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USS Haddo (SSN 604)

One of the PERMIT - class nuclear-powered attack submarines, the USS HADDO was the second ship in the Navy to bear the name of the pink salmon fish prevalent on the Pacific coast of the United States and Canada. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on June 12, 1991, the USS HADDO subsequently entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash. Recycling was completed on June 30, 1992.

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Crew List:

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

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USS HADDO History:

USS HADDO was contracted on March 3, 1959, and laid down on September 9, 1960, at New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey. She was a PERMIT-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, originally part of the THRESHER/PERMIT design line, and the second completed United States Navy submarine to bear the name Haddo, following the World War II submarine USS HADDO (SS 255). The name referred to a pink salmon of the northern Pacific coast, also known as the humpback or gorbuscha salmon. Her motto, "En Garde", matched the attack-submarine role for which she was built: quiet approach, long submerged endurance, and readiness to operate against both submarines and surface targets. Like other boats of the PERMIT-class, USS HADDO represented the Navy's post-SKIPJACK move toward quieter, deeper-diving nuclear attack submarines with a large bow sonar installation, four amidships torpedo tubes, improved fire-control arrangements, and the ability to support the Cold War missions of antisubmarine warfare, surveillance, weapons development, fleet exercises, and forward deployment.

USS HADDO was launched on August 18, 1962, sponsored by Mrs. Henry M. Jackson, wife of Senator Henry M. Jackson of Washington. After fitting out at Camden and completing the necessary dockside and shipyard tests, she was commissioned on December 16, 1964, with Commander John G. Williams Jr. in command. By the time she entered service, the United States Navy's nuclear attack-submarine force was expanding rapidly. The Soviet submarine force was becoming larger and more capable, allied navies were placing increasing emphasis on antisubmarine warfare, and the United States needed quiet nuclear-powered attack submarines that could conduct extended submerged operations in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Pacific, and other Cold War operating areas.

After commissioning, USS HADDO departed Camden on January 17, 1965, and arrived at New London, Connecticut, on January 22. There she began the first phase of shakedown work and early training. The shakedown period tested her propulsion plant, diving systems, sonar, weapons, communications, navigation, and crew proficiency under fleet conditions. On February 8, 1965, she arrived at her assigned home port of Charleston, South Carolina, and joined Submarine Squadron Four. From Charleston, she operated off the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean. Beginning on February 23, she took part in fleet exercises and made visits to Saint Thomas, San Juan, and Roosevelt Roads. She conducted sound trials in Exuma Sound and torpedo acceptance trials near Fort Lauderdale before returning to Charleston on April 15. These early operations introduced the new submarine to the Atlantic Fleet's training cycle and allowed the Navy to evaluate her both as an operational attack submarine and as a demanding target for ships and aircraft practicing antisubmarine warfare.

On July 7, 1965, USS HADDO departed Charleston for the Mediterranean Sea. During that deployment, she became the first ship of her class to deploy to the Mediterranean with the United States Sixth Fleet. The cruise placed her in one of the central maritime theaters of the Cold War. The Sixth Fleet supported the southern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, observed Soviet naval activity, maintained presence around southern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean, and remained available for crises in the Middle East and North Africa. USS HADDO participated in numerous exercises with ships of the Sixth Fleet and allied navies and made Mediterranean port visits including ports in Italy, Toulon, Golfe-Juan, Taranto, and Rota. She returned to Charleston on November 7, 1965. Her deployment demonstrated that the newer PERMIT-class attack submarines could be integrated into routine Sixth Fleet operations and allied antisubmarine warfare training.

During 1966, USS HADDO continued the pattern of Atlantic operations from home port and Sixth Fleet-oriented work which credited her with operations of sufficient importance to earn the Navy Unit Commendation for a period of service during 1966. These operations took place while the United States was heavily committed in Vietnam, but the Atlantic and Mediterranean remained vital Cold War theaters. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization still had to protect sea routes between North America and Europe, monitor Soviet submarines entering the Atlantic, and maintain readiness in Mediterranean waters where Soviet surface and submarine activity was increasing.

By October 1967, USS HADDO had accumulated 365 full days of submerged operations. That figure illustrates the operating tempo and endurance expected of early nuclear attack submarines. In 1967, she also received the Meritorious Unit Commendation for operations conducted during that year. The award record indicates that USS HADDO was being used in demanding work of importance to the submarine force and to Atlantic Fleet operational development. Through 1967, she continued alternating operations out of home port with Sixth Fleet deployments and Atlantic Fleet activities.

During fiscal years 1968 and 1969, USS HADDO's crew received the Battle Efficiency "E", reflecting performance across the broad categories of operational readiness, training, engineering, weapons, and command effectiveness. These years were a period of intense concern for the submarine force. The loss of USS THRESHER (SSN 593) in 1963 had reshaped submarine safety standards, and the loss of USS SCORPION (SSN 589) in 1968 reinforced the importance of engineering discipline, maintenance, and operational control. USS HADDO's continued performance during this period belonged to that larger context of a nuclear submarine force being refined under demanding Cold War conditions.

