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USS Hawkbill (SSN 666)

- decommissioned -

USS HAWKBILL was the 18th STURGEON - class attack submarine and the second ship in the Navy named after the large sea turtle.

Decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on March 15, 2000, the USS HAWKBILL 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 December 1, 2000.

General Characteristics:Awarded: December 18, 1964
Keel Laid: September 12, 1966
Launched: April 12, 1969
Commissioned: February 4, 1971
Decommissioned: March 15, 2000
Builder: Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, Calif.
Propulsion system: one S5W2 nuclear reactor
Propellers: one
Length: 292 feet (89 meters)
Beam: 31.7 feet (9.65 meters)
Draft: 29.2 feet (8.9 meters)
Displacement: Surfaced: approx. 4,250 tons
Submerged: approx. 4,700 tons
Speed: Surfaced: approx. 15 knots
Submerged: approx. 30 knots
Armament: four 533 mm torpedo tubes for Mk-48 torpedoes, Harpoon, Tomahawk, and SUBROC missiles, ability to lay mines
Crew: 12 Officers, 95 Enlisted


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Crew List:

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


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Accidents aboard USS HAWKBILL:

DateWhereEvents
June 20, 1979off HawaiiThe USS HAWKBILL reactor's primary coolant system develops a leak while the submarine is on maneuvers in Hawaiian waters which last for four days. Originally, the leak was about two gallons an hour, but by the time the submarine docks at Pearl Harbor, HI, on June 23, the leak has been reduced to three-quarts an hour. On June 24 it is stopped. The Navy says none of the water escaped, as it was captured and stored in tanks designed for such contingencies and that none of the crew was in danger. Supplemental coolant water was pumped in to prevent overheating. According to the Navy, "the leakage was caused by normal wear of inside parts of valves. Such leaks happen occasionally."
December 3, 1980Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash.During a test, about 150 gallons of low-level radioactive water leak from a faulty valve on the USS HAWKBILL undergoing overhaul at the PSNY. Five workers receive low-level radioactive contamination. A Navy spokesman says they received a dose of radiation "less than that typically received by a chest X-ray."


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