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USS Guardfish (SSN 612)

One of the PERMIT - class nuclear-powered attack submarines, the USS GUARDFISH was the second ship in the Navy named after the voracious green and silvery fish with elongated pike-like body and long narrow jaws. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on February 4, 1992, the GUARDFISH subsequently entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash. Recycling was completed on July 9, 1992.

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Crew List:

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

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Accidents aboard USS GUARDFISH:

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USS GUARDFISH History:

The contract for USS GUARDFISH was awarded on June 9, 1960, and she was laid down on February 28, 1961, at New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey. She was a PERMIT-class nuclear-powered attack submarine and the second United States Navy ship to bear the name Guardfish, following the World War II submarine USS GUARDFISH (SS 217). The name referred to a long, voracious, green-and-silvery fish with an elongated pike-like body and narrow jaws. The earlier USS GUARDFISH had served in the Pacific War and had received two Presidential Unit Citations, so the new nuclear-powered submarine carried forward a name already associated with the wartime submarine force. The new USS GUARDFISH belonged to the THRESHER/PERMIT design line, which followed the SKIPJACK-class but emphasized quieting, deeper operation, a large bow sonar installation, and torpedo tubes placed farther aft to leave the bow available for sonar. She was built for the Cold War mission set of nuclear-powered attack submarines: antisubmarine warfare, surveillance, classified operations, weapons and sonar development, and service as a demanding target for ships and aircraft learning to counter modern submarines.

USS GUARDFISH was launched on May 15, 1965, sponsored by Mrs. Kenneth E. BeLieu, wife of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. After a long fitting-out and test period at Camden, she was commissioned on December 20, 1966, with Commander Gulmer A. Hines Jr. in command. By the time she entered service, the United States Navy had already absorbed some of the safety and design lessons that followed the loss of USS THRESHER (SSN 593) in 1963, but the PERMIT-class boats still belonged to the first mature generation of deep-diving American nuclear attack submarines. Their careers combined fleet operations with technical development and classified Cold War work, and USS GUARDFISH entered service as a late-commissioning member of that important class.

USS GUARDFISH departed Camden, New Jersey, on February 15, 1967, and began shakedown training. Her early exercises were conducted in the San Juan, Puerto Rico, area, where Atlantic and Caribbean waters provided deep operating areas suitable for testing her propulsion plant, diving systems, sonar suite, weapons systems, fire-control equipment, navigation, communications, and crew proficiency. After completing these shakedown exercises, she transited the Panama Canal and joined the Pacific Fleet. She became a unit of Submarine Squadron Seven and was homeported at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The move immediately placed her in the operating structure that supported Pacific Fleet attack submarines across Hawaiian waters, the western Pacific, the northern Pacific, and forward areas near Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and the Soviet Far East. During her first year at sea, she took part in several submarine operations in the Pacific and steamed more than 40,000 miles.

On December 24, 1967, while entering Pearl Harbor, USS GUARDFISH ran aground. Public summaries describe the submarine as entering the harbor at high speed, after which she went aground and had to be refloated by salvage teams three days later. After salvage and repair, she returned to the Pacific Fleet operating cycle. On January 13, 1968, Commander H. A. Benton assumed command. During 1968 and into the following period, USS GUARDFISH conducted a variety of submarine missions and exercises, including her first six-month western Pacific deployment. She entered the forward Pacific operating pattern of Submarine Squadron Seven during a period when the Vietnam War dominated much visible American naval activity in Asia while the undersea Cold War with the Soviet Navy continued in parallel.

In 1970, USS GUARDFISH returned to Atlantic waters to begin an overhaul at the Ingalls Nuclear Shipbuilding Division in Pascagoula, Mississippi. On November 4, 1970, Commander David C. Minton III assumed command. The Ingalls overhaul removed her from the normal Pacific operating cycle while shipyard personnel and crew addressed the nuclear, engineering, hull, sonar, fire-control, and material requirements of a nuclear attack submarine that had already completed several demanding years of service. When the overhaul was complete, USS GUARDFISH returned to the Pacific Fleet as a unit of Submarine Squadron Seven. After her return, she participated in submarine operations in the Pacific for which she received the Navy Unit Commendation.

During the spring and summer of 1972, USS GUARDFISH was deployed in the Sea of Japan when events surrounding the Vietnam War created a direct connection between her patrol and wider geopolitical developments. On May 9, 1972, as the Paris peace talks had broken down and the United States had begun mining Haiphong and other North Vietnamese harbors, American commanders were concerned about a possible Soviet naval reaction. The objective of the mining was to restrict North Vietnam's supply by sea from Communist allies, and Soviet naval movements were therefore watched closely. USS GUARDFISH was alerted to the possibility of a Soviet response and was positioned at periscope depth near the Soviet Union's largest Pacific naval base.