On May 17, 1969, USS HADDO launched a SUBROC missile during an Armed Forces Day demonstration observed in connection with President Richard Nixon's visit to USS SARATOGA (CV 60). SUBROC was a torpedo-tube-launched antisubmarine missile designed to deliver a weapon rapidly against a distant submarine contact. Its use aboard PERMIT-class submarines connected improved sonar detection, fire-control calculation, and long-range antisubmarine attack capability. The demonstration showed senior leadership and public observers one of the weapons systems that had become central to the Navy's undersea combat concept during the Cold War.

On August 4, 1969, USS HADDO entered Charleston Naval Shipyard for an eighteen-month SUBSAFE overhaul. This availability removed her from the normal operating cycle and addressed hull, mechanical, engineering, sonar, weapons, and safety-related systems. SUBSAFE work was part of the Navy's post-THRESHER effort to improve hull integrity, seawater-system reliability, and emergency recovery capability. After the overhaul, USS HADDO's home port changed to New London, Connecticut, and she became a member of Submarine Squadron Ten, the first all-nuclear attack-submarine squadron in the Navy. New London placed her within one of the most important submarine operating and training centers on the Atlantic coast.

From 1971 through 1973, USS HADDO operated out of New London. Her work during this period included Atlantic Fleet operations, training, upkeep, and Mediterranean deployments. In the spring of 1972, she completed what shipboard summaries describe as the first six-month Mediterranean deployment by a nuclear-powered attack submarine. This was a significant evolution in the operational pattern of American attack submarines. Earlier Mediterranean cruises had often been shorter or less routine; a full six-month submarine deployment reflected the increasing normalization of nuclear attack submarines as standing components of the Sixth Fleet posture. The Mediterranean remained a central theater of allied-Soviet maritime competition, with American submarines operating in confined waters, heavy merchant traffic, and complex acoustic conditions while supporting fleet commanders and allied readiness.

In the fall of 1972, USS HADDO again deployed to the Mediterranean and returned shortly before Christmas. The second Mediterranean deployment of that year underscores the pace at which she was being used after her Charleston overhaul. The broader geopolitical setting remained tense: the Cold War confrontation at sea continued, the Vietnam War was entering its final phase of direct American involvement, and the Mediterranean carried regional pressures connected with the Middle East, North Africa, southern Europe, and the Soviet Navy's growing presence.

From August 1973 until December 1975, USS HADDO underwent an extensive refueling overhaul at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The overhaul renewed her reactor core and restored or modernized major ship systems after nearly a decade of demanding service. Refueling overhauls of this kind were essential to the life cycle of early nuclear submarines. They kept older boats operational while newer STURGEON-class submarines entered the fleet and while the Navy prepared for the later LOS ANGELES-class generation. During this long yard period, USS HADDO was absent from fleet deployment work, and her crew and shipyard personnel concentrated on the engineering, nuclear, structural, and combat-system work required for another period of service.

In February 1976, USS HADDO's home port shifted again, this time to San Diego, California, and she joined the Pacific Fleet as a member of Submarine Squadron Three. The move required a transit from the Atlantic and Gulf Coast side to the Pacific and placed the submarine in a very different operating environment. San Diego was one of the main bases for Pacific Fleet attack submarines, supporting operations in the southern California exercise areas, Hawaii, the western Pacific, the northern Pacific, and the Indian Ocean. USS HADDO's career now turned from Atlantic and Mediterranean service toward the Pacific Fleet pattern of western Pacific deployments, special operations, allied exercises, and long-distance patrols.

In the spring of 1977, USS HADDO deployed to the western Pacific. She returned in the fall of 1977 after what shipboard summaries describe as an arduous six-month deployment. The deployment took place during a period when the United States was adjusting its post-Vietnam naval posture in Asia while continuing to monitor Soviet Pacific Fleet activity and maintain alliance commitments with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, and other regional partners.

During the first three months of 1978, USS HADDO underwent an intensive Selected Restricted Availability at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. A Selected Restricted Availability was shorter and more focused than a refueling overhaul, but it could still involve significant repairs, modernization, inspections, and ship-system work. For an older PERMIT-class submarine that had recently returned to the Pacific Fleet, this availability helped maintain material readiness before further long deployments.

In December 1978, USS HADDO again deployed to the western Pacific and broader Pacific region. During this deployment, she visited New Zealand and returned in June 1979. A key public episode occurred on January 19, 1979, when she visited Auckland, New Zealand. Contemporary New Zealand photographic collections and museum material record protests against the submarine's entry into New Zealand waters. The protests reflected the increasingly strong anti-nuclear movement in New Zealand and the political tension created by the United States policy of neither confirming nor denying the presence of nuclear weapons aboard its ships. Although USS HADDO was a nuclear-powered attack submarine rather than a ballistic-missile submarine, her visit became part of the wider New Zealand debate over nuclear propulsion, possible nuclear weapons, port access, and alliance obligations. The New Zealand Navy assisted in escorting her while also managing the safety of protesters in Auckland Harbour. The visit foreshadowed the more serious ANZUS alliance dispute that developed in the 1980s over nuclear-ship access.

