to minimize transit time from refit to patrol areas. While specific patrol start and end dates and patrol areas remain classified or are not published, open sources agree that during these years she followed the standard pattern of extended sea periods, brief refits and crew turnovers, contributing to the steady stream of patrols that underpinned U.S. nuclear policy during events such as the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and the protracted negotiations that led to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) agreement of 1972.

In the early 1970s, U.S. strategic planners decided to upgrade the POLARIS-armed SSBNs to the newer POSEIDON C-3 missile, which offered multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) and improved accuracy. As part of this program, WILL ROGERS was scheduled for a major conversion. She entered Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, for a 16-month overhaul and conversion to the Poseidon system. The work included significant changes to her missile compartment, fire-control and navigation systems, and a reactor-core upgrade from the original S5W to an S3G core 3 configuration to extend her service life. The yard period was completed on February 8, 1974, when the shipyard recorded the completion of her Poseidon conversion.

Following the shipyard work, WILL ROGERS carried out an intensive period of trials and missile-launch testing. On May 15, 1974, the Gold Crew launched two Poseidon C-3 missiles during a Demonstration and Shakedown Operation, a test series conducted on the Atlantic missile range off Cape Canaveral to validate the new system at sea. Later that year, on September 22, 1974, the submarine deployed on her first operational patrol as a Poseidon-armed SSBN, becoming the 22nd submarine in the fleet to carry the C-3 missile. On October 22, 1974, the Blue Crew fired four additional Poseidon missiles in an operational test, further confirming system reliability before she settled back into the routine of strategic patrol cycles.

Around this time WILL ROGERS shifted from being based in the United States at Groton to a forward deployment at Naval Station Rota, Spain. From 1974 into 1978 she operated as part of the Atlantic Fleet's Submarine Squadron 16, using Rota as her principal refit and crew-exchange port between deterrent patrols. By 1978, she had completed a total of 35 strategic deterrent patrols, reflecting a high tempo of operations in which Blue and Gold crews rotated regularly between patrol and refit. During these years, her patrols were conducted against the backdrop of ongoing East-West rivalry, the aftermath of SALT I, and the steady modernization of both U.S. and Soviet strategic forces, including the introduction of Soviet DELTA-class SSBNs.

In the latter half of 1978, WILL ROGERS' forward base shifted from Spain to Scotland. From that point until November 1991, she was forward deployed at Site One, Holy Loch, where Submarine Squadron 14 managed a large portion of the Atlantic SSBN force with support from submarine tenders such as USS CANOPUS (AS 34) and USS HOLLAND (AS 32).

Operating from Holy Loch allowed her to reduce transit time to patrol areas in the North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea, areas that remained central to NATO nuclear planning through the final decade of the Cold War. Her refits were conducted alongside the tender or in nearby facilities, while crews rotated in and out of Holy Loch for training and leave. Through the late 1970s and early 1980s, she continued a pattern of Poseidon C-3 patrols, contributing to the continuous coverage that was intended to deter any first-strike incentive during periods of tension, such as the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan after 1979 and the NATO Euromissile crisis of the early 1980s.

In the early 1980s, as the first generation of SSBNs aged, the Navy implemented extended refueling overhauls to carry selected boats through to the mid-1990s within arms-control ceilings defined by SALT II and subsequent policy decisions. On October 24, 1983, WILL ROGERS entered Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Newport News, Virginia, for a comprehensive refueling overhaul. This multi-year availability replaced her reactor core, overhauled her propulsion and auxiliary machinery, updated electronic and sonar suites, and incorporated maintenance and modernization work accumulated over years of high operational tempo. She remained at Newport News throughout 1984 and 1985 as the yard completed the complex nuclear and systems work. The refueling overhaul concluded on March 10, 1986, when Newport News recorded completion of the work.

