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USS Hammerhead (SSN 663)

USS HAMMERHEAD was the 15^th STURGEON - class attack submarine and the second ship in the Navy named after the shark.

Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on April 5, 1995, the USS HAMMERHEAD subsequently entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Wash. Recycling of the submarine was finished on November 22, 1995.

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Crew List:

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

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Accidents aboard USS HAMMERHEAD:

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USS HAMMERHEAD History:

USS HAMMERHEAD was the second United States Navy ship to carry the name HAMMERHEAD, following the World War II submarine USS HAMMERHEAD (SS 364). Her construction contract was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Newport News, Virginia, on May 28, 1964. Her keel was laid on November 29, 1965. She was launched on April 14, 1967, sponsored by Mrs. O. Clark Fisher, wife of Representative O. Clark Fisher of Texas. USS HAMMERHEAD was commissioned on June 28, 1968, with Commander Elbridge Frederick Murphy Jr. in command.

After commissioning on June 28, 1968, USS HAMMERHEAD entered the Atlantic Fleet submarine force and was assigned to Submarine Squadron Six at Norfolk, Virginia. Her first months were spent in the usual post-commissioning sequence of trials, shakedown, training, certifications, and integration into operational service. This period followed only weeks after the loss of USS SCORPION (SSN 589) in May 1968, and it took place in a submarine force still shaped by the safety reforms that followed the loss of USS THRESHER (SSN 593) in 1963.

On May 19, 1969, USS HAMMERHEAD received an unusual public visitor. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew went aboard for a five-hour submerged trip approximately 20 miles off Cape Kennedy, Florida. During the ride, he was allowed to steer the submarine for about 15 minutes. Admiral Bernard A. Clarey, then a senior submarine officer and later Chief of Naval Operations, was also aboard. By September 1969, USS HAMMERHEAD was operating in northern European waters. A dated photograph places her approaching Faslane Naval Base on the Gareloch in Scotland that month. Faslane and the nearby Holy Loch area were important to United States and allied submarine operations during the Cold War because of their proximity to the North Atlantic approaches, the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap, and the sea routes used by Soviet submarines operating from northern bases.

In June 1970, Commander Powell Frederick Carter Jr. relieved Commander Murphy as commanding officer. Later that year, USS HAMMERHEAD conducted one of the most distinctive operations of her career. On October 12, 1970, she departed Norfolk for SubIcex 2-70, an Arctic ice exercise. During this operation, she worked with USS SKATE (SSN 578). The Arctic Submarine Laboratory records the two submarines as conducting joint Arctic exercises, with Dr. Waldo K. Lyon and Richard Boyle associated with the work. The operation formed part of the Navy's continuing effort to expand under-ice submarine knowledge. The Arctic was strategically important because it offered routes between the Atlantic and Pacific, lay near Soviet northern naval areas, and imposed navigation, communications, sonar, and surfacing problems very different from those in open ocean operations.

During SubIcex 2-70, USS HAMMERHEAD surfaced through the ice at the North Pole on November 20, 1970. The operation also involved repeated through-ice surfacings. USS HAMMERHEAD's 1970 North Pole operation placed her among the relatively small number of nuclear submarines whose early Cold War service included verified operations at the geographic North Pole.

In 1971 and 1972, USS HAMMERHEAD remained active with the Atlantic submarine force. These years fell into a period of continuing United States naval involvement in the Vietnam War, NATO readiness activity in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and persistent competition with the Soviet Navy's submarine force. USS HAMMERHEAD remained a Submarine Squadron Six unit and continued the cycle of upkeep, training, local operations, inspections, and deployments expected of a Norfolk-based nuclear-powered attack submarine.

On March 27, 1973, USS HAMMERHEAD was involved in an underwater incident east of the Virginia Capes. She was operating at about 300 feet when she struck a submerged object of unknown nature. Accident summaries describe the object as thought to have been non-metallic and possibly a whale. The impact was heavy enough to be heard and felt throughout the submarine, but no discernible damage was reported. On October 10, 1973, Commander Terrence Joseph Camilleri relieved Commander Carter as commanding officer.

In 1974 and 1975, USS HAMMERHEAD continued service from Norfolk. A later public image places USS SEA DEVIL (SSN 664), USS HAMMERHEAD, and USS RAY (SSN 653) at Pier 22 in Norfolk in 1975, with the submarine tender USS L. Y. SPEAR (AS 36) alongside USS SEA DEVIL. This image confirms USS HAMMERHEAD's presence among the Atlantic Fleet attack submarines operating from Norfolk during the mid-1970s and shows the normal support environment of the period: submarines moored together, tender support, pier-side upkeep, and preparation for recurring at-sea operations.

By April 17, 1976, Commander Virgil Lusk Hill Jr. was in command of USS HAMMERHEAD. During his command, the boat remained a Submarine Squadron Six unit at Norfolk. The period was one of continuing Cold War undersea competition, with the Atlantic Fleet attack-submarine force focused on readiness, tracking proficiency, anti-submarine warfare, and operations that often remained outside detailed public reporting. In March 1978, the frigate USS W. S. SIMS (FF 1059), after Caribbean fleet-exercise work and a return north, provided services for USS HAMMERHEAD. In this context, "services" meant that the surface ship supported submarine-related training or evaluation, often by acting as an exercise participant, target, or coordinated surface unit.

From September 1978 to February 1979, USS HAMMERHEAD conducted a Mediterranean deployment. This deployment placed her under the broader operating pattern of the United States Sixth Fleet during a period when the Mediterranean remained a major Cold War theater. Soviet naval units operated there regularly, NATO's southern flank remained important, and American submarines contributed to surveillance, anti-submarine warfare readiness, and support of fleet operations.