Late on May 10, 1972, USS GUARDFISH detected a surface contact leaving the channel at high speed, cutting across normal channel boundaries and heading almost directly toward her. As the contact closed in darkness, it was visually identified as a Soviet ECHO II-class nuclear-powered cruise-missile submarine. The ECHO II-class carried eight Shaddock surface-to-surface missiles and represented a potential threat to American carrier forces operating in relation to Vietnam. USS GUARDFISH began to trail the Soviet submarine. Soon the ECHO II submerged and headed southeast at high speed. During the next two days, the Soviet submarine frequently slowed and spent long periods at periscope depth, probably receiving orders. While maintaining the trail, USS GUARDFISH detected at least two and possibly three other Soviet submarines in the area, but she concentrated on the ECHO II that had been identified visually.

The patrol became one of the most publicly described American submarine surveillance operations of the Cold War. USS GUARDFISH broke radio silence to report an unusual Soviet submarine deployment. Washington needed frequent status reports to assess Soviet intentions, and President Richard Nixon and his national security adviser were briefed daily. Because high-power radio transmissions from USS GUARDFISH could have been detected by Soviet electronic intercept systems, alternate communications were used. P-3 Orion antisubmarine aircraft flew covert missions over the submarine's projected location and received reports either directly from USS GUARDFISH at periscope depth or through expendable slot buoys launched from the submarine while she remained submerged at trail depth.

The trail required difficult passive sonar work. USS GUARDFISH had to remain far enough away to avoid detection but close enough to maintain contact. The ECHO II repeatedly performed baffle-clearing turns to check the blind area astern. Sometimes these maneuvers were cautious, and sometimes the Soviet submarine turned back aggressively toward its previous track, creating a real collision risk and forcing USS GUARDFISH to anticipate turns and maintain a slightly offset position. At the same time, the deployment of American submarines into the wider area created the risk of mutual interference. USS GUARDFISH detected a U.S. submarine clearing to the north at high speed after she had changed depth to avoid exactly that kind of danger.

On May 18, 1972, the ECHO II entered the South China Sea and established a slow-moving grid track roughly 300 miles off Luzon and about 700 miles from American carriers off Vietnam, beyond the nominal range of its missiles. While USS GUARDFISH struggled to maintain contact, President Nixon traveled to Moscow for his summit with Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. On May 24, during the summit, Henry Kissinger told Brezhnev that the United States knew Soviet submarines had deployed and that their presence so close to the Vietnam war zone was dangerous and provocative. Within two days, the ECHO II began heading north. After transiting the Bashi Channel, it established a second patrol area in the Philippine Sea south of Okinawa. The acoustic conditions there were difficult, with merchant traffic, biological noise, and weather complicating sonar work. At one point, while USS GUARDFISH was at periscope depth copying urgent instructions for a possible trail transfer, the ECHO II unexpectedly came to periscope depth and visually detected her. The resulting maneuvers were violent and high speed, and contact with the Soviet submarine was lost. USS GUARDFISH returned to Guam on June 10, 1972. Her crew had been underway submerged for 123 days with only an eight-day refit break, and the patrol had included a 28-day trail of the Soviet ECHO II submarine K-184 under conditions of considerable tension.

On December 15, 1972, Commander B. G. Balderston assumed command. On March 31, 1973, Commander W. S. Rich assumed command. During 1973, USS GUARDFISH continued Pacific Fleet service, but the year also included a serious nuclear-propulsion incident. On April 21, 1973, while sailing submerged between Pearl Harbor and the Pacific Northwest, approximately 370 miles from Puget Sound, USS GUARDFISH suffered a leak in the primary coolant system of her nuclear reactor plant. Public accounts state that a crewman performing a leak test on a valve accidentally created a path for coolant to escape from the primary loop. The submarine surfaced, ventilated, decontaminated, and repaired the problem. Five crewmen were sprayed with radioactive steam and later sent to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard or the associated naval hospital for monitoring and care. The Navy did not publicly disclose the accident at the time, and the incident became publicly known years later through released or reported accident material.