Soon afterward, WILL ROGERS began a new series of sea trials and a post-overhaul shakedown program. On May 20, 1986, her Blue Crew successfully launched a Poseidon C-3 missile during a Demonstration and Shakedown Operation, again on the Atlantic missile range off Florida. This firing, recorded in missile-test chronologies as the 81st Poseidon launch overall and the 61st from a submarine, served to validate both the refueled reactor plant and the modernized weapons systems before the submarine resumed deterrent patrols.

With trials complete, WILL ROGERS deployed again for operational service on August 12, 1986, leaving the shipyard environment for a return to the North Atlantic patrol pattern. She rejoined the Holy Loch-based force of Submarine Squadron 14 at a time when U.S.-Soviet relations were beginning to change significantly under the policies of Mikhail Gorbachev, but when the U.S. Navy still maintained a large Polaris/Poseidon fleet in parallel with the growing TRIDENT-armed OHIO-class.

From late 1986 through the end of the decade, WILL ROGERS continued her Poseidon deterrent patrols from Holy Loch, alternating Blue and Gold crews as before. In this period, the boat operated under the framework of the evolving arms-control regime: the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was signed in 1987, and the United States and the Soviet Union were moving toward the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which would eventually lead to deep cuts in strategic launchers. Against this backdrop, the existing Poseidon SSBNs were expected to maintain deterrent coverage while the newer TRIDENT forces took shape.

A notable milestone occurred on March 17, 1989, when the Blue Crew of WILL ROGERS returned to Holy Loch from patrol number 63. Missile-program records note that this arrival brought the cumulative total of Poseidon C-3 deterrent patrols by all SSBNs to 1,100, underscoring how central this missile and its associated submarines had been to U.S. strategic posture since the early 1970s. Open sources do not publish the detailed dates or track for this patrol, but its numbering indicates that by early 1989, WILL ROGERS had already accumulated a large number of patrols, reflecting more than two decades of continuous strategic service.

In the final years of the Cold War and its immediate aftermath, WILL ROGERS remained based at Holy Loch, continuing deterrent patrols as the broader strategic environment changed rapidly. The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the reunification of Germany, and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 all occurred while she was still operating from Scotland. As START-related force reductions and budgetary decisions began to shape the future SSBN force, it became clear that the older POLARIS/POSEIDON boats, including the BENJAMIN FRANKLIN-class units, would be retired in favor of the TRIDENT-armed OHIO-class submarines.

Holy Loch itself was also approaching the end of its role as a forward SSBN base. On November 9, 1991, WILL ROGERS departed Site One at Holy Loch, becoming the last submarine to leave the base before Submarine Squadron 14 and the Holy Loch facility were deactivated. This departure symbolized both the end of an era in the basing of U.S. strategic submarines in Europe and the approaching end of service for the "41 for Freedom" boats.

After leaving Holy Loch, WILL ROGERS returned to the United States for the final phase of her career. Deactivated while still in commission, she entered the U.S. Navy's Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, Washington, on November 2, 1992. At Puget Sound Naval Shipyard she was prepared for disposal: nuclear fuel was removed, hazardous materials were handled under strict procedures that had evolved over earlier submarine disposals, and the hull was readied for dismantling. On April 12, 1993, WILL ROGERS was formally decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.

From that date she existed only as "ex-WILL ROGERS" within the recycling program. Scrapping under the Ship and Submarine Recycling Program formally began on November 2, 1993, and was completed on August 12, 1994, when the final disposition of her hull was recorded. The recycling process recovered reusable materials and ensured that reactor compartments and other sensitive structures were handled in accordance with environmental and safety regulations then in force. Across her service life from commissioning on April 1, 1967, to decommissioning on April 12, 1993, USS WILL ROGERS operated exclusively as a strategic ballistic-missile submarine, first with Polaris A-3 and then with Poseidon C-3 missiles. She conducted at least 35 deterrent patrols by 1978 and had reached at least patrol number 63 by March 1989, all within the broader framework of U.S. nuclear strategy during the Cold War.

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