After returning from the Mediterranean in February 1979, USS HAMMERHEAD continued Atlantic Fleet operations. Early in June 1979, USS MEMPHIS (SSN 691) completed pre-overseas movement certification with USS HAMMERHEAD after workups that also involved another submarine. This places USS HAMMERHEAD in the role of an exercise or certification partner for another Atlantic Fleet submarine preparing for deployment. During the competitive year from October 1, 1978, to September 30, 1979, USS HAMMERHEAD received the Battle Efficiency "E" for her category, recognizing overall combat readiness and performance within the submarine force.

From September to November 1979, USS HAMMERHEAD conducted operations above the Arctic Circle. On October 19, 1979, she crossed the Arctic Circle at a recorded longitude of 002° 46'05" East, and her crew received "Bluenose" recognition for entering Arctic waters. This high-latitude operation did not by itself constitute a verified North Pole surfacing, but it does show that USS HAMMERHEAD returned to northern operating areas nine years after SubIcex 2-70. These Arctic operations again fit the Cold War emphasis on the northern maritime approaches, where submarines operated in difficult acoustic, navigational, and environmental conditions near routes linking the North Atlantic, the Norwegian Sea, and Soviet northern waters.

Commander Hill remained in command until May 1980, when Commander Edison Lee Watkins III assumed command. In 1981, USS HAMMERHEAD received the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet. Despite its historical title, the award was not limited to battleships. It was awarded to a ship judged to have achieved notable battle efficiency in the fleet, and for a submarine it reflected readiness, training, inspection performance, and operational effectiveness during the award period.

The early 1980s were years of renewed United States emphasis on forward maritime strategy, anti-submarine warfare, and readiness for conflict with the Soviet Navy. USS HAMMERHEAD remained part of the Atlantic attack-submarine force. Commander Watkins followed by Commander Howard James "Tim" Halliday Jr. in July 1983.

By 1984, USS HAMMERHEAD was approaching a major shipyard period. On February 28, 1985, USS HAMMERHEAD was formally welcomed at Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, California, in preparation for overhaul. Photographs from the ceremony show Commander Halliday and the chief of the boat, crew members mustered on the pier, and shipyard officials taking part in the event. USS HAMMERHEAD entered overhaul at Mare Island on March 1, 1985. Later photographs show her in Dry Dock No. 1 at Mare Island in October 1985, with her sonar dome visible at the head of the dock.

The Mare Island overhaul lasted from March 1, 1985, to August 13, 1987. During this period, USS HAMMERHEAD was out of the normal deployment cycle. The mid-1980s were an important modernization period for older STURGEON-class submarines, as the Navy updated sensors, combat systems, navigation equipment, quieting features, and weapons-related capabilities while newer LOS ANGELES-class submarines entered service in growing numbers. On August 5, 1987, near the end of the overhaul period, Commander James Leighton Durham relieved Commander Halliday as commanding officer.

After the overhaul, USS HAMMERHEAD returned to fleet operations. By the late 1980s, she was again connected with Atlantic and Caribbean operating areas. During this period, Tom Clancy, already known for The Hunt for Red October, was given a brief ride into port aboard USS HAMMERHEAD before the filming of the 1990 film adaptation. The account associated with that visit concerns his observation of a simple grease-pencil cleaning arrangement in the sonar room and its later appearance as a detail in the film.

In April 1989, USS HAMMERHEAD operated with USS MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL (SSN 708) in the Puerto Rican operating areas. Later in 1989, command passed from Commander Durham to Commander William Charles Castan on December 2, 1989.

In 1990 and 1991, USS HAMMERHEAD served during the final phase of the Cold War and the beginning of the post-Cold War drawdown. These years coincided with the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, the Gulf crisis after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991.

On June 6, 1992, Commander Karl Michael Hasslinger assumed command from Commander Castan. On September 13, 1992, USS HAMMERHEAD operated alongside the aircraft carrier USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73). Photographs from that day show USS HAMMERHEAD traveling alongside the carrier and a SH-3 Sea King helicopter from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Five flying over the submarine. The helicopter delivered a ceremonial package of cherry pies from the commanding officer of USS GEORGE WASHINGTON to USS HAMMERHEAD's crew, marking the carrier's first vertical replenishment with a submarine.

On September 25, 1993, USS HAMMERHEAD was photographed tied to the pier at Port Everglades, Florida. Another photograph from the same date shows crew members gathered near her sail. The Port Everglades visit is one of the few late-career port calls for USS HAMMERHEAD that can be dated exactly from public photographic records.

In 1994, USS HAMMERHEAD appears in another unit's command-history record. On August 12, 1994, during USS KLAKRING (FFG 42)'s operations connected with the Haiti crisis and Operation Support Democracy, USS KLAKRING conducted anti-submarine warfare exercises with USS HAMMERHEAD. This was a late-career appearance of USS HAMMERHEAD in fleet exercise activity, occurring during a period when American naval forces were operating around Haiti, the Windward Passage, and the Caribbean in response to the political crisis in Haiti and the migration pressures that also led to Operation Able Vigil in the Florida Straits.

By late 1994, USS HAMMERHEAD was entering the disposal stream. USS HAMMERHEAD was formally decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on April 5, 1995. After decommissioning, ex-USS HAMMERHEAD was disposed of through the Navy's Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. This program removed and processed nuclear-submarine compartments and recycled the remainder of the vessel under controlled Navy procedures. Recycling of ex-USS HAMMERHEAD was completed on November 22, 1995.

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