On August 14, 1974, USS GUARDFISH completed her 612th successful dive, an appropriate numerical milestone for SSN 612. During this period, she also underwent regular overhaul work at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and made another western Pacific deployment. In June 1975, she departed Pearl Harbor to change home port to Vallejo, California, in preparation for a major shipyard period. On July 9, 1975, Lieutenant Commander G. H. Kannady Jr. assumed command. In August 1975, USS GUARDFISH entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard for a refueling and SUBSAFE overhaul. The yard period renewed her reactor core, addressed submarine safety and material requirements, and modernized the ship for continued service. The overhaul lasted until July 1977. Afterward, her home port changed to San Diego, California, and she became an operational unit of Submarine Squadron Three. In 1977, following the overhaul, she completed her first dive to full test depth, marking her return to full operational capability after major refueling and SUBSAFE work.

In January 1979, USS GUARDFISH completed a successful six-month western Pacific deployment. During this deployment, she conducted special operations with one of the first digital sonar systems deployed in the Pacific and received the Meritorious Unit Commendation.

On February 9, 1979, Commander R. E. Vaughan assumed command. In 1980, USS GUARDFISH departed on another six-month western Pacific deployment. She was again awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation for operations during that cruise. From May 16 to May 21, 1980, she visited HMAS Stirling at Rockingham, Western Australia, the only recorded visit she made to that Australian naval base during her service. The visit placed her in the broader Indo-Pacific operating environment that became increasingly important at the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Iranian Revolution, the hostage crisis in Tehran, and the increasing importance of Indian Ocean sea lanes all contributed to renewed American emphasis on naval reach across the Pacific and Indian Ocean.

On March 26, 1981, while in the San Pedro Channel en route to San Diego, USS GUARDFISH touched ground. No injuries or damage were reported. On July 2, 1982, Commander D. A. Oltraver assumed command. During 1982 and 1983, USS GUARDFISH won the Anti-Submarine Warfare "E" and the Communications "C". These awards reflected performance in two areas especially important to a Cold War attack submarine: tactical undersea warfare and reliable communications discipline. In the spring of 1984, she received the Silver Anchor Award for retention, indicating strong performance in keeping qualified enlisted personnel.

In September 1983, USS GUARDFISH entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard for a regular overhaul. The overhaul lasted until August 1985. This yard period again removed her from the operating cycle while shipyard personnel and crew addressed major maintenance, modernization, inspection, and repair work. By this point, she was an older PERMIT-class submarine. Newer LOS ANGELES-class submarines were becoming the core of the American attack-submarine force, but modernized PERMIT-class boats remained valuable for training, forward deployments, surveillance-related tasks, and special operations compatible with their capabilities. On August 24, 1985, Commander T. W. Hack assumed command as the ship returned to active Pacific Fleet service after overhaul.

USS GUARDFISH completed another six-month western Pacific deployment and returned in January 1987. For that deployment she received her third Navy Unit Commendation. In fiscal year 1987, USS GUARDFISH also won the Submarine Squadron Three Battle Efficiency "E", the Anti-Submarine Warfare "A", the Supply "E", and the Arleigh Burke Fleet Trophy for the most improved ship in battle efficiency in the Pacific Fleet. She also received the Silver Anchor Award for 1985 and 1986. These awards indicate that, despite her age, she remained an effective and well-performing operational submarine after her mid-1980s overhaul.

On November 7, 1987, Commander J. B. Bryant assumed command. Between September 1988 and October 1990, USS GUARDFISH conducted two western Pacific deployments and a three-month Selected Restricted Availability. During this period, she received the Deck Seamanship Award for three consecutive years, 1988 through 1990, and was awarded the Silver Anchor and Battle Efficiency "E" for fiscal year 1989. These recognitions show that the submarine continued to operate and train at a high tempo even as the Cold War entered its final phase.

On November 17, 1990, Commander P. M. Higgins assumed command. During her final active period, USS GUARDFISH conducted a northern Pacific deployment. The northern Pacific was one of the central undersea operating regions of the late Cold War because of its proximity to Soviet Pacific Fleet submarine routes and operating areas. In June 1991, her home port changed to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington. In July 1991, she entered an inactivation availability. During this final phase, she also earned the Silver Dolphin flag for enlisted submarine warfare qualification excellence in 1991. The inactivation process involved the controlled removal and documentation of equipment, preparation of ship systems for shutdown, nuclear-safety work, and administrative processing prior to decommissioning.

USS GUARDFISH was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on February 4, 1992. Her commissioned service had lasted just over twenty-five years. After decommissioning, ex-GUARDFISH entered the Navy's Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. Recycling was completed on July 9, 1992.

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