After returning from the 1978-1979 deployment, USS HADDO continued operating from San Diego in the Pacific Fleet cycle. In February 1980, she arrived at Mare Island Naval Shipyard for another intensive Selected Restricted Availability. This period prepared her for further operations in the Indian Ocean and western Pacific at a time when American attention to those regions was increasing. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, the Iranian Revolution, the hostage crisis in Tehran, and the growing importance of Persian Gulf oil routes made the Indian Ocean a more visible theater in American naval planning.

In August 1980, USS HADDO deployed to the Indian Ocean. During this deployment, she visited Australia, including HMAS Stirling from December 16 to December 22, 1980, and returned to San Diego in February 1981. In July 1981, USS HADDO deployed again to the western Pacific. During this deployment, she visited Japan and returned to San Diego in late October 1981. The cruise continued the pattern of Pacific Fleet attack-submarine operations in the late Cold War: exercises, forward presence, allied port access, and operational assignments whose detailed nature often remained outside public reporting. Japan remained central to the American submarine support network in the western Pacific, with ports such as Yokosuka and Sasebo providing access to maintenance, logistics, and crew support.

USS HADDO arrived at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in April 1982 and underwent an extensive modernization and overhaul. The yard period continued until January 1984, after which she returned to San Diego as an active member of Submarine Squadron Three. This modernization took place while the United States Navy was placing renewed emphasis on forward operations, maritime pressure on the Soviet Union, and improved undersea warfare. Older PERMIT-class submarines needed modernization to remain operationally useful beside STURGEON- and LOS ANGELES-class submarines. USS HADDO's later capability was described in terms of advanced detection, communications, navigation, propulsion, computerized weapons systems, Harpoon missiles, conventional torpedoes, reconnaissance, and coordination with surface ships and aircraft for antisubmarine operations.

From February to August 1985, USS HADDO deployed again to the western Pacific, visiting Japan and Hong Kong. Hong Kong remained a common liberty and logistics port for western Pacific units, while Japan was central to the American forward naval presence in East Asia. The deployment occurred during the Reagan-era naval buildup, when the United States Navy emphasized forward operations and the ability to pressure Soviet naval forces in multiple theaters. As a result of this deployment and her operational reliability, USS HADDO was awarded the Battle Efficiency "E" for fiscal year 1985. In October 1985, she underwent an intensive Selected Restricted Availability in San Diego, preparing her for continued late-career service.

From August 1986 to February 1987, USS HADDO again deployed to the western Pacific, again visiting Japan and Hong Kong. By this period, the PERMIT-class boats were among the older nuclear attack submarines still active, but modernized submarines such as USS HADDO remained useful for training, surveillance-related tasks, antisubmarine operations, and special operations compatible with their capabilities.

After returning from the 1986-1987 WestPac, USS HADDO completed several months of local operations from San Diego. From January to March 1988, she underwent her last Selected Restricted Availability in San Diego. The short yard period addressed maintenance and readiness needs before what became her final operating sequence. In June and July 1988, she conducted a two-month antisubmarine warfare operation.

From February 1989 until February 1990, USS HADDO was deployed from San Diego for more than 300 days, conducting intensive operations in support of national defense. This final extended operating period included a six-month western Pacific deployment during which she visited Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. During the last of her six WestPac deployments, she also completed the longest continuously submerged period in her twenty-five-year history. The long underway period reflected both the continuing operational demands placed on the attack-submarine force and the endurance still available from an older but modernized nuclear-powered submarine.

In the fall and winter of 1989-1990, USS HADDO participated in PACEX 89, described in ship summaries as the largest Pacific Fleet naval exercise since 1945. PACEX 89 brought together a very large Pacific Fleet force at a time when the Cold War was approaching its end but before the collapse of the Soviet Union. For the United States Navy, the exercise demonstrated the ability to operate coordinated carrier, surface, submarine, and aviation forces across the Pacific. For USS HADDO, participation in PACEX 89 placed her in one of the last major fleet exercises of the late Cold War. During the same broad period, she also conducted a two-month antisubmarine warfare operation in the northern Pacific. The northern Pacific was a central operating area because of its proximity to Soviet Pacific Fleet bases, submarine routes, and patrol areas.

After returning from the long 1989-1990 operating period, USS HADDO moved toward retirement. By then she had served more than twenty-five years. USS HADDO was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on June 12, 1991. After decommissioning, ex-HADDO entered the Navy's Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. Recycling was completed in June 1992